Humane society
seeks pet owners
By ANNE KERN
Of the Emerald
Drawing by JoAnn Fahlgren
A chorus of barking dogs greets
every car driving up to the Lane
Humane Society on Greenhill
Road The aim is not attention for
attention s sake — they want
owners
But of the 26,142 animals that
found their way to the animal shel
ter in 1975. only 6,096 were
adopted by human friends The
remaining 20,046 were de
stroyed
These figures disturb Everett
McVicker, executive director of
f
A
and
ancjfcfecfane &ifofdCe6
CLOSEOUTS
1. Drawing Board with clips—23" x 26" reg. $6.80 NOW $3.95
2. Artists Portfolio—20 ' x 26" x 2" reg. $2.80 NOW $1.95 w handles
reg. $2.10 NOW $1.35 w o handles
3. Permanently Bound Sketch Book—8" x 11" reg. $2.98 NOW $1.98
11" x 14" reg $4.15 NOW $2.98
4. Newsprint Pad—14" x 17"—reg. $1.55 NOW 99c
5. Sketch Pad 100 sht—9 x 12 " reg. $1.98 NOW $1.25
6 Sketch Pad 50 sht —9 x 12" reg. $1.15 NOW 75c
7. Canvas—pre-stretched rolls, stretcher bars—up to 25c/t OFF
the non-profit organ zation. The
figures were so he r 1972.
(23.317 animals were destroyed
out of 29.472 received) that he in
stituted a low cos’ suay program,
which he says is effectively cutting
Lane s animal population
The spay program, designed to
control the surplus animal popu
lation, provides low income (under
S5.000) families and people
adopting society animals with an
alternative to expensive private
operations Costs stari at $18 for
cats and $20 to S45 for female
dogs Applications and instruc
tions can be picked up at the
humane society
Besides the spay program, the
society offers humane education
programs and placement of gift
animals
“To educate people to care for
animals is to prevent cruelty and
that s our pb Somebody has to
look out for the animals If it wasn t
the humane society, who would7
The society now contracts with
the countv to be Lanes pound
master m exchange for the
license fees McVicker says a
year ago. when the holding period
for strays was five to six days, the
shelter was extremely over
crowded
The holdma period has since
been reduced from 96 to 72 hours,
and overcrowding has been al
leviated
A typical stray dog brought in by
the ammal control or the public is
classified and placed in one of the
kennels if the dog has a license,
the owner is notified
Reclaiming a dog is both hectic
and expensive. McVicker says
The owner must come out to the
shelter to locate the pet and pay
S3 to S3 50 a day in boarding tees
Then before the dog is released,
the owner must go down to the
county courthouse to pay the tine
of $20. show proof of a rabies shot
and buy a license if the dog hasn t
one
The fmes do deter people from
reclaiming their dogs. McVicker
says but we also hope t II deter
them from letting their dogs run at
large
Only one-third of the total stray
dogs brought m are ever re
claimed by their former owners
After the 73rd hour of the hold
ing period, the dog can either be
put up for adoption or humanely
destroyed Good quality dogs
are usually held longer McVicker
says
Gift animats are those brought
to the shelter to be put up for adop
tion immediately These are also
classified and placed in kennels
Fees for adopting society ani
mals are levied for two reasons,
so people take better care of the
animals and because we need the
funds to operate, says McVicker
The minimum charge for a dog
is $13 and for a cat. S5 or $7 de
pending on the breed and size of
the animals Included m this fee is
a distemper-hepatitis shot for
dogs, an anti-feline distemper
shot for cats and a free examina
tion by a vet.
McVicker sees destroying un
adopted animals as a necessary
evil of his job because the supply
is greater than the demand
'I don t mind, he said, "taking
people out and showing them a
pile of dead ammal carcasses,
because the more people see this,
the less likely that they II let t^em
animals breed