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THURSDAY, APR IL 30, 2020 • KOKOMO TR IBUNE / PHAROS-TR IBUNE
ANDREA MELTON
FOR THE PHAROS-TRIBUNE
A
s part of the efforts to slow the
spread of the coronavirus, animal
shelters and adoption organiza-
tions across the nation have had to
adapt. Many have closed their doors to
the public and halted adoptions.
Others are still adopting dogs and cats
out to new homes, but on a restrictive
or case-by-case basis. Local organiza-
tions are making adjustments as well.
The Cass County Humane Society
has stopped adoptions completely for
the time being, something that Execu-
tive Director Amanda Lane described
as “a very hard decision.”
“That pays to get all of the animals
their shots, spay and neuter, food and
pay our employees,” Lane said. “Us lim-
iting what happens here has really had
an effect on us. But it is something we
had to do, because if our animals don’t
have all of the employees here because
they’re getting sick, then they’re not
getting well taken care of. So, we had to
make that decision.”
Lane says the Humane Society is not
open to the public and only employees
are allowed in and out. Currently, they
only have the same animals they had in
the shelter before the restrictive safety
measures were ordered.
“Animal control is not working,”
she said. “The police will only bring in
aggressive or hurt animals and they
can bring them in on their own, but we
are not taking animals from the public
right now. No strays or owner surren-
ders.”
That hasn’t happened yet. She said
the public is doing an outstanding job
of addressing stray dog situations and
notifying the shelter. The community is
using social media to connect runaway
animals to their owners.
“They’re doing a great job of letting
us know right away. We get it posted for
them, and nine times out of 10 it’s back
with the owner in no time,” Lane said.
She said people are generally more
than willing to hang on to animals and
try and find their home.
“The public has been amazing,” she
said. “I cannot believe the amount of
support they’ve given us. It’s been a
group effort between everybody here
and the public to get animals back with
their owners without them actually
having to come here.”
Lane said that was so important
because the shelter is completely full.
“But all of the animals are doing
great. They’re happy,” she said. “It’s
actually kind of a relief for them
because they can be as loud as they
want now, they don’t have to worry
about everybody coming through, they
get more yard time, and they get more
attention because we don’t have cus-
tomers coming in so the employees can
spend more time with them.”
The Cass County Humane Society
is not accepting physical donations for
supplies right now because the virus
can live on them. They are happy to
receive checks in the mail. Lane also
indicated they can have items sent
from Amazon, or people can donate via
PayPal. There is a link to donate on the
Humane Society’s website.
Cause for Paws of Cass County has
also stopped adoptions for the time
being. Nancy Moore, who has been
with the organization since 1998, said
they are happy to take applications
over the phone for future adoptions.
“At this point we’re not doing any-
thing other than just talking to people
and we’ll see how things go down the
road,” Moore said.
Janet Showley is the director of the
Fulton County Animal Shelter. She says
they are still adopting animals, but
only by appointment. However, there
are less than a dozen animals living at
the shelter right now.
“When all the news started to hit we
acted very quickly to get animals into
homes ASAP,” Showley said. “We antic-
ipated we’d have to close, so that first
week we pushed to get animals adopted
and fostered.”
The Fulton County Animal Shelter
is accepting checks via regular mail or
you can go to their website for a list of
supplies needed.
PET PREDICAMENT
Animal shelters adapt to coronavirus restrictions
Ashley
Best
cleans
out
a dog
kennel
at Cass
County
Humane
Society.
Josh Matias
sprays down dog
kennels at Cass County Humane
Society.
Photo provided
