ASAB--Sheltering Practices Today

[Bob Marotto]

Allan Polak, Chair

Animal Services Advisory Board

Orange County, NC

Allan,

I want to share with you and other members of the Animal Services Advisory Board my News of Orange County oped column on current sheltering practices.  It appears below.

The concerns I voice in the column are shared by other shelter observers in North Carolina and beyond.  They are significant concerns that I and others believe deserve serious consideration.

It may well be worthwhile to review these concerns with Animal Services staff for two reasons.  One is to ensure that there is an awareness of challenges community's are increasingly facing as a result of restricted intake by local animal shelters.  The other is to ensure that there is clarity about our own intake practices and that these are clearly understood within Orange County.

If this effort is undertaken, I hope that you will let me know.  Also, I am pleased to help the ASAB and Animal Services staff undertake this initiative if that would be helpful.

Sincerely,

Bob

Robert A. Marotto, Ph.D.

Retired Animal Services Director

Rougemont, NC

cc:  Elizabeth Overcash, Director, OCAS

       Board of County Commissioners 

Animal Shelters Should Have Open Doors

As recently as 2021, you could surrender a pet you could no longer keep to animal shelters in Alamance, Orange and Wake County without question or delay.  If you found a stray animal, you could bring it to your local shelter for admission and care. 

Bu this is no longer the case in these and other shelters in North Carolina.  If you need to surrender an animal now you are often put on a waiting list, sometimes waiting more than a month for space to become available.  And if you found a stray animal, you may well be asked to foster the animal--and if you can't, told to release the animal because the shelter is full.

Limiting animal intake through "managed admission" is becoming widespread. This change gained momentum during COVID when members of the public were called upon to take care of lost and stray animals and to foster and/or adopt animals that ended up at a shelter.

The undesirable consequences of such admission policies have become increasingly apparent since COVID.  They are occurring in a context of strong economic pressure on households, which impact pet ownership and retention, as a result of inflation, rising health care costs and an inadequate supply of affordable housing.

In many places, people are asking why they are seeing so many more stray and neglected animals. In addition,  many animal shelter veterans are now asking why animals should be left to fend for themselves, instead of being humanely euthanized, if no space is available at a shelter.

There is also a growing concern with the threat stray dogs pose to public health and safety in various parts of the country.  In some places, there are now packs of free-roaming dogs and dog attacks are increasing. There is also concern about the possibility of an upswing in rabies.

Furthermore, turning animals away is becoming an issue in many communities.  In Alamance County, for instance, elected officials recently asked the Animal Services Director to address the issue because of resident grievances about stray animals. They had been hearing that residents are being told the shelter is full and they must either foster an animal or return it to where it was found.  

Earlier this year public dissatisfaction caused the Wake County Animal Shelter to rescind its decision to no longer accept owner surrendered animals.  One should not be surprised if Charlotte Mecklenberg Animal Care and Control's similar decision, effective July 1, is also reversed.

Turning animals away is a dramatic departure from the open admission practices that were once widely accepted.  While adoptable animals were euthanized as a result of limited space, owing to the pressure of pet overpopulation, no animal was turned away to fend for itself and possibly suffer in silence.

Shelter observers are now pointing out that "managed admission" has become a euphemism for reducing intake in order to avoid space euthanasia.  They are stressing that this is due to the influence of the "no kill philosophy" that groups like Best Friends have aggressively promoted in states like North Carolina. 

In our current economic circumstances, it is only possible to open their doors more widely if shelter staff manage available space with humane euthanasia.  Doing so requires recognition, not only by staff but shelter stakeholders, that animals end up suffering when they are turned away from a shelter; and that their suffering is not justified by efforts to become "no kill."

Shelter staff and stakeholders must also build strong support programs for struggling pet owners.  Pet food pantries and affordable veterinary care are especially important in reducing the number of surrendered and abandoned animals.  Burlington Animal Services and Orange County Animal Services provide outstanding models for these programs.  They are also showing us how to coordinate with human services that can help stabilize families in the face of affordability challenges.  

Whether we are talking about good or bad times, prevention is the answer to pet overpopulation. Spaying and neutering animals that would have had litters in the past will reduce the number of homeless and unwanted animals in our communities AND in our shelters. But only if the effort to do so is coordinated and strongly supported by all stakeholders.

Until such time as we make that a reality, we must maintain our open admission shelters. Otherwise, we will be responsible for the suffering of far too many animals, and forsake our historic commitment to minimize and ultimately end the suffering of our animal companions.

Bob Marotto

Bob Marotto is the founding director of Orange County Animal Services.  Before moving to North Carolina in 2005, he managed Minneapolis Animal Care and Control.  He is retired and lives with his wife in Rougemont.

July 27, 2026

[Allan Polak]

Bob, 

Thank you very much for your email and for forwarding this article to me.  It is good to hear from you. 

Please allow me to discuss this with Elizabeth and to ensure that this falls within the scope of our advisory committee prior to my taking any further action. 

Best regards,

Allan Polak

Chair