Municipal vs. Private Shelters
A municipal shelter is
run by a city, county, or other public entity and is funded by taxpayer
dollars. Such shelters are staffed by civil servants who may or may not
have any experience working with animals. Their primary job, as defined in
municipal codes, is to pick up stray and nuisance animals and reunite
lost animals with their owners. Often, a municipal shelter must take in
any unwanted animal that is brought in.
A private shelter is funded by private donations and is there to
provide a safe haven for lost or displaced animals. Its primary job is
to find homes for these animals. This type of facility is staffed by
employees and volunteers who, at least theoretically, are knowledgeable
about caring for these animals.
Reality of these shelters:
While some municipal shelters do a good job of reuniting animals with
their owners and even finding homes for their strays, most do a poor
job in this area. Granted, many municipal shelters aren’t mandated to do
much more than reunite or kill, but even here many shelters fail to
meet minimum standards.
Why is this happening? Because municipal shelters are generally under
the administration of a large department, they tend to get the short
end of both funding and staffing. After all, a shelter administered by
the streets and sanitation department may come under the purview of a
department head who knows a lot about road maintenance but not much
about caring for animals.
Many private shelters do a great job of placing animals. However, they
often kill or refuse animals that are hard to find homes for. This
includes animals that have chronic but treatable medical conditions,such as diabetes, have disabilities that are not life-threatening, missing a leg or an eye, or are believed to be undesirable,older
pets, shy pets. Additionally, many private shelters still keep their
animals in cages that are not designed for the long-term care of animals
that may never find a home.
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