Guilford County Animal Services is accustomed to getting donations, but recently staff were extremely pleased when the department received an unrestricted donation of $107,166.
It’s clear the donor did not do so for public honors – because he, she or they wished to remain anonymous.
According to information that county staff presented to the county commissioners this month, “It is extraordinarily rare that Animal Services receives a donation of this size and it will make all the difference for the dogs and cats in our care. The Animal Services Department is enormously grateful for this donation and everyone who is helping to transform the lives of homeless pets in Guilford County.”
The money will be used to improve life in the shelter in a number of ways, According to Animal Services staff, it will, for instance, be used to enhance the spay/neuter program and to fund emergency medical care for animals.
Guilford County Animal Services launched a new online spay and neuter program in September and it is experiencing “overwhelming demand,” according to shelter staff. This donation will help make the opportunity to spay or neuter a pet more convenient and accessible in Guilford County. That in turn will help reduce the number of unwanted pets – and reduce pet overpopulation in the county.
Animal Services and the animal shelter can use every dime it gets. Since the end of the pandemic, a very high rate of pet abandonment has led to frequent overcrowding at the shelter.
In the 2022- 2023 fiscal year that closed out on June 30, Animal Services assisted and provided care for over 7,000 dogs and cats, responded to more than 10,000 calls for service and helped find new homes for over 3,500 animals. The department was also able to reunite over 750 lost pets with their owners, and it also transferred about 600 pets to animal rescue programs.
Nice story.
I’m still stunned that a new shelter was just built and is full already and turning away animals because it has FEWER cages to accommodate dogs and cats than the old shelter when they had data giving them a history of how many animals were surrendered each year and information of population growth in the area.
Mismanagement of money given to the shelter as well as money given to every County agency is overwhelming. Everyone gets an extraordinarily beautiful multi-layered and decorated cake by the “best designer available” but when cut and tasted we find it is made of sh1t.
I appreciate the donor. I wish I had the ability to oversee the expenditure of the money.
Well said
Volunteer at the shelter and you will see how many dogs come in the door everyday. Surrenders and strays. The demand does not keep up with the supply in Guilford county.
Blame the lack of mandatory neuter laws.
I agree with the mandatory neuter and spay law but let’s go a little further and demand mandatory sterilization way too many baby daddies kids running around for taxpayers to keep up