The Stephens County Humane Society spoke to Breckenridge City Commissioners last week about possible options to assist both the community and the organization with the city’s stray animal problem. The discussion was had during the regular Tuesday, July 5 meeting.
Kathy O’Shields, president of SCHS, and Stacey Donaldson spoke during public comment about the ongoing issues the organization is seeing and experiencing.
“We are contacted so much by the individual people, either through Facebook or through telephone calls, which is constant, not knowing what to do,” O’Shields said. “The animal shelter has a fantastic animal control officer, she is doing her best to find the owners of animals that are found loose. She’s doing a fantastic job and I commend that and Chief (Bacel) Cantrell for hiring her.”
O’Shields said that since January, their organization has sent 75 dogs to Colorado to a rescue. In June, the boarding facility they utilized and were operating out of closed.
“So we have had to relocate. Our situation is still under development, and (...) it’s a challenge for us. But it was either we try this or we just go a different route as a humane society,” she said. “When this happened, (...) I had 17 dogs in boarding and, I believe, eight that I was committed to in the shelter. And we sent 27 dogs, some were dogs that people were holding, because we just don’t have space, we’re just out of space.”
O’Shields asked the city to consider budget items to allow for the kennels at the animal shelter to be repaired, so they are fully functional, and to allow the Breckenridge Police Department to hire a part-time animal control officer to assist Nicole Dooley, the current animal control officer for the city.
Donaldson asked the commissioners if they would be open to creating a committee to consider different options to assist in solving the animal problems throughout the city. “We’re just, you know, we’re doing the very best we can. But (...) we’ve got to have, I guess, basically more help from the city to continue what we do. Unless, you know, you have other ideas,” she said.
Mayor Bob Sims said the requests could possibly be an agenda item in the future.
