Volunteers want animal shelter to open on Sundays. Lack of funding gets in the way
One year has come and gone since a concerned, now former, volunteer with Manatee County Animal Services organized a sit-down with the department’s leader.
Lynn Aragon, representing several volunteers, had one request for Chief Sarah Brown: open the shelter in Palmetto on Sundays.
“The shelter is missing out on a lot of Sunday traffic and possible adoptions,” Aragon wrote in a July 2017 letter to Brown, saying that working people wouldn’t be able to adopt through the week as most days the shelter closes at 5 p.m.
Saturdays are always packed at the 305 25th St. W. shelter, overwhelming volunteers and staff. Volunteers argue the extra day could help with the constant threat of overcrowding, which increases the number of transfers to other shelters and euthanizations.
“Everything you read (from the animal shelter) is urgent,” Aragon recently said.
Today, the fight for more time has more or less subsided. “I’ve done all I can do,” she said.
Brown says she wants to have the shelter open on Sundays as well, and has tried to implement it in the past “without success.” But being open on Sunday requires a full kennel staff and front desk personnel, she said.
“As far as the budget, we have to stick within the parameters of our budget so adding more staff is not a possibility at this time,” she said.
The shelter is open 44 hours a week, recently extending their hours on Wednesday, and is closed on Sunday. Having later hours wouldn’t help, Aragon argued.
“People wouldn’t have a sensible amount of time to make an educated choice, especially considering the sheer numbers of dogs they would have to look at or even have the energy after working all day,” she wrote.
In contrast, the animal services shelter in Sarasota County, run by the sheriff’s office, is open every day for 47 hours per week. Sure, it’s just three hours more, but Lt. Dan Tutko said that’s extra time for people to adopt.
Sundays are when the shelter evaluates animals for adoption, so having adoption hours on Sunday isn’t necessarily adding to a staffing expense, he said.
Every shelter runs differently, though, as Sarasota takes in other animals aside from dogs or cats. Their save rate is around 82 percent, Tutko said, whereas Manatee strives to be 90 percent.
Before Manatee County Animal Services can seriously consider making this schedule change, Brown said they want to use data to make sure they know which days are busiest or slowest.
“Volunteers have voiced they would like to be open more as well, as do we, we just want to ensure we are doing it with success,” Brown said.
They work with a limited budget and 27 staff members. There’s isn’t any wiggle room with their funding, Brown said, as all of it goes to staffing or animal care, the most costly expenses are food and medical care.
“Any extra projects would have to be creative with working with nonprofit partners,” Brown said.
One of the major benefactors of the shelter is the nonprofit Friends of Manatee County Animal Services, a fund-raising arm responsible for improvements like the new artificial turf, “real life room,” the Heartworm Hotel Treatment Program and the upcoming Fourth Annual Adoptapalooza event to be hosted from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Bradenton Area Convention Center.
Cindy Reno has volunteered with animal services for about five years, taking photos of the adoptable pets for promotion.
It’s a special and bittersweet moment for volunteers when they see a dog adopted; they’ve spent so much time walking and playing with the pups, but they’re elated that they’ll find a forever home.
Staying in a shelter too long can change a dog’s behavior. Some “don’t handle shelter life very well,” Reno said, and they act out because of stress or fear. Once they get back into a home environment, they’re able to relax.
Reno wants to see more happy endings, and thinks opening on Sunday would change that.
“I think that’s a top priority, I really truly do,” she said. “I think it’s a win-win for the dogs.”