The Shelby County Animal Shelter in Shelbyville, KY has maintained its no kill mission for the past 4 1/2 years, but had to put out an appeal to the community recently as overcrowding and slowed adoptions put its no kill status in danger.
With 240 animals received since May amid slowed adoptions, it has been way over its 150 animal limit and had set a date of September 1 to begin euthanizations unless there was some relief from the trend of increased intake and fewer adoptions. As in many places, the bad economy is a factor in shelter crowding. Animal Control Supervisor Bradley King puts it like this, “The economy, a lot of people are downsizing their homes and moving to apartments and they’re forced to give up their animals. There’s not as many people adopting. It’s a daily struggle with different occurrences like that,”
Shelby County is the first no-kill county in Kentucky. A nonprofit effort by volunteers provides fostering, fundraising and support, and maintains both a Shelby County No-Kill Mission website and Facebook page devoted to the no-kill mission. Supervisor King credits the volunteers with making a successful push for increased adoptions and for getting more animals into foster care. Adoptions out of the Louisville PetSmart have helped some of the animals find homes.
The shelter remains over its official capacity but the short term danger of turning back from no-kill has been averted. Of the long term, Supervisor King said, “We feel like we’re gonna make it through this battle, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
The shelter is looking for more people to provide foster care and welcomes donations of everyday supplies. They are planning to expand their facility, to provide more room for the homeless pets in their care.
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