Fayette County opened up the new animal shelter April 11, and as soon as the new shelter opened, there was immediate backlash from volunteers due to the size of the dog kennels.

According to social media posts, the kennels did not have space for dog’s beds and water bowls. Having more kennels for the dogs means that the county won’t run out of space for the dogs quickly. When the shelter doesn’t run out of space as quickly, they do not have to euthanize dogs due to lack of space. 

The board of commissioners agenda on May 9 showed 22 community members speaking out. The meeting minutes described what they spoke about.

“Citizens expressed their disappointment with the size of the kennels, the lack of outdoor space/runs, the lack of appropriate shade, lessened interest in the care of the cats, lack of community input, insufficient use of funds and lack of strategic design of the facility,” according to those minutes.

The shelter has the requirements to be counted as a “no kill” shelter, and to be a “no kill” shelter means a 90% live release rate, and the Fayette county shelter currently has a 98% live release rate. Live release rate is calculated by dividing total live outcomes, like adoptions, outgoing transfers, and return to owner, by total outcomes, total live outcomes plus euthanasia, euthanization of the dog, not including owner requested euthanasia, died, or lost in the shelter’s care. The space for more dogs means that they can hold more dogs and not have to put any down as they get more.

The dog spaces 

Although the new kennels raised the number of dogs held from 16 to 32, the size of them decreased the amount of space the dogs have. 

“Our county ordered the smallest kennels that were made to house small dogs for short periods of time. Most of our dogs are medium to large and are usually there for long periods of time. We have dogs that have been in the shelter’s care since December,” Shannon Keith O’Hara, a volunteer for the animal shelter, posted on Facebook. 

After photos came out of the size of the new kennels, Fayette County immediately got to work and changed some of the kennels to be an ‘L shape’ while the rest got the panel splitting them in half taken out to give the dogs more space, reducing the number of kennels from 32 to 24. This led to more room for the bigger dogs to move while the smaller dogs can still move in a bit smaller spaces. Kennels can still be moved around by staff based on shelter needs.  The old shelter kennels were concrete with a gate in the front as the door, the new kennels have been made out of a chewable material, leading to the dogs being able to chew the kennels and eat them. 

“It has turned out to be kind of a nightmare, especially for the dogs.  The design is just not good or safe for dogs, volunteers, or staff. The most crucial items are the kennels, size and type, and no safe outdoor areas. There are no shaded areas for us to walk dogs in anymore,” Stacy Fisher, a volunteer at Fayette County Animal Shelter, said. 

The cat kennels

The number of cats held has gone down, from the old shelter holding 26 to 28 cats in the adoption room, and 18 to 16 in the isolation room. The new shelter has 16 in the adoption room with eight in the isolation room.

The facility is lacking in several areas, according to Fisher.

“They have the same kennels in the adoption room, just less of them. There is still no window visible for the cats. There is not a good place for them to get out and play. One nice thing I can say is that the cat room is away from dogs, so they do not have to hear them barking all day. We were hoping for a nice adoption room for the dog or cat to meet possible new owners, there really isn’t one,” Fisher said.

What’s next?

A hurry has been pushed by volunteers for the walking trails so that the dog’s feet do not get burned from the pavement when walking the dogs, and the focus is shifting to building a livestock building and walking trails around the facility. 

“Volunteers have all shed tears seeing our shelter dogs and cats in this situation. They were better of at the old shelter. I do not like the new changes, it could have been so much better if they had designed with the animals in mind. The size shelter [holding capacity] is still too small for the size of Fayette County,” Fisher said.