No protests expected on contract

Monday, Aug. 18, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.

Protests that generally accompany Animal Foundation of Nevada matters before government bodies are not expected for Wednesday's Las Vegas City Council decision on a contract for the organization's regional shelter, an outspoken critic of the foundation says.

"We were pleased with how strict the county contract (with the Animal Foundation) is and because of that we feel that safeguards are in place," Doug Duke, director of the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Friday. "We have no plans to oppose the interlocal agreement."

Duke was referring to the part the county's contract that was approved in July that allows for the fining of the foundation if it mistreats animals and also allows the county to terminate the contract with a five-day notice.

Duke said those conditions were placed in the pact in response to concerns stemming from a 2001 Las Vegas audit of the foundation's shelter that found operational problems and raised concerns that healthy animals had been euthanized -- problems city officials say have since been corrected.

The SPCA had supported extending the county's contract with the Dewey Animal Shelter in Southwest Clark County past its 2005 deadline. The SPCA has its offices on Dewey's grounds,

The Animal Foundation, which is chaired by Janie Greenspun Gale, a member of the Greenspun family, which owns the Sun, received a 10-year contract in July to take over the impounding and adoption duties performed by Dewey in 2005.

Currently, about 60,000 animals a year are impounded at the Dewey and Animal Foundation shelters, Duke said, noting it is "unrealistic" to believe that, even with expansion, any one facility could effectively handle that many animals in such a short period.

"We believe that the SPCA and other organizations will step up efforts to make sure that fewer animals will need to go to a regional shelter," Duke said

"Although we won't necessarily work together hand-in-hand (with the foundation), the job will get done with more education and spay-neuter efforts."