Officials to schedule evening meeting for shelter questions
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Another back-and-forth concerning the animal shelter happened Wednesday at the Belmont County Board of Commissioners meeting, with an upcoming evening meeting expected.
For the past several weeks, guests have brought issues and concerns to the commissioners when it was confirmed that several animals were euthanized.
Billie Amos of St. Clairsville inquired about the possibility of an evening meeting to allow more people to attend. Commissioner J.P. Dutton said the board was in the process of scheduling a meeting. He elaborated during a recess, saying an evening meeting might be scheduled at a time in the next two weeks.
Ashley Barto of Flushing, who had attended the past several commission meetings, said she and others have observed improvements in shelter management including unlocking the doors and having staff on hand to accept donations, as well as more efforts to market animals.
Barto also leveled criticism against Dog Warden Lisa Duvall, saying she believes applicants to adopt dogs were denied due to the dog warden's personal dislike.
She said she has also obtained veterinary records for the treatments for dogs that appear to have happened after the dogs were euthanized. She said she will present this information during the evening meeting.
She also said a dog had been reported adopted by the shelter in early October, but she believed the dog had not been picked up and later died. The commissioners said they would look into that allegation.
Dutton said the shelter staff have been subject to extreme and unfair attacks on social media.
"I've seen some of the stuff on social media directed toward staff at the shelter, I don't think personally is appropriate," he said.
Barto said she has also been threatened on social media.
Dutton also added there are days such as Tuesdays when the shelter is closed.
Barto said members of the public were dissatisfied by the shelter's social media marketing.
"There were dogs that were advertised for adoption that were euthanized in February. They just removed them last week," she said. "Their own page had seven euthanized dogs on it."
Dutton said that and other oversights have been corrected, while concerns brought up by the public have been looked into. He said one employee did not have an active driver's license, but was driven to work and did not operate a county vehicle. He also said the presence of a fenced-in yard was considered while evaluating a potential adoption, but an applicant could not be denied for not having a fenced yard.
Other questions from prior meetings were also answered. In the event a dog was "sponsored" by a member of the public who was unable to adopt but who paid a dog's adoption fee and the dog is euthanized, the fee is passed to another dog.
"We're following up on everything that's being mentioned during our meetings," he said.
He reiterated that the county is planning for a new or expanded shelter, since the current shelter holds close to 70 dogs and is at double capacity. He added the shelter has maintained its "no kill" status by the unofficial metric of euthanizing fewer than 10% of its dogs, and other shelters have had to close their doors due to overcrowding.
"We are doing our best to keep the shelter open," he said. "When the weather turns cold ... if there's a starving dog, it could be taken in by the shelter. If we close it because of population, that dog does not get a chance."
He added that all euthanizations are on the shelter's record, even if the animal has not been to the shelter.
"We have gone on a call. We have gone to someone's home. There's an animal dying. Those people do not have the ability to take that animal to the vet and get it the help it needs. They sign it over. We take it to the vet. It's determined there's nothing that can be done for that animal."
Tempers grew heated, with Barto implying the shelter was only responding to pressure from the public. Dutton said there had been marketing efforts such as an online event with the nationwide animal advocacy group Jordan's Way. Barto suggested more volunteers be permitted.
Duvall arrived at the courthouse later for the shelter's budget hearing. She said she had no comment about the guests' allegations. She said the budget request from the general fund for 2024 was $208,180. This will likely be reduced in the final decision by the commissioners. For 2023, the shelter was provided $160,055.
Duvall said veterinary bills for dogs have increased dramatically in the past three years
The current shelter staff is 13, with one more part-time kennel worker needed to bring the shelter to optimal staff levels.
"It's a very physical job out there. People don't understand that. They handle every dog. They clean every single cage," she said. "We're behind on power-washing because I don't have that extra person."
Regarding the coming She said there are now 65 dogs in the shelter, and all are kept inside during the cold nights.
She said the shelter has also seen generous donations from the public.
"Shelter life is different. It's stressful," she said. "This is the most stress an animal can have on them, just living in a shelter."
Duvall added the shelter's newest dog, Buck, is being featured on the shelter's Facebook page. She said the dog was found injured and badly malnourished.
"We get one of those every week, if not five," she said.