Shelter won't take animals from outside city
Apr. 10—A visitor to the St. Joseph Animal Shelter doesn't have to look far to see that the building is filled to the brim with dogs.
In fact, it's not necessary to look around at all. Just close your eyes and absorb the cacophony of barking and yelping dogs from their kennels at this city facility, located at 701 Lower Lake Road.
"I think the economy has an effect on that," said Holly Bowie, animal control and rescue manager in St. Joseph. "You know more people are having to rehome their animals because they're struggling to pay their bills and take care of themselves."
In other cases, an overwhelmed owner may struggle to care for a large dog that displays some behavioral issues, Bowie said. Whatever the reason, animals from outside the city limits are no longer being accepted at the shelter in St. Joseph. The change, designed to help the local shelter handle the surging number of dogs in need of a good home, took effect April 1.
"We've always taken animals from outside the city limits with additional fees," Bowie said. "We had noticed in the past few weeks that we've received a lot more animals than general from inside and outside of our community."
The shelter has seen relatively few cats but lots of dogs in recent months. Bowie said the facility has 60 to 65 dogs — which is close to capacity — and estimates that about 15% are from outside the city limits. Some are from parts of metro Kansas City that are served by an animal shelter.
"In the last six to 12 months, we've noticed an increase in general of dogs coming in and we've had individual citizens saying, 'We were referred to you by another shelter,'" she said.
Bowie said the shelter works hard to find foster families or rescue organizations to house dogs so that the city facility doesn't exceed its capacity. She urges anyone who is struggling to care for a pet to contact the shelter at 816-271-4877 or Friends of the Animal Shelter, at petforu.com/, to explore resources for assistance.
There was no word on how long the change would last with animals from outside St. Joseph, but Bowie said it's part of a larger goal to avoid euthanizing dogs or cats just to make room for more animals. She said the shelter will still accept animals from outside the city that were originally adopted from the facility on Lower Lake Road.
The capacity issue comes as the Friends organization seeks to get a new shelter located in a building at the Mitchell Woods Business Park. The Friends of the Animal Shelter has raised $1.5 million but found that isn't enough to convert the building. It has a request for $2.45 million with the citizens committee examining proposals for a new Capital Improvements Program tax in St. Joseph.
The committee didn't put the shelter on its preliminary list of preferred projects but hasn't made a final list to be submitted to the St. Joseph City Council.
Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.
