Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A disturbing report in the Seattle Times and on this evening's news raises concerns about King County animal shelters. Aside from what's reported (link to the Seattle Times article here and King 5 News' coverage here), is the number of animals ending up in shelters. "Last year, 11,801 animals entered the county's two shelters in Bellevue and Kent," (as reported in the Seattle Times article). The burden placed on shelters is overwhelming and if you do the math:

"...the euthanasia rate — a prime concern of the County Council — fell to an all-time low of 18 percent in January and February." Even at the "all-time low," that means, 12,000 times .18 equals 2,160 animals euthanized each year in King County shelters.

I don't have the answers, but that is a serious problem and one we need to contemplate. The county council is encouraging the public to voice their concerns at a public town hall meeting on April 14 at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien. I'll be there and I hope you will too.

Brandie Ahlgren, editor
CityDog Magazine
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Posted by CityDog Magazine at 12:34 AM

1 comment:

cowbelly said...

Oh man that's really heartbreaking. I haven't read the news reports and honestly don't know if I can. I did see something about 'animals not being fed' which drove me to tears just from that one phrase.

I will totally accompany you to the town meeting in April! I'll see if I can brainstorm some way to promote adoption from the shelters on my blog.

9:14 PM

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