Public Meeting: Commissioners to Hear Citizen Feedback on Humane Society, Animal Control

Several Carroll County commissioners will host a meeting on Monday, Dec. 9 to hear citizen feedback on the county-run humane society. 

County Representative Roberta Windham said that Commissioners Haven Shoemaker and Doug Howard would attend the meeting.

Carroll County contracts with the Humane Society to provide animal control services to county citizens, according to Windham. The county has budgeted $883,370 for animal control services in the current fiscal year.

Animal Advocates of Carroll County, a local animal activist group, has taken to Facebook to encourage citizens to attend the meeting. The organization's founder, Laura Shenk, has been critical of the Humane Society of Carroll County, saying that the shelter's kill rate is too high and that the shelter does not put forth sufficient effort to get animals adopted.

"They put no effort into getting animals adopted, and don't even bother to maintain hours that meet the needs of our community," Shenk said on the Animal Advocates Facebook page. "It really could not get much worse than what we have now."

In May, Humane Society Director Nicky Ratliff told a CBS affiliate that the public has to step up and help fix the overpopulation of cats by getting animals spayed and neutered. 

"There are too many cats and not enough homes," Ratliff said, according to CBS.

Spay and neuter programs have helped decrease the number of dogs being left at the shelter, Ratliff told CBS, with the number decreasing from 375 in 1987 to 57 in 2012. But the number of kittens four months or younger coming in -- 1,023 in 2012 -- has remained consistent, Ratliff said.

"It's a huge problem," Ratliff said, according to CBS. "I can't solve it, the public has to solve it."

In 2012, the Carroll County Humane Society accepted 2,700 cats, according to CBS. In that same year, 257 cats and 247 kittens were adopted.

There will be a public meeting, attended by at least two Carroll County commissioners, regarding the Humane Society and animal control on Monday, Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the County Office Building Reagan Room (room 003).

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