A $10,000 grant awarded to Guilford County will be put to use in an interesting new program meant to reduce the number of pet surrenders to the Guilford County animal shelter.
This $10,000 grant is also supposed to simultaneously improve various county services, including social services.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to formally accept the grant at the board’s Thursday, Jan. 5 meeting.
The money is part of a “Black, Indigenous and People of Color – Led Operating Support” grants program offered by Maddie’s Fund, a national animal welfare advocacy organization.
Guilford County Animal Services is being awarded the $10,000 to provide both direct and indirect services to pet-owning clients who contact the Guilford County animal shelter.
By partnering with other county departments, Animal Services will use the funds to “work towards identifying specific problems, incidents, responses, transactions, or any other complex issues that lead to animal surrenders.”
The Guilford County Division of Social Services and the Family Justice Center often work with families in crisis – and those problems, from financial hardships to domestic abuse, can lead to animal surrenders. Properly addressing economic and emotional crisis situations is expected to reduce the number of pet surrenders.
Animal surrenders have been a huge problem for the shelter this year. The surrenders have led to major overcrowding issues as pet-owners return to workplaces after the pandemic.
The work will involve “establishing a trusting relationship with all clients and building collaborative relationships with community and county partners” like the Guilford County Division of Social Services and the Guilford County Family Justice Center. In addition, the grant will “allow Animal Services to serve as a portal of entry and contact for clients seeking services.”
The grant funds and data collected will help the county develop services that “provide clients appropriate services and crisis intervention during difficult situations.”
Assisting groups like Break the Chain Kennel Kru which provides kennels for dogs that belong to qualifying low-income people in the County and educate their families so the dogs could end up living inside their homes would be one good use of these funds. This charity is only one of many animal groups that work in the County to try and reduce the number of animals surrendered to the Shelter. I don’t want the funds wasted on worthless fluffy waste, There are a few groups who do TNR as well as feed feral cats, and many people on NextDoor Neighborhood work to reunite lost animals with owners before turning them over to the Shelter (I’d like to see a free version of Paw Boost as it cost us over $50 to post a dog we found for just 2 weeks which doesn’t incentivize people to try and find owners online.) Providing funds for required vaccines, spay/neuter, food, vet care, kennel builds, travel to a vet visit, spa visits, would all be a good use of this money.
I have obtained all of my pets from advertisements requesting someone adopt their pet for one reason or another. In all instances, the animals were fixed, nicely groomed and well cared for. My current cat has been with me for over 10 years now. He cost me nothing to obtain and any future pets I might obtain will be given a good home with me and allow for the previous owner peace of mind.
More free listings are needed for successfully prevent people from dropping off their pets at the shelter.
craiglist is free
I don’t think pets care about the race, sex, or age of their owner.