Photos by Emily Blackwood
Despite some recent negativity, Halifax Humane Society is still pushing to create a total adoption community.
For decades, Halifax Humane Society was your typical animal shelter: an overflow of abandoned pets, and only a few homes willing to take them in. The result was more animals being put down than anybody with a moral code would be comfortable with. But once a like-minded team started to form, this typical animal shelter started to change.
“We had decades of research that showed us what we were doing wasn’t working,” said Community Outreach Director Tyler Stover. “We wanted to do things to decrease those numbers and find more homes for the animals.”
In the past few years alone, HHS has started numerous community programs to help prevent abandoned animals and find homes for the ones that are. Spay and neuter clinics, behavior training, adoption promotions and more accurate owner matching are just a few of the ways that HHS has grown to a 70% live release rate (animals that find homes). In the next five years, the shelter hopes to be have a 90% rate, making them a no-kill shelter.
“Though we’re becoming a no kill shelter, we’re not going to change our policy,” Stover said. “We will still take in all animals. But we want to do more than that. We want to make a Greater Daytona Beach area a total adoption community.”
Stover said no matter what, there will always be a small number of animals that have to be put down due to sickness or over-aggression. But by reaching no-kill shelter levels, they will be able to find homes for the animals that have no reason to be put down.
Breaking the barriers
Right now, there are two main areas that are slowing HHS down: an overpopulation of feral cats and restricted ownership of large dogs.
According to Stover, wild cats are very hard to adopt and don’t do well in shelter environments.
“There is not a huge market of people looking for wild cats, who have lived outside for their entire lives,” Stover said. “People generally don’t want an animal that will hide under the couch for a month.”
In order to combat this issue, HHS has implemented Trap Neuter and Release programs throughout the county. Instead of bringing feral cats into a shelter, they are taken to a clinic where they are spayed, neutered, vaccinated and returned to their colony. Overtime this limits the size of the colony without having to put the cats down for no reason. So far 10 out of 17 cities are on board, and Stover said that the more who sign on, the faster HHS can create a total adoption community.
“Some are hesitant because of government issues, and they have some conflicting research,” Stover said. “Some people worry about the environmental impact of leaving the cats there, killing birds. And some believe that it doesn’t shrink the size of cat colony, but we know from decades of pulling cats into a shelter that that alone doesn’t decrease the number of cats.”
It’s also hard for HHS to find homes for their large dogs, especially those like pitt bulls or other restrictive breeds. Stover said people are less likely to adopt them because of housing restrictions and home insurance policies.
“The sad thing is, is that it would actual benefit a community to let large dog owners in,” Stover said. “A lot of pet owners are looking for home, and pet owners generally stay longer in one place and are more responsible.”
HHS is combating this problem with programs that educate people about large dogs, and help owners with their canine’s behavioral issues.
Death threats
HHS dealt with the exact issues above recently that led to a very negative — and almost harmful — outcry from the community.
The shelter took in over 130 cats from one home in Deltona earlier this month, that had been neglected for some time. After an inaccurate report was released saying the cats were in adoptable condition, the community was outrage to learn that most of cats had to be euthanized do to life-threatening diseases. Stover said some cats tested positive for the deadly virus feline panleukopenia, and many had feline leukemia, feline AIDS or both.
“They were in very poor condition, and no one realizes how dangerous panleukopenia could be to a shelter,” Stover said. “It hasn’t happened here yet, but it’s been known to wipe out entire shelters of animals. It’s very difficult to contain.”
Stover thinks that the misinformation is what led to his and the rest of the employees’ inboxes filling up with hateful emails. One employee in particular, even received a death threat that the police are now investigating.
“There’s a lot of emotion with a case like that, especially when there is misinformation. We’re involved in a lot of controversial cases, but most of the time our only role is taking care of the animal until charges can be determined. People seem to believe that we have more control than we really do sometimes.”
Still, this hasn’t strayed the shelter from their goal. Though they’re hoping for quicker changes in the next two to three years, they predict to be a no-kill shelter by 2020.
“I wish we could just flip a switch, but everyone has to work together. If we all work together, there is going to be a great change.”