Last year I contacted three shelter or rescue places and the local police in Clinton Wi. when I noticed 14 cats and nothing done about it because after all they were being fed? It does seem as though cats are treated as pets when they are really wild in nature without human contact. I adopted a dog from a rescue shelter in Antioch last Monday. He seemed friendly and did not even bark or be aggressive in any way. He turned vicious without me even knowing it, he lunged at me and I had to go to urgent care. The rescue place told me I had signed a contract and they had a right to cone rescue the dog from me?? Because the police issued a order to impound the dog for ten days. I have noticed hardly no one seems to think animals should be euthanized or shot after vicious behavior. some rescue places treat dogs and cats as if they were human not animals. We need people shelters and help for the poverty issues we keep passing on to organizations over worked by the average person only meeting their own needs and qualifying their other giving as charity with a tax paper given. I really wish the no kill rescue place would not keep making money off the same dog at 275. but I am afraid no one believes as I do, it is time to kill dogs and cats especially those who have already run in packs; attacked or bitten people.

These cats aren't ferrals. These are cats that someone didn't want because they were too affectionate, or weren't affectionate enough, were too energetic or too lazy, their fur didn't match the new furniture, they scratched the new carpet, we didn't have time for them with the new baby, we were allergic... Go visit these cats sometime. They love people, are affectionate and were deserted. They are our community's living trash. I'm so sad that we don't value them enough to even pay for someone to pick them up and keep them so they can be found by their owners or until they can find someone who will love them the rest of their lives.
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And yes, you can feel this way about animals while still caring about politics, the state of our educational system, the homeless problem, the environment, etc. The point is to *do something* about the things that matter to you, whatever they are. Arm-chair ranting is all well and good, but it alone won't solve the world's problems. :/

I appreciate the fact that Rhodes is being up front and to the point about this. I am not familiar with her background, but she seems to be running the RCHS like a business, which is exactly what needs to happen if it is going to continue to exist in this community. (And for the record, being able to adopt a dog for $150 that is spayed or neutered, vaccinated against Distemper/Parvovirus, and Bordatella, heartworm tested and/or started on heartworm preventative depending on age, microchipped, treated for fleas/ticks, and dewormed, or a cat for $65 that is spayed or neutered, vaccinated against feline Distemper/Calici/Panleuk/Rhino, microchipped, tested for Feline Leukemia (FELV) and/or FIV, treated for fleas, ticks, and ear mites, and dewormed is a STEAL. Try taking in a stray and then taking it to vet to get all of that done and see what it costs). Good intentions only get you so far. You can't operate on a hope and a prayer and expect to be around long term. At least they're not agreeing to take the strays, and then killing them en masse on the 8th day in order to keep the doors open. The reality is the RCHS is a private shelter that is under no obligation to provide stray control for local municipalities. If the cities don't want to covers the costs, then they can come up with some other solution, which they should have been doing in the last year not "recently" as the article states. The bottom line is we need an organization like the RCHS in this community, and they're doing what they need to do to survive. How the cities intend to handle the stray problem is what I would like to know.

Angela Rhodes, you rock.

When I was a kid in the '50s the LaCrosse PD had two patrol cars equipted with an exhaust cutoff to the trunk. When they got a stray call, they put the animal in the trunk, turned on the cutoff valve and drove to the dump on French Island. End of Problem!

"Issue every cop a 22, cheaper than $130."

Rusty, I looked for the "like" button but I couldn't find it.

"It's a civil matter" is JPD's way of saying they don't want to deal with something.

230K on stray pets?????? How much does the city spend on stray humans????

Blaming one director or the other is not the point......this doesn't seem like a situation caused by anything but sheer volume of animals, lack of funding, and lack of a sufficient building to house them in. Last I knew a cat from the Humane Society cost around $80. Farm cats are free. Maybe a reduced-price spay & neuter program could be sponsored by local vets?

This is just an opinion, but maybe they could gain some revenue by giving tickets for animal violations. Dogs running loose, people letting their cats live outside, not having shots, no license, stuff like that. My brother has a neighbor whose dog and cat are allowed to roam at will, he called the Police and they basically ignore the problem, says its a civil matter. Last I knew it was against the law to let your pets run loose. Maybe if they crack down on violators it will help "encourage" owners to have better control on their pets.

uncle - no I never heard about that. That must of been one sick bastard!

I personally cant understand how anyone could just up and leave their pet. I would have a nervous breakdown if one of my bunnies even got loose. I could never just leave them abandoned. :(

The coyotes eat most of the stray cats where I live. I like coyotes.

Rusty... I remember a while back some guy was arrested for getting cats at the Humane Society and taking them home and torturing them. Anyone else remember that?

truth1, " or tortured by sadists." Where did you come up with that? Just asking.
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Issue every cop a 22, cheaper than $130.
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Now watch the haters come out.

I now have three stay cats hanging around my block. Which is not so bad till the nice nights that the windows are open. And my dogs go nuts in the middle of the night because they can sense them outside of the house. But then I can not let the dogs go chase them. For then I can get a ticket. So is it going to get worse?

People who live on "farms" should get their cats fixed too....for goodness sake, there are kittens to get free all over the place that will probably end up at a shelter and YOU don't need to breed more of them on your farm, not trying to be rude, just saying.
Give those animals a home if you have the means.

Anyone who thinks "fixing" animals is cruel should see all the EXCESS animals locked up in cages and eventually KILLED because there are no homes for all of them, or sold to laboratories to be "experimented" on or tortured by sadists.
What is "cruel" about fixing an animal?????.
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Mine are all fixed and they show no signs of being less happy or healthy than they were before.
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There are WAAY too many pet animals, especially cats...Get them FIXED..Anyone who thinks that "cruel" has GOT to have a screw loose!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny how all the problems started when the new directer was hired. The Humane Society is being run into the ground by her. Certainly ran good when Chris Konetski ran it......just saying. I was a volunteer till she left, then I didn't want anything to do with them with their silly rules.

Evansvillehousewife...Don't worry, the liberals will redistribute my money to take care of the stray-people. That way they can bread more just like them and never be held responsible, because gosh darnit...that's the humaine thing to do.
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As for the woman in charge of the humaine society, I agree with her fully and she is being realistic. Don't know if she would think like I do about other things, but kudos for being direct. We should try to make an effort in our communities to keep these animals and their owners in check. We can also afford to continue paying for some of the bills. I do. I can't stand the lack of responsibility some of these people who breed these dogs without due regard or get an animal and then don't truly take care of it. If we could just hold them more accountable, maybe we could alleviate some of the burden. I like the people who work at the RCHS. They are cool for caring.

Cats are more able to take care of themselves than dogs and cats are not as dangerous as dogs.

chelleandlou-
If you, or anyone, thinks that clothes and personal items are more important to take than you pets, than you should not own a pet. Your clothes aren't going to die if you leave them behind. The Animal Cop shows make me sick because of the condition animals that were abandoned are found in, and your comment makes me sick too. This is what is wrong with society today.

I have stray cats all over the place. I don't have a problem with dogs yet.

Guess we will have to rely on Atticus Finch.

Stray cats and dogs can both cause a lot of damage and pose a health threat to other animals, children, as well as adults. Many of these animals are homeless because their owners have been evicted from their homes or lost their homes to foreclosure. There's no assistance for housing due to the economy and budget cuts what choice to people have when they can only take with them what they can fit in a suitcase or vehicle. Most of us would agree clothing and personal items are more important ~~I mean after all, animals are fairly self sufficient in finding shelter, food, and water. Spaying and neutering animals is critical in population control however there are people who believe it is cruel to spay or neuter their pets, cannot afford to do so, refuse to spend the money on the animal, or are just too lazy to get it done. Granted most do not want the animals to be put down, but may be that is what will have to happen if pet owners cannot be located or are unable to care for the animal and cannot find a home for it.

emac,
You are right on. My neighbors got foreclosed on & just moved out. The next day their cat was lying in their back yard. We can't prove that it is theirs because it has no collar or tags.

carlp- I agree 100% but the irresponsible pet owner doesn't give a rip about who is inconvenienced by their actions. I don't have any numbers to back it up, but I would think the majority of the problem stems from renters leaving pets (especially cats) behind. Start putting some of the responsibility on landlords and things may change.

"The money that comes in from responsible cat owners will help pay the bill for those who are not."

Replace "cat owners" with any other any other descriptive title (taxpayer, citizen, gun owner, doctors patient) and now you know what's wrong with society.

Make it mandatory for cats that are owned in the city to be spade/neutered, vaccinated and licensed. The money that comes in from responsible cat owners will help pay the bill for those who are not. Then make the landlords require proof that the owners of pets they rent to have licensed pets before they can sign a lease.

What will become of stray people care in Rock County??