Skip to main content

What is happening at Pittsylvania Pet Center?

“What is happening at the Pittsylvania Pet Center?”  If you were not involved in the voting, and talks around building the new Pittsylvania Pet Center you may have heard or asked this question around town these past few weeks. This is my first article in the Chatham Star Tribune so I thought I would take this opportunity to clear up the questions.

The first question being asked is, “Who is running the new center?’  The Lynchburg Humane Society is managing the operations at the new Pittsylvania Pet Center.  The county of Pittsylvania owns and built the new facility and are responsible for the building and the costs associated with maintaining the building. The Lynchburg Humane Society is responsible for hiring and paying the employees of the center and for all costs associated with caring for the pets including feeding and medical treatments. “How is this different from before?”  Prior to our involvement the Animal Control officers were responsible for everything related to the pets at the county pound and relied on help from local organizations, the SPCA of Pittsylvania County and Happy Tails to place and transfer pets. “Are you replacing these organizations?”  We are not taking the place of the SPCA of Pittsylvania County, they are an independent 501C3 whose mission is to help the pets of Pittsylvania County find new homes through fostering or transferring. They had a vital role in making the new Pet Center a reality and will continue to play an important role in the facility’s success. They have assisted the Pet Center with transferring dogs to rescue partners and are great friends. Happy Tails has also proven to be a great partner.  They have assisted with many projects, providing supplies, volunteering and we expect these roles to grow.

“Who is working at the center?”  The fifteen people who work at the Pet Center are all community members of Pittsylvania and Danville.  We will have staff members periodically come from Lynchburg to train and assist but when you walk in to the center you will see people who you may know.

“Are you replacing the ACO’s?” The Lynchburg Humane Society and employees of the Pittsylvania Pet Center have nothing to do with the Animal Control side of this partnership.  The ACO’s still fall under county management and are a separate department.  They bring us the pets they pick up and we house them and care for them and once their stray hold for the pet is up (7 days without a collar and 11 days with a collar) we assure that the pet is given what it needs to find a new home.

“How much is this costing the county?” The county is paying us $260,000 to manage the new shelter for the community.  This fee is much less than what the county would have spent to do it themselves.  In fact, we project that it will cost us $432,660 to run.  So why are we doing this?  The reason is simple, we want to end the suffering of pets in this region, not by euthanasia, but by helping them find new homes.  Last year 81% of the dogs made it out of the old pound alive in Pittsylvania County, which isn’t bad, but only 22% of the total dogs/cats made it out of the contracted public shelter in Danville. 22 percent means 2,706 were euthanized, that is 52 a week on average, or 7 a day. 

We are doing it for those 7 pets a day.  We may not be responsible for the operations in the other shelters in this area but we want to be a resource and help.  We want to bring our life saving philosophy and practices to this area, create a happy and pleasant environment for people to help with the pets, we want to work with local vets so pets without owners are valued and get the treatment they deserve.  We want to bring value back to pets and make their lives important. In the month of July 106 pets came in to the new Pittsylvania Pet Center and 100% made it out alive.

“How can I help?” You can help by simply visiting, bringing in food or bedding, volunteering or fostering, taking advantage of our free and low cost spay/neuter services, focusing on all the great things happening at the Pittsylvania Pet Center and of course, by donating financially.   We will not succeed without the support of the people in this area.  This is your center, your pets and your people, only you can ensure the success of your Pet Center. To follow our events and adoptable pets please like our Facebook page; The Pittsylvania Pet Center or visit our website www.Pittsylvaniapetcenter.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IS LHS UNDER ATTACK?

In 2013 the Lynchburg Humane Society (LHS) ended the year with a 92% save rate for the animals in our care, the highest year end figure since we began down the path to No Kill.   We were able to reduce the number of cats we took in by 294, compared to 2012, due primarily, we believe, to our spay/neuter efforts.   YOU made this possible.    We believe the Lynchburg Humane Society is about to be embroiled in a controversial attack by another humane organization because of all the great work we are doing.   We want our community and our supporters to know why and to be informed about this controversy because without you we could not do what we are doing.   You all are partners in our efforts.     This is long so please hang in there and read it in its entirety because there is important information throughout that you probably don’t know.    In April PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) sent us a letter askin...
49 comments
Read more

They know what they know so don’t give them the facts.

I had the pleasure of having an interesting conversation with a member of another humane organization this past weekend. They are an SPCA that takes in animals for a number of localities and operates as the pound for their area. She asked how we were doing in Lynchburg and I, of course, was excited to tell her about our recent success about our save rate being 84% and having no healthy animal lose their life in our shelter in 2010 and how much the community has embraced the changes as we move toward becoming No Kill. She immediately went to defense mode and asked me loaded questions to prove I was wrong and of course explain to me how our programs wouldn’t work for them. The appointment system, wouldn’t work – pet owners aren’t responsible enough to do the right thing. People must be just “dumping” their animals in other localities.” Fact : The counties that reported their stats for 2010 in the Lynchburg area saw a reduction in the number of animals they took in and more...
15 comments
Read more

When the tables turn

It is not unknown for people to be scared of dogs. Animal shelters throughout history were built on that fear. Dog catchers were employed to capture packs of nuisance dogs that were roaming and pestering communities. Pounds were built on the edge of towns near the dump to remove stray dogs from towns and in most cases, destroy them to prevent public endangerment.   Fast forward to now and shelters are referred to as centers, instead of strays we say adoptable, we don’t say animals we say pets, and dogs are family members. Getting a dog without a home into a family is a community effort and #adoptdontshop is a movement.  So how strange it is that the COVID-19 pandemic has made us fear being too close to people and has increased our desire for pets?  People want to foster or adopt pets, now more than ever! At the Lynchburg Humane Society’s Center for Pets there has been an increase of 85% more pets in foster care than at this time last year. The Lynchburg Humane...
Post a Comment
Read more