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Thursday, October 3, 2013

Volunteer Animal Control Needs Funding

Bobbie Bicknell Coray
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH Utah. Oct 2, 2013 Charlene and Barry McLean with Courageous Critters of Randolph, Utah, have been volunteering to shelter abandoned animals for the last 24 years. It costs , out of their own pocket, $500 a month for food, shots, de-worming and neutering.  They would like a building, a catch pole and they need insurance and transportation costs paid.  They have picked up stray dogs and cats for years and pick up litters. At the beginning it was not overwhelming because people brought in dogs to be spayed and get rabies shots and paid for it which helped with some of the costs.  But now some pay for it but others don’t.  In 2011, 102 animals were adopted  ( 80% dogs 20% cats).  Increasing domestic abuse means that pets are often abandoned or the battered woman stays in the relationship rather than lose the pet.  With the Courageous Critters they can leave the pet in a safe place.  They have a kennel license.  They do not take certain dogs such as pit bulls.

They cannot afford to be the animal control agency as volunteers because it has grown beyond their ability to pay for it. “It is way bigger than we thought it would be,” said Charlene.    The lack of liability insurance worries them if a stray dog is hurt and it turns out to be a pet.  They may not be able to continue.  And the only other alternative is for the Sheriff to shoot stray animals.   Norm Weston said, “We have people here who are willing to help as volunteers, maybe we should pay their expenses.  We do not want to take on a full-fledged dog control program, so we are grateful for the service provided by the McCleans.” 

 Bill Cox said, "Give us thirty days to see what we can do.  You provide a good and needed service.  “

1 comment:

Kyle & Shanna said...

"Increasing domestic abuse means that pets are often abandoned or the battered woman stays in the relationship rather than lose the pet." Can you please explain this line. It didn't seem to quite fit in to the article.

It is sad that they won't take pit bulls because of a "reputation". As someone who has owned pit bulls, I'd sooner own a pit bull than a lot of breeds that are common in this area.

She could possibly talk with ANH in Montpelier to see how they get their funding. I know they do several fund raisers through out the year as well as have a website and social media accounts to advertise the animals.

Glad to know there is someone in Rich County willing to do that. The animals in this area need help.