WMC-TV: News, Weather, Traffic, Radar, and Sports for Memphis, TN; WMCTV.com | Outrage over animal shelter euthanization numbers
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By Kontji Anthony - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Staggering numbers from the Memphis Animal Shelter were disclosed during Tuesday's Animal Services Advisory Board meeting, when officials said 55 and 75 animals are euthanized a day.
Those numbers had people outraged.
"How can that be addressed?" Advisory Board member Michelle Buckalew asked at the meeting.
Page after page of comments followed on wmctv.com - most of them anonymous.
"Three weeks ago, the staff met with the Director of Public Services, and was able to have the adoption events instead of increased, decreased, from four a month, which is not enough, to now two or three a month," Buckalew said.
To Buckalew, the current recession is no excuse.
"The increased adoption events bring in more revenue," she said.
Tuesday, the new shelter administrator, Ernie Alexander, told board members he's caught between the law and his love for animals. The Memphis Animal Shelter is an open-admission shelter.
"He's homeless, it's a stray, and yes we're small, but I have to make provisions to take in that animals in," he said.
In addition to taking in every stray, the shelter is a holding pen for Arlington, Lakeland and Millington.
"I strongly believe that this council, the entire body, understands and realizes the need for a new shelter and wants to see a new shelter," he said.
Animal rescuers admit a big part of the problem is people not spaying and neutering their pets. Construction on a new and larger shelter begins in three months.
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