County commissioner wants humane society to share in humane euthanasia – Winston-Salem Journal

County Commissioner Everette Witherspoon said he believes the Forsyth Humane Society should share in the responsibility of humane euthanasia if a proposed joint service agreement is approved between the organization and Forsyth County.

Witherspoon said Thursday during the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners briefing session that he is concerned that the county will continue to get complaints and be blamed for the humane euthanasia of animals, not the humane society.

If were going to pay them $510,000, then they need to do the dirty work also, Witherspoon said.

The humane society is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that supports a no-kill adoption center. The organizations proposal with Forsyth County calls for the humane society to expand its operations to include portions of the Forsyth County Animal Shelter on Sturmer Park Circle while continuing its own operation on Country Club Road.

Deputy County Manager Damon Sanders-Pratt presented information Thursday to the commissioners about the proposed agreement and a lease between the county and the humane society.

In response to Witherspoons comments, Sanders-Pratt said, Euthanizing animals is a necessary evil that we try to keep to a minimum as well, but its a relatively small part of the complaints. Now, there are some organizations like the humane society who have in their charter that they are no-kill, so until that were to change, they cant do that.

Witherspoon said that although euthanasia does not generate most of the complaints concerning the animal shelter, they are the type of complaints that tend to get the most attention.

The loudest complaints are what cause problems, Witherspoon said.

Sanders-Pratt said that the proposed agreement would run from Sept. 1, 2017 through Aug. 31, 2022 and the contract would not exceed $510,714.

Through the agreement, the humane society would provide care, custody, adoption and its general operations within about 11,579 square feet in the animal shelter.

The humane society would care for all dogs and cats at the animal shelter, while the county would provide care for other animals, including rabbits, reptiles and ferrets.

The county would also be in charge of all animals that are in a three- to five-day statutory hold period or at the direction of the court, and would continue to be responsible for such areas as animal control.

After that time is up, Forsyth County and the humane society would make joint decisions about which animals are eligible for transfer to the custody of the humane society for potential adoption or other transfer.

The agreement also calls for the county staff to retain responsibility for humane euthanasia when it was necessary.

Commissioner Dave Plyler, chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, said he is concerned that the general public might be confused about the best person to go to at the shelter, as the humane society and the animal control staff will handle separate operations.

Commissioner Fleming El-Amin said he believes there should be clarification on the joint decision-making process between the county and the humane society to avoid muddy waters, including the transfer of animals to the humane society.

Mark Neff, director of operations for the Forsyth Humane Society, said Friday in an interview that a lot of what the humane society would be doing in the Forsyth County Animal Shelter would be done in phases, looking at intake, looking at redemption, looking at animal care.

Eventually at one point, euthanasia will be under our consideration, Neff said. It just isnt going to be Day 1. We dont have a true timeline on when thats going to happen. In order to be successful, you want to make sure you dont take everything on at once.

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County commissioner wants humane society to share in humane euthanasia - Winston-Salem Journal