As many of you know, we would like to work with the City to lower the cat kill rate at the Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter.

We envisioned a system where we would call or email the Shelter when we had space available.  We’d simply say, “We’ve got space for a little of bottle babies, or we have space for 2 adult cats, sick or otherwise.”  If they had death row cats/kittens matching that criteria, we’d head over and get them.

No, in true bureaucratic fashion, they proposed the following contract between the two agencies. My comments are in red.

AGREEMENT BETWEEN SHELBYVILLE‑SHELBY COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER

AND ANIMAL OUTREACH OF SHELBY COUNTY

This is an agreement between the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter and Animal Outreach of Shelby County. Animal Outreach of Shelby County must adhere to all of the following stipulations or the agreement is null and void.

1)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County will take full responsibility for all animals taken from the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter.

Of course!

2)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County must provide adequate food, shelter and veterinarian services for all animals in their care.

We do this already, of course!

3)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County must comply with all federal, state and local laws, ordinances and regulations pertaining to animals.

Of course we do already!

4)  Animals will only be released to Animal Outreach of Shelby County after they are detained for the mandatory seventy‑two (72) hour waiting period.

We agree that owners must be given an opportunity to reclaim their lost cat.  I hope they improve their waiting period compliance.  They routinely kill cats before the mandatory 72 hour waiting period.

5)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County must pick up available animals by the end of the business day on the day they are notified, but will be given at least four (4) hours notice.

They close at 5pm everyday, and 1pm on Saturdays.  That can make it hard for volunteers to take time off work last minute to save a cat.  Do out of town dog rescues have the same restrictions?

6)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County shall not charge an adoption fee for animals received at no charge to them from the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter.

We spay/neuter before adoption, unlike the Shelbyville/Shelby County animal shelter.   We provide comprehensive, life-saving medical care for all the cats we take responsibility for (including leg amputations, enucleations, everything!), unlike the Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter.  We receive no tax dollars and are volunteer run, unlike the Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter. Our adoption fees, which are typically below their published adoption fees don’t cover the average cost of vetting each cat.

7)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County will be notified of an emergency situation in which an animal would otherwise be euthanized (sick/injured) if not accepted by them. Animal Outreach of Shelby County shall be required to sign a waiver if they decide not to take control of an animal offered to them by the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter for any reason.

According to their own documents, they killed sick cats on 10 out of the 28 days they were open in September.  One of our volunteers would have to go to the Shelter each of those days and sign a waiver.

8)  Animal Outreach of Shelby County shall only receive animals from The Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter that the director and/or staff have deemed adoptable.

What is the Shelter’s definition of adoptable?  We proposed both the Asilomar Accords definitions and Nathan Winograd‘s definitions to no avail.

9)  All animals received by Animal Outreach of Shelby County shall be microchipped before leaving the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter. This will be done at cost or with microchips provided by Animal Outreach of Shelby County.

We typically don’t microchip the cat until he/she is adopted.  We have had kittens die from FIP and that would have been a waste of resources to have chipped that cat prematurely, which wastes precious resources.  Also, its unsafe to microchip cats who weigh less than 2 pounds. Either they are planning on performing unsafe procedures on cats we are taking responsibility for, or they don’t plan on releasing any bottle babies or neonatals to us.

10) Animal Outreach of Shelby County agrees to have all animals received from the Shelbyville ‑Shelby County Animal Shelter spayed/neutered before adoption, provide comprehensive medical care, screen adopters, and do pro‑active follow‑up with all adopters three (3) times post‑adoption.

We do this anyway, unlike the Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter!

11) Animal Outreach of Shelby County shall provide a complete list of all animals received from the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter. The list shall consist of the animal’s name, microchip identification information, its status, the location, adopted owner’s name and address. The list shall be turned in to the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter by 4:00pm on Tuesday of every week for updated information from the previous week. If the list is not complete with all required information &/or not turned in by the deadline the agreement will be null and void.

The Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter is asking more from us than what it’s willing to do: we’ve always received their monthly reports two months after the end of the reporting month (they would never give us weekly reports!).  And why are we required to give a public agency a private agency’s supporter list? What do they plan on doing with that information?  Can our supporters opt out of their PRIVATE information being released to a public agency (donors to a public agency like the shelter can opt out of their personal information being released to the public).

12) Animal Outreach of Shelby County must register their holding facility with the City of Shelbyville and agree to an inspection of their holding facility at anytime by staff of the Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter when notified at least twenty‑four (24) in advance prior to the inspection.

Our “holding facilities” are foster homes — volunteers’ private residences!  They are demanding that we waive our constitutional protection against unlawful search and seizure.  To enter a private residence, which our “holding facilities” are, police must have probably cause before they can obtain a warrant.  If they are concerned about the living conditions or treatment of any of the cats they transferred to us (or any cat for that matter), they can utilize the myriad of animal protection laws on the books to lawfully gain access to a holding facility (foster home) .

13) No animal received by Animal Outreach of Shelby County from the ShelbyviIle ‑Shelby County Animal Shelter will be released to roam freely. All animals must be adopted to good homes.

Our adoption contract stipulates as much!

14) Any animal found running at large &/or not adopted according to the weekly list provided to Shelbyville ‑ Shelby County Animal Shelter by Animal Outreach of Shelby County will be the responsibility of KerryAnn May &/or the current director or administrator of Animal Outreach of Shelby County.

Once the cat is adopted into a home, we have little control over that cat!  I would hope that if a cat is found running at large, and that cat was at some point our responsibility, that cat would be re-released to us.

Mayor Scott Ferguson, Chief of Police Bill Elliot, and Shelter Director Keith Barrett are responsible for needless killing of cats and kittens.