Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — The 2007 report on the city’s animal services includes increases in service calls, animals sheltered and dispositions. Revenues were 116.5 percent of budget and expenditures were 4.2 percent less than budgeted.

“Things are getting better, they really are. We’re trying to become a no-kill shelter. What that means is not necessarily that we don’t euthanize them — it means that we don’t euthanize adoptable animals,” Montrose Animal Shelter technician Janice Oatman said Friday.

She said the transfer program that started in 2006 helps to alleviate “unnecessary euthanasia.” In 2007, 30 dogs and 27 cats were transferred from the shelter to humane agencies in Colorado and New Mexico.

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Oatman said Flat-Faced Friends Rescue in Fort Collins is among those to which animals were sent. It’s a no-kill humane agency that focuses on saving Persians, Himalayans and “other nasally-challenged felines,” according to its Web site at www.flatfacedfriends.com.

Unadoptable animals are those with untreatable illnesses or injuries, or with serious behavior issues. In 2007, 95 adoptable, 118 unadoptable and 720 feral cats were euthanized through Montrose Animal Services. For dogs, 68 of those euthanized were adoptable and 155 were unadoptable, according to the report.

“Due to the amount of animals that come through our shelter, we did not have the available space to house the adoptable animals until they could be placed in permanent homes,” according to the report.

Oatman said that though spring is ordinarily a relatively busy time for adoptions, the shelter has had less than normal.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the economy (but) people just aren’t adopting the way they used to. It’s been pretty quiet, actually. We’ve been doing more transfers just so we can save the animals,” she said.

However, she said the number of kittens sheltered has been down lately as well.

“Normally we’re overrun with kittens. So I’m assuming that our spay and neuter programs are working because of our lack of (felines), which is fine with me,” Oatman said.

In 2007, the shelter hosted three low-cost spay and neuter clinics. These resulted in sterilizations of 95 cats and 66 dogs, as well as 133 vaccinations, according to the report.

In other shelter news, two landscaping projects were initiated last year. A small dog park was fenced south of the facility, and landscaped with the help of local Boy Scouts. Another area was fenced and landscaped to provide additional space for dogs to frolic.

Though discussions for a municipal dog park began more than a year ago, Montrose remains without one.

Parks planner Dennis Erickson said a local organization has been working to finance fencing and other needs for such a park. He said no site has been selected, but that developments are expected by mid-summer and there will be community meetings to allow public input.

Contact Robert Allen at roberta@montrosepress.com

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