Shelter reduces euthanasia rates

POLKTON — The Anson County Animal Shelter turned around for the better since the new director started four years ago.

Maureen Lett first volunteered at the shelter for six months before she was encouraged by the county manager at the time to apply for the director position. In her four years in this role, she’s helped bring the shelter’s euthanasia rate down dramatically and received grants to update the more than 20-year-old old building and purchase a van to transport the animals to rescue centers.

Last year, Petco approached Lett and her team, encouraging them to apply for a grant because the shelter had brought down its euthanasia rates down so much. When Lett first came on as director, the euthanasia rate was 97% and now, only four years later, it is at 4%.

Unsure of how much to ask for and how to apply for a grant, Lett reached out to Petco asking for advice. She was told to apply for $50,000, the most amount you could ask for.

“We needed to repair the floors and our adoption area because they were peeling and cracked,” Lett said. “The state has written us up and wrote that we had to have them fixed in a certain period of time. The county really didn’t have the funds to fix the floors. So I thought I’d write the grant for the floors and we needed a transport vehicle to go to adoption events and things like that.”

A vet originally occupied the building, but then it was sold to the county and the vet moved down the road. Any amount of grant funds was needed as the old building needed updating.

As far as a transport vehicle, Lett and employees drove their personal cars. Lett’s parents were even contributing and letting her borrow their car, known as the “critter car,” to move the animals to adoption events or to bring them to transportation sites so the animals can then be moved to rescues.

“Petco came through for us and gave us $40,000,” Lett said. “They’ve come through a couple of other times. They gave us a COVID grant for $1,000. I wrote another grant for medical expenses for spay and neuter and they gave us $2,000 for that too.”

About $20,000 of the large Petco grant went towards purchasing the new transport van this past year. A car dealership in Lake Norman gave the shelter a great deal on the van. The owner of the dealership is an animal supporter and is constantly helping out other shelters around the area. She accepted Lett’s $20,000, gave the shelter a $50,000 van and wrote the rest off, according to Lett.

The 2019 Ram Promaster only had about 20,000 miles on when the shelter purchased it. There is plastic lining all on the inside, making it easier to clean out. There are also strips and hooks on the inside to strap in the cages securely. The new van is constantly being used. Lett believes they already added another 20,000 miles within the year.

“(The van) has been a big asset,” Lett said. “We’ve partnered with other shelters. If we’re doing transport and they have a dog going and they need to go somewhere, we let them get on our transport. If I’m sending the van, I might as well help people out and use the van and let other people get on there.”

Having a reliable and bigger van goes hand-in-hand with how Lett has been able to bring down the euthanasia rate. She’s made connections with rescue partners to move the animals on for adoption and transporting them is now easier with the van.

“We just don’t want to euthanize animals,” Lett said. “It’s terrible to say, but you get paid the same whether you euthanize animals or save animals, but we all sooner save animals than put them down.”

The drop to 4% did not occur over night, Lett explained. She constantly puts in the work to get the shelter’s animals out to rescues and making new connections in the state and across the country. Lett even worked while laying in her hospital bed this year for non-COVID-19 illness which nearly sidelined her.

“I had to spend a week at the hospital,” Lett said. “But we still (helped) between 20 to 30 animals that week … The show must go on, it doesn’t stop.”

So far in 2020, the shelter had to put down 13 animals out of approximately 750 animals that have come through both Anson County and other counties in North Carolina. If this rate continues to the end of the year, the euthanasia rate will go down again to about 2%.

“Just because we’re euthanizing doesn’t mean we are doing it for space,” Lett said. “We’ve had two injured dogs that the owners turned into us that couldn’t have anything be done for them. We sent them to the vet and the vet recommended euthanasia.”

Other shelters may be putting down their animals because they need the space, according to Lett. Those shelters may give each animal a time frame of seven days and if that animal is not adopted or rescued, the shelter will euthanize the animal.

In Lett’s eyes, seven days or even 14 days, is not enough time for animals to adjust. She would rather move the animals that can be moved and keep the animals that need to acclimate. If Anson County does not have enough room in the shelter, Lett works with people to bring animals to other shelters or straight to rescue sites, emphasizing again, she does not want to euthanize any animal.