JACKSONVILLE, Arkansas — The Jacksonville Animal Shelter, like many across Central Arkansas, is experiencing overcrowding issues, and shelter staff is changing its approach their approach to get animals adopted faster.
Now, city leaders are trying to tackle the overcrowding issue and clear up some confusion in the community.
"This should have been done in the first place," Jacksonville Animal Control Commander Lt. Ryan Wright said about a statement he wrote on Aug. 23.
That statement addressed overcrowding issues and procedures Jacksonville animal shelter staff must follow.
Since its release, he and Jacksonville Police Chief Brett Hibbs said there's been some misinformation spreading in the community.
"We haven't euthanized any dogs within 72 hours," Hibbs said. "We weren't planning on doing that. We haven't euthanized any dogs after holding them in a crate for 24 hours. That was completely false."
Hibbs said a lot of what's in the letter is not new, except moving forward, animals will not be allowed to be in a crate for more than 24 hours, and the staff will need to keep records of the euthanized dogs and why.
Overall, he said euthanasia is the last resort.
"We try our best not to euthanize any dog," Hibbs said. "We want to adopt and have them rescued or find a foster home."
Hibbs also hopes to see animals getting adopted and leaving the shelter more quickly.
That's his goal when banned breeds come into the shelter. For example, he said the shelter staff is working to find homes for pit bulls outside of Jacksonville by contacting rescues across the country.
"We weren't posting pictures on Facebook and our website, at least in a timely manner," Hibbs said. "The management of the population of the dogs and doing everything they can to adopt and reach out to rescues and fosters. I think we can do more on that."
When expanding the shelter, Jacksonville Mayor Jeff Elmore said that's not something the city plans to do.
"If we increase our footprint, and if we were to double our size, it's just increasing what is a current problem," Elmore said. "It would cause more staffing issues, more resources and so forth."
Elmore is working on a plan to move some of the existing outside kennels inside. The city needs the funding first.
"That was not a budgeted project for this year's current budget," Elmore said. "We're putting it in for next year's budget."
Wright said the animals that do have to be euthanized will need to fall under these specific criteria:
- Animals with documented aggression towards people or other animals
- Animals with health issues that create an excessive strain on the animal shelter due to care
- An animal's length of stay