Need for new animal shelter

Galveston County has a problem with its animal shelter that is too severe to ignore. It also will have an opportunity to solve that problem with a bond issue in November.

Last Sunday, The Daily News ran a story by Chris Paschenko about the Shelter Buddies, volunteers who work at the county’s animal shelter. These volunteers point out that puppies that enter the shelter, 3412 25th Ave. N. in Texas City, have a good chance of dying.

Tom and Ann English of Texas City, two members of the group, have rescued 85 dogs this year. Forty dogs never actually entered the shelter. All survived.

But nearly 30 percent of those rescued after having spent some time in the shelter died of disease. Puppies are at greater risk because their immune systems are not fully developed.

As volunteer Mike Franklin of Dickinson pointed out, this just isn’t a good way to encourage people to adopt animals from the shelter.

Picture the parents who take their children to the shelter to pick out a puppy. They take the puppy home. It’s a heartwarming scene — until you consider the fact that there’s a significant chance that the new puppy is sick and will get sicker. And there’s a significant chance it will die.

Ronnie Schultz, director of environmental health services for Galveston County Health District, which operates the shelter, said the shelter offers coupons to people who’ve had animals die within 30 days of adoption. Since December 2007, the shelter has issued 58 coupons, an average of eight a month, he said.

But that’s only part of the story. In March and April, an outbreak of disease forced the staff of the shelter to euthanize many animals.

What’s wrong with the shelter?

The best explanation came from Joe Vickery, who is such a strong advocate for animals that the county’s shelter is named in his honor.

Vickery, a member of a committee that was asked to make recommendations to the health district, pointed out that the shelter was built in 1993 to house 4,500 animals a year.

In 2007, the shelter housed more than 8,900.

In 1993, the committee that oversaw the construction of the shelter urged the county to review shelter operations every 10 years. It’s been 15 years since the shelter was built and the county has experienced rapid growth.

The committee is investigating options for remodeling the shelter or building a new one.

The basic problem is crowding, a bad thing when you’re trying to prevent the transmission of disease. But Schultz also pointed out other problems, including improperly designed kennels, poor plumbing and bad ventilation.

“The overcrowded shelter and the infrastructure issues also create an environment that tends to hamper our ability to provide sound customer service,” Schultz said.

There is no dedicated space for customers to meet potential pets. Customers have to view adoptable animals that are mixed in with strays, quarantined animals and animals that are being held in connection with police actions.

The committee that is studying options for the shelter is scheduled to present a draft of its study to Galveston County United Board of Health on July 30. The county commissioners will get a look at the recommendations soon after that.

We hope the recommendation is to resolve all the problems at once. We think that’s what voters would like to see when they look at the bond proposal in November.