Robeson County Threatens to Close Shelter, Blames Animal Activists

Jeff Bass is not a popular guy among animal activists. As the director of Robeson County Animal Shelter in North Carolina, Bass and his staff have been accused of mistreating animals, not providing vet care, and using inhumane methods of euthanasia.

Bass was also accused of euthanizing animals after people expressed an interest in adopting them, which led to a lawsuit against the shelter. A lawsuit that the County Attorney, Hal Kinlaw, apparently doesn't want to be bothered with. "It's going to take a lot of resources and time, a lot of people tied up. It's never a good thing to be in court when you could be doing your job." Seems to me that being in court is not outside the realm of the County Attorney's job.

All of this gives the impression that Robeson County doesn't particularly care what happens to the animals in its community. And recent comments from Health Department Director Bill Smith don't do much to instill confidence in the future of the shelter.

Last week, Jeff Bass was reassigned to another job within the county because, he said, death threats made him fear for his family's safety. But instead of taking the opportunity of new leadership to improve the way things are run at the shelter, Smith said if the interim shelter manager receives the same treatment as Bass, "we may move to just do what is required — rabies control and dog bites and look at closing the shelter."

I'm no fan of death threats. As I've said before, intimidating people in the name of defending animals is hypocritical. Non-violent tactics are more effective when making a legal case, and if you hope to actually change someone's mind. But that said, I'd bet the fastest way to stop threats against the shelter staff would be to start acting like they want to help animals.

According to The Robesonian, "Smith points to a recent rise in adoptions, saying 37.6 percent of the animals were adopted in March, 39.6 percent in April and 24.2 percent in May. The county at one time routinely euthanized as many as 5,000 cats and dogs a year, but in recent years, that number has declined by about 20 percent as the county was targeted by rescue groups."

An adoption rate of less than 40 percent, at the high point, is pretty dismal. As for the decline in euthanasia, the credit for that goes to the rescue groups who came to the shelter to save as many animals as they could, despite the staff's best efforts not to let animals out the door. Sadly, the District Court judge recently said there was no legal standing to force the shelter to change its policies of refusing to use foster homes and only filling half the kennels to "expedite cleaning."

But Robeson County still has the chance to change. When they seek out new leadership, they should look for someone who cares about the animals, who will go the extra mile to save lives. Based on their history, someone who would go half a mile to save lives would be an improvement. But if they choose to stick with the way things have been done in the past, they  have no one but themselves to blame for failing the county's animals. The activists are not the ones who are responsible for the lack of sheltering going on at Robeson County Animal Shelter.

Photo credit: colormepink