COLUMBIANA COUNTY Shelter, pound work on dog plan

The higher cost might deter dog adoptions at first.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County officials are working with a Mahoning County-based animal charity on a plan to curb the number of stray and unwanted dogs by ensuring dogs adopted from the county pound are first spayed or neutered.
But the proposal, which may take effect by Jan. 1, will also boost the cost of adopting a dog, which is now $15.
"It's going to be more expensive," Commissioner Jim Hoppel, who's working on the plan, said Tuesday.
Hoppel wouldn't say how much it will cost because the plan has yet to be approved by commissioners. The panel probably will consider the proposal in the next few weeks, Hoppel said.
The higher adoption expense could initially lead to fewer dogs being adopted and more being destroyed at the pound, acknowledged Hoppel and Diane Less Baird of Angels for Animals. The pound gasses unadopted dogs.
Argument for plan
But Hoppel and Less Baird argued that eventually, the plan will fulfill its aim -- trimming the number of stray and unwanted animals that end up at the pound and are killed.
In 2002, the county dog pound destroyed 777 dogs, more than twice the number that were adopted.
It's crucial that more be done to break the cycle of adopted dogs reproducing, which breeds more unwanted dogs that often end up at the pound, Hoppel and Less Baird said.
Too many people adopt a dog from the pound without fully considering the responsibility to care for the animal and to prevent unwanted litters, they added.
With the low cost of adoption, some dogs are taken for fighting, breeding or to be chained up as watch dogs, they said.
The higher adoption cost will persuade people to take dog ownership more seriously, Hoppel and Less Baird contended.
The plan being considered calls for a person adopting a dog first to pay a fee that includes an $8 dog license, a rabies shot and the spaying or neutering.
The animal would be taken to Angel's Green Township facility, where the procedure would be performed.
Given the volume of animals Angels deals with, the private, nonprofit organization can get the procedures done at a bargain rate and the savings would be passed on, Less Baird said.
Typically, veterinarians charge the public $70 to $80.