Animal shelters eliminate barriers on adoption

SICSA volunteer Laura Kowalchuk (background) conducts a pre-adoption session Thursday, March 4, with a family from Huber Heights, Tami Dalton (left) and daughters Brittany (seated) and Emily Phillips, in the redesigned location at 2600 Wilmington Pike. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

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SICSA Executive Director Terry Carlisle shows Annabelle, a therapy cat, to brothers Dameon and Desmond Darden.

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Shelters work to keep  pets in adoptive homes

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By Kim Margolis, Staff Writer Updated 2:14 PM Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Area animal shelters have loosened their adoption standards after realizing their rules were too tough, keeping animals in cages instead of placing them in new homes.

At the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals in Kettering, no longer is a person denied a dog because they don’t have a fenced-in yard, said SICSA Executive Director Terry Carlisle.

“Why do we make it so hard on them?” Carlisle said.

After changing some of its policies in 2009, adoption revenue increased from about $93,000 in 2008 to almost $103,000 in 2009, Carlisle said.

The results of a 2006 survey by the Humane Society of the United States caused staff at the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center in Vandalia to also reconsider its policies.

The national survey found only 13 percent of house pets are adopted from animal shelters. Shelter Supervisor Mick Sagester said he realized that he and his staff were looking for ways to say ‘no’ to pet owners.

“We were too intrusive, so people would say, ‘I’d rather go to a pet store, pick it up and take it home,’ ” Sagester said.

Now, instead of denying someone a dog because they admitted not neutering a previous pet, the shelter will educate them on sterilization.

The changes have worked: The percentage of animals adopted from the county shelter has gone up each year since 2006. Last year, the increase was 15 percent, the highest jump.

“We have not lowered our standards,” Sagester said. “We have raised expectations. We want to increase the chance of having animals adopted.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2216 or kmargolis@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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