THE BUSINESS OF SAVING ANIMALS

WRITTEN BY: J U L I E M U R R A Y

So, you decided to get a pet for yourself or your family. You have already made the responsible decision to “Adopt, Don’t Shop” and now you have to decide which shelter or rescue organization you want to visit. There are several choices here in the Lowcountry and you may think all of them are funded and run in much the same way. Upon doing my research for this article, I found out just how different one shelter can be from another –in terms of intake numbers, contributions, government funding and operating costs. No matter what, though, it is clear that the mission of each one is the same…to save animals and help them find their forever homes. We’ll give you the facts!

The first thing you may want to consider is what “type” of shelter you want to visit. There are three main types found in the lowcountry:

This type of shelter has a finite capacity and cannot admit all animals. They are usually privately funded and most of their animals come from owner surrenders or are transferred from other, more crowded shelters. Most do not euthanize adoptable animals, and each animal can stay at the shelter for as long as it takes them to be adopted. Because of this, with each animal that is considered for an intake, a decision must be made whether or not they are considered “adoptable”. (ex. Pet Helpers)

These are typically open-intake, which means they take in animals from the general public or those seized by animal control agents on patrol. They are run by city or county governments and funded by tax dollars. Sadly, the funding they receive is frequently not enough for the number of animals they are tasked with caring for so often they pair up with non-profit organizations to help make up the difference. (ex. Berkeley Animal Center)

These shelters contract with a municipality to run adoption and animal care. These types of shelters receive government funding like a county or municipal shelter but also have a fundraising arm that brings in additional donations and grants for funding. They are typically run by an Executive Director and are free to establish their own policies and procedures. This provides the advantage of being able to fundraise (a.k.a. more money for animals!), while also providing vital assistance to their community. Many of these shelters are considered ‘no-kill” which means only a small percentage of animals that are considered adoptable could be euthanized. Animals who are sick, aggressive or deemed unadoptable can be euthanized without affecting their live release rate. (ex. Charleston Animal Society & Dorchester Paws)

To show you just how vastly different these types of shelters can be, I researched five South Carolina shelters and gathered information on things like yearly contributions and grants, salaries paid, adoption numbers and euthanasia rates.

Jasper Animal Rescue Mission: A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Jasper County.

Dorchester Paws: A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the only open-admission shelter in Dorchester County. Partners with Dorchester Code Enforcement.

Charleston Animal Society: A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1874 with a mission of never turning away a local animal.

Pet Helpers: A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Pet Helpers is a limited admission shelter with the mission of ending euthanasia of all adoptable animals. They also operate a low cost spay/neuter clinic.

Berkeley Animal Center: A Berkeley County government division that provides a safe and loving environment for rescued, abandoned, abused or neglected animals. Since BAC is county-run, BAC Penny Paws, a non-profit organization, was created by volunteers to assist on a daily basis and by volunteering, fostering, adoption events, and raising funds to supplement financial needs.

As you can see, the clear front runner in terms of contributions, grants and funds raised is Charleston Animal Society. On the other end of the spectrum is Jasper Animal Rescue Mission. According to their tax records, their fundraising proceeds were only $4,563, but they receive yearly contributions from Jasper County and the City of Hardeeville ($176,000 and $10,000 respectively, in 2018)

Unlike the other shelters, Berkeley Animal Center is unable to accept private contributions/grants and fundraise itself, since it is a governmental agency. Recently, a private shelter in Berkeley County closed and BAC was left as the only open shelter in Berkeley County. Between May and June of 2019, they took in over 600 dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. As you may know, even caring for one or two animals can add up –imagine caring for 600 animals and providing all of their food, medical needs and comforts.

Euthanasia happens regardless of what type of shelter it is. The type of shelter as well as it’s own policies determine what animals get adopted vs get euthanized. For example, in Berkeley County, which does not have TNR (trap, neuter and release) program for cats, the number of cats euthanized is staggering. More than 60% of the cats entering the shelter are euthanized compared to less than 5% in Charleston County, that has a successful TNR program. For dogs, Berkeley County is currently running at about a 25% euthanasia rate which has improved in recent years thanks to rescues like Eunoia Rescue, Pet Helpers, Carolina Coonhound and many others pulling at risk animals from BAC. Charleston and Dorchester are running at ‘no kill’ levels for dogs which is not what it was 10 years ago when the area was euthanizing close to 50% of the animals entering the shelter.

You can see by the pie chart things are a little skewed when it comes to wealth distribution in the local animal shelter community. The two shelters in Charleston County have just under $1,000 per animal, where as Berkeley and Dorchester are running with $183 and $241 respectively per animal that comes into the shelter. Jasper County is similar size to Pet Helpers to its number of animals but far behind them in terms of dollars. Are these more highly funded groups unworthy of the money they receive? Absolutely not, but do the shelters in neighboring counties deserve better? This should be absolutely yes, without question. If you are a resident of either Berkeley or Dorchester counties you need to let your representatives that you elect know that animal welfare should be funded and taken as seriously as it is in your neighbors in Charleston.

Saving animals is a business and unfortunately, it’s an expensive one. I would urge anyone reading this to visit all 5 of the shelters covered in this article and see where your donation dollars are going.

If you would like to help, VOLUNTEER at any one the shelters as the more help they have, the more they can do. Underfunded shelters like BAC need plenty of volunteers to help with daily tasks as they don’t have the payroll to have enough staff.

Another way to help is to FOSTER with either the shelter or a local rescue group. The more fosters in the area the more animals are out of shelters.

Lastly DONATE, but before you donate, think about where your donation dollars will make the most impact.