We also quickly realized that the
budget for our
local animal control agencies is so small that we would have to go into the
shelters and donate services immediately in order to provide assistance.
The stress on
shelter staff is significant: no room to put ever more dogs; having to euthanize dogs to make room
for new dogs; performing triage on sick
animals when space is limited; having to make hard choices about evening and weekend heating and lighting with a small
budget; no veterinarian or vet tech on the staff; no evening or weekend staff; no time to network adoptable
animals; no available homes in the surrounding communities; inadequate transport vehicles; little or no support from
local government; an
Animal Control Officer often doing double duty, responsible also
for managing the
shelter; counties lacking even a
shelter or inside kenneling.