Director Kelly Pickering asks Gilmer residents to spay and neuter pets
If Gilmer County Animal Shelter (GCAS) had double the shelter space it has now, it still wouldn’t fix pet overpopulation issues.
“That would help us for now, but it’s not going to fix the problem,” Director Kelly Pickering said.
Right now, the shelter has 125 cats and 74 cats.
Forty-five of these animals are in foster care with volunteers.
The shelter is always full.
“It’s two steps forward and three steps back,” Pickering said.
Although it would be difficult, neutering and spaying animals is the solution for this overpopulation issue.
“That’s about the only way we’re going to mitigate this situation,” Pickering said.
But it will take time for the population to return to reasonable levels, even if all Gilmer cats and dogs got neutered and spayed today.
If every cat currently in the shelter were neutered at the cheapest price locally available, it would cost $10,625, Operations Manager Heather Helton said. But not every cat is male, so the real price would be far higher.
If people spay and neuter their pets, it’s unlikely that it will lead to a decline in wanted animal numbers in the future, Pickering said.
Between professional and amateur breeders, there will always be enough animals to go around, she said.
Mass euthanizing animals isn’t an option in Gilmer. GCAS is a no-kill shelter by government mandate, and its employees strongly agree with the decision, Pickering said.
Not long ago, the overcrowding problem was worse, Pickering said. A local woman who owned 33 Chihuahua-wiener mix dogs went to the hospital, leaving her horde of dogs no option except the shelter.
At this point, the shelter has successfully processed the 33 dogs. Between adoptions, transfers and fostering, none of the dogs are currently at GCAS.
“That just means we’ve opened up space to bring in other dogs,” Pickering said.
But it’s a matter of time until another massive group of animals arrives.
“When you get hit with that many at one time, you have to completely reconfigure your shelter and how you’re going to fit them all in a safe and healthy way,” she said.
Although it’s against the law to own more than 10 pets without a licensed pet dealer permit, some people break this rule, Pickering said.
“We do find situations where there are more than 10, and we encourage them to find other rescues to help them out, or as we can we take them in,” Pickering said.