The Daviess County Animal Care & Control now only provides spay/neuter services for low-income families and those who receive public assistance. The change comes in part after Fiscal Court members learned the clinic was providing services to animals from outside Daviess County.
A Facebook post on March 26 on the Fiscal Court’s page indicated there was a change to the qualifications families must meet to be served. The spay/neuter information page on the Fiscal Court website has since been updated with the new guidelines.
County Commissioner Janie Marksberry, Fiscal Court’s liaison to the animal shelter, said she and the Commisison recently learned that the shelter had been providing services for surrounding counties.
To combat this, the County decided to change the qualifications to prevent the problem from arising again.
During Thursday’s Fiscal Court meeting, Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen similarly said that once he and the rest of the Commissioners learned that was happening, a change had to be made.
“When I learned what I learned, without going into detail, I decided that we needed to put the brakes on what was going on. I directed the staff to look to a number of alternatives that we might pursue, and we’ll have additional decisions made going forward,” Castlen said.
Castlen declined to comment further after the meeting concluded.
Clinic volunteer Katie Ward said that the decision directly impacts the clinic’s mission and the shelter’s population.
“It’s going to directly impact the shelter and even possibly lead to higher euthanasia rates because fewer animals are going to be altered. That’s going to lead to more stray cats in the neighborhoods and unwanted dog litters. Unfortunately, when we have those situations, they end up at the shelter, and the shelter is already bursting at the seams,” Ward said.
The Shelter performed 5,000 surgeries in the first 7 months after opening in 2023. In February, the animal shelter reported that the clinic had dramatically dropped euthanasia rates: from 54 percent of all dogs and 88 percent of all cats in 2008 to just 7 percent of dogs and 20 percent of cats in 2023.
Marksberry said that while the change is only temporary, she does believe there is a chance for the County to be able to serve animals that are not in Daviess County in a way that is fair to County taxpayers. One option could be offering a small up charge for the families non Daviess County residents.
“When we’re talking about the Spay/Neuter Clinic and the overpopulation problem we have here, we still have got to get these animals fixed,” Marksberry said.
Fiscal Court members said they are actively working to find the best resolution. Commissioner Chris Castlen said he is thankful for the work that the shelter’s employees and volunteers do throughout their shifts.
Commissioner Larry Conder noted that the Fiscal Courts budget for Human Services is roughly $600,000, while the Animal Control budget is $1.3 million.
“Knowing that, passion comes into play for both how we take care of our people and how we take care of our pets,” he said. “So please understand that if you walk with anything from this evening, it’s that we take it very seriously how we address both items: both the humans and the animals have.”
