Humane society needs a hand

Humane society needs a hand

EDITOR:

Every day our staff of 16 comes to work to care for our adoptable animals, educate the community, and provide affordable veterinary care to our clients. We are unique in the veterinary world because we specialize in rescuing animals that are abused and abandoned. We take on humane cases that are unimaginably cruel, and ensure those that are guilty are prosecuted for their actions. Those animals will have justice. We are the Mahoning County humane society.

There is no other humane society in Mahoning County, and we are the only vet clinic that provides shelter to homeless animals because of eviction or hard financial times. We are one of the few clinics that provide full services at low costs — almost giving things away at times just to save an animal.

We do all of this work and will continue to do so. However, we could use the help of public officials to make our jobs easier. Simply put, we do not receive the support we need. Our mayor does not return our phone calls, nor do the city prosecutors, county commissioners, or our city councilmen. We really need their help to prosecute cases. The Youngstown Police Department is not always available to assist us when we need their help with a vicious animal or a dangerous situation, even though we respond to them immediately. The dog pound refuses to work cooperatively with us by ignoring our requests to pick up stray dogs and by not referring humane cases to our agency. We are the only agency in the county that is legally able to handle these cases.

The only way to stop abuse is to have severe consequences and support. We cannot make that happen alone.

In addition, we never received any money that was to be granted by the city to respond to humane calls within Youngstown. Approximately 90 percent of our calls are within city limits. We remove and rescue hundreds of dogs from the city alone on a yearly basis.

If you would like to support our causes, our mission and our fight for help, let the city of Youngstown hear your voice. Write letters, sign petitions, post flyers, anything you can think of to fight for those that have no voice of their own. We must encourage law enforcement officials and the courts to take us seriously if we ever hope to put an end to animal abuse; even if it means putting ourselves out of business.

NIKOLE OWEN

Youngstown

X The writer is CEO of Animal Charity of Ohio in Youngstown and wrote on behalf of herself and the staff.