The county’s intake and live-release data show that animal welfare is improving in Montgomery County, but it would take a lot more cooperation between jurisdictions and shelters and rescue organizations to make the area’s largest county a no-kill community, advocates said.
The share of animals being euthanized at the shelter remains around 50 percent, which animal groups say is the sad consequence of irresponsible pet ownership and uncontrolled stray populations.
“The Animal Resource Center is doing the dirty work of people who don’t take care of their pets,” said Marsha Kerns, director of the Tenth Life, a no-kill cat shelter in Greene County that has nearly 500 felines.
Last year, the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center took in 7,498 animals, which was a 9 percent drop from 2013 and the third consecutive year they took in fewer animals.
In 2014, the center adopted out 1,209 dogs and cats and returned 1,244 animals to their owners. It euthanized 3,710 canines and felines, or about 49 percent of the animals it received, the data show.
The shelter’s euthanasia rate was up from 47 percent in 2013, but has fallen from a recent high of 58 percent in 2011.
Last year, about two-thirds of cats the center received were put down, compared to slightly more than two in five dogs.
But the share of animals entering the shelter that leave alive continues rising.
The live-release rate climbed to 48 percent in 2014, compared to 42 percent in 2013 and 35 percent in 2009.
Mark Kumpf, director of the Animal Resource Center, did not return repeated requests for comment for this article.
But the Animal Resource Center has partnered with the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals to improve live-release rates through transfers to rescue groups, said Nora Vondrell, the society’s executive director.
SICSA, which is located in Kettering, accepted 371 rescue transfers from other shelters, most of which came from the Montgomery County center, Vondrell said.
The center transferred 1,166 dogs and cats to rescues in 2014, the most in at least five years and more than double the amount in 2009, the county data show.
The society and other animal rescues operate limited intake facilities and can stop admitting animals when they near capacity.
Vondrell said euthanasia would not be necessary if the community took the right steps to combat the problem of stray and unwanted animals.
The drop in animal admissions at the Animal Resource Center suggests local spay-and-neutering efforts are paying off, said Brian Weltge, the CEO of the Humane Society of the Greater Dayton Area.
The center and other local rescue and protection organizations opened up spay and neuter clinics in the 2000s, and those groups are adopting out thousands of animals each year that are fixed, Weltge said.
Some dogs and cats that come into shelters are sick or injured and must be put down.
But Weltge said the goal of every community should be to reduce the euthanasia of healthy or treatable pets, and the best reduction strategies involve programs such as spay and neuter, adoption, foster care, behavior modification and track-neuter-return for stray animals.
Weltge said Montgomery County could become a no-kill community if all jurisdictions worked together and adopted similar policies.
“I think we’re all on the road to stronger programs,” he said.
Too many pet owners are not committed and decide to get rid of their animals when they become inconvenient or living situations change, said Kerns, with Tenth Life.
Kerns said pet ownership should be for life.
“Too many people do what they want to do, and if there is not room for the pet, they leave it behind or call somebody to get rid of it,” she said.
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