Waco animal shelter eyes fee changes amid capacity concerns

The animal services department's report presented to the Waco City Council on Tuesday comes as the shelter has been operating at 120 percent capacity for nearly a year and could be at risk of losing its status of does not kill if the intake of animals is not limited. animal shelter officials have said.

The shelter adopted its $50 surrender fee in 2013. The report states that the fee was designed to “encourage residents to try to find alternative solutions for animals other than the shelter.” The shelter does not charge a surrender fee if the animal meets Waco ordinances, including being spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. According to the report, free surrenders are not common in most municipalities and are not recommended by shelter experts. City staff is proposing to apply the $50 surrender fee to all animals, regardless of ordinance compliance, and increase claim fees from $125 to $250 for animals that have not been spayed or neutered.

The report also describes programs in place to help residents avoid the $50 surrender fee. The Firehouse to Your House program allows residents to bring found animals to fire stations near where the animal was found to be scanned for a microchip containing the owner's contact information. If the animal does not have a microchip, the fire station will provide the resident with a free delivery voucher for the animal to be taken to the shelter. Pets must be microchipped in Waco, and owners who fail to do so could be fined.

The Safety Net in Found Fosters, or SNIFF, program allows animals to stay in foster homes near where they were found for 72 hours before entering the shelter. Fosters will actively search for the dog's owner by posting on social media platforms and local lost and found pet groups.

Waco City Manager Bradly Ford said the report was prompted by public comments at the May 21 council meeting. Ken Willis was one of the residents who spoke about the animal shelter at that meeting. Willis said shelter staff don't always inform residents about the firefighter program. She also said it's wrong to ask residents to pay the $50 surrender fee after they take the time to bring a lost animal to the shelter.

“Why can't the city worker at the shelter scan the dog? It takes 10 seconds,” Willis said. “Why has the good Samaritan gone back to the fire department, taking this scared dog back to the car back to the fire department, just to scan it for a chip?”

Animal Services Director of Operations Melissa Sheldon said the goal of the firefighter program is to keep animals close to where they were found, statistically increasing their likelihood of being reunited with their owner and to stay outside the shelter.

“There have been a lot of studies that have been published recently that show that most people who stray are within a mile of their home,” Sheldon said. “Trying to keep an animal close to where it was found is its best chance to return home. Most shelters across the country see about a 20% chance of an animal returning to its owner. In that we are a a little bit lower. The percentage of any way we can get the animals closer to their home so they can get together is a little bit of the goal.”

Sheldon said the shelter's policy is to scan an animal for a microchip after it has been impounded, as required by law. Before the animal is impounded, animal shelter staff will notify the resident of the $50 fee. If the resident is concerned about the fee, staff will discuss the shelter's Waiver Payment Program options. There have also been cases where the animal shelter waived fees or the Humane Society of Central Texas paid fees for residents facing a financial crisis, she said.

The report details other measures shelter staff are working on to reduce surrender rates for residents who may show evidence of trying to locate the original owner or rehome the animal. This would include posting on Facebook or local Nextdoor groups, filing a report with 24PetWatch, or posting signs in the area where the animal was found.

The shelter has 770 animals in its care, 244 stay at the shelter and the rest in foster care. To maintain its no-kill status, the shelter must have a 90% live-out rate. Sheldon said it's important for the shelter to limit intake to help it maintain its no-kill status for as long as possible.

“We need the community's help to maintain this no-kill status and what that means is adopting, fostering and keeping animals from coming into the shelter that don't need to come to the shelter,” Sheldon said. “This way we can reduce the burden on the shelter and it will allow us to allocate our resources to the animals that really need us.”

According to the report, intake rates are also crucial to offset the costs of animal intake and care. The shelter admission process includes an exam, vaccinations, deworming, blood collection for a heartworm test and administration of preventative treatments for common parasites. The cost of medication and intake treatments is about $34 per animal. Additional costs for each animal include $2 per day for food. There are a number of additional costs for medical treatments, medicines and staff.

Animals that come into the shelter stay an average of 30 days, but Sheldon said the average is increasing. He said the increase in intake and average length of stay can be attributed to more animals being born during the pandemic and people having less time or money to care for those animals.

City Council members did not address the report at Tuesday's meeting but did approve the purchase of more property next to the animal shelter. The city will purchase 2000 Circle Road for $215,840 and previously acquired 2020 Circle Road in 2022 for $334,159. Ford said purchasing property in the area will allow the city to expand animal shelter facilities in the future.

“Not that we have any imminent plans to expand animal housing, but we are looking to expand services like the health care center that are in the budget,” Ford said. “Next year we're building a $4 million health care facility for our animals, so just making sure we're thinking about this place for a generation. We already have such a huge investment there, but we to think about the future. If there are opportunities to pick up a package or two, we will.”