Photo by kahle via morgueFile.com
The Randall Town Board is considering its options regarding animal control.
The town currently has a contract with Safe Harbor to house stray pets found but not claimed right away. Various town officials volunteer to the do the actual catching of the animal, which is initially housed by the town until it can be brought to Safe Harbor, which is in Kenosha.
The dilemma for officials comes in that only a handful of animals were actually brought to Safe Harbor last year since they were re-united with their owners relatively quickly. However, the town pays an over $200 monthly retainer to Safe Harbor.
“To me it’s a lot of money,” said Supervisor Randy Kaskin at Thursday’s regular Town Board meeting.
One option being explored would be for the town to house the animals for a period and then euthanize unclaimed pets via a local veterinarian practice. This might be more costly per instance, but would not involve a monthly retainer.
Supervisor Mike Halvorson, acting as chairman in Chairman Bob Stoll’s absence, said he wanted to let pet owners know that if they had address identification on their dogs most loose animals could be returned “in a matter of hours” to their owners.
The matter was tabled until more information about options could be obtained.
Supervisor Lauren Fox also was absent Thursday.
Please give serious consideration. Why euthinize an animal when it can possibly be adopted. Afterall the animals don’t have their own means of being registered and tagged. Furthermore Safe Harbor is volunteer and donation based.
This does not seem like a good option.
Some of these pets while left unclaimed by (possibly) careless owners, could be great companions for another family down the road. The $200 a month not only goes to covering the costs of maintaining the animal while they are there, it helps to defray the costs of the shelter which is a good thing for the community to have one in the region that will give pets a second chance at improving its life and the life of its future owner!
But $200.00 dollars can buy a lot of signs.
Will there be a town meeting discussing this? Or anyone I can contact regarding this issue?
I am a Randall resident and completely disheartened to hear that these animals would be euthanized unnecessarily. I would be happy to assist in finding these animals another rescue that would either offer to take the animals for free or at a lower rate. Otherwise I would be happy to fundraise to support the meager fees to keep the current housing system in place.