County, LV seek one pet shelter

Thursday, Jan. 2, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

Clark County officials say they are confident they can reach a multi-entity agreement for a regional animal control shelter by 2005 that will make it easier for pet owners to recover lost pets and adopt abandoned animals.

The Clark County Commission will consider Monday a committee's recommendation that would support the Animal Foundation Inc. as the operator of the new regional facility. The foundation already has the contract for the city of Las Vegas pound, the Lied Animal Shelter at 700 N. Mojave Road.

"I am confident we can develop a good, solid contract among the jurisdictions that will be good for the the county and good for taxpayers," Jim Spinello, Clark County assistant director of administrative services, said.

The proposal, approved by the committee Dec. 16, calls for the commission to direct county staff to meet with the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas and the Animal Foundation to hammer out an agreement for a regional pound.

North Las Vegas and Clark County currently contract with the Dewey Animal Clinic for services, but those agreements expire in 2005. North Las Vegas has notified Dewey that it does not plan to renew. The county has had problems with Dewey stemming from wet and chilly kennels and mold on its walls.

Henderson operates its own municipal pound.

Spinello said the creation of a regional shelter will benefit Las Vegas Valley residents who lose a pet. They will have to go to just one pound to see if their animal has been found. A county survey found that 40 percent of respondents said they have had to visit more than one site to look for their lost pet, he said.

The Animal Foundation says it will increase the rate of adoptions at the shelter and through satellite adoption sites throughout the valley, Spinello said.

In approving the Animal Foundation, which has had the Las Vegas contract since 1995, the committee rejected three other proposals, including one from Dewey, which operates its shelter off Russell Road and Decatur Boulevard.

County commissioners in 2001 rejected Dewey President Joseph Freer's request for a five-year contract extension.

Other options before the committee were from veterinarian George Stoecklin to build a pound next to his animal hospital at Cheyenne Avenue and Civic Center Drive or to create a county animal shelter in the northeast Las Vegas Valley operated by various animal rights groups.

Spinello said the debate at a Dec. 2 committee meeting was "passionate" among area animal rights activists who have long attacked each other for purported shortfalls in animal care. At the Dec. 16 meeting no public testimony was taken and the committee focused on picking the most feasible of the proposals.

The County Commission had requested those proposals in September after critics of the Animal Foundation lodged complaints that the organization mishandled pets and mismanaged money.

Spinello said the county is satisfied that Animal Foundation's management problems and unnecessary euthanization of animals that were outlined in an October 2001 audit have been addressed and corrected.

"We received a letter from the city that gave a vote of confidence to the Animal Foundation," Spinello said. "One aspect of our work (in putting together the contracts) is to ensure controls and safeguards."

The county, under the terms of the proposal, would pay $1.2 million a year -- what it currently pays Dewey -- for five years.