FAYETTEVILLE -- The Washington County animal shelter is no longer a member of a PetSmart Charities program that had helped ease overcrowding by taking hundreds of dogs in the past year, the shelter's director said Monday.
PetSmart's Rescue Waggin' program transferred about 350 dogs to other shelters around the country's midsection in 2014 and this year's first quarter, according to reports from director Angela Ledgerwood. But the company changed its contract for the program when it came up for renewal in the spring in a way the county couldn't accept, she told the Quorum Court's County Services Committee.
Fast Facts
Washington County Lester C. Howick Animal Shelter
• Opened: September 2012
• Location: 801 W. Clydesdale Drive, Fayetteville
• Hours: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday
• Contact: 479-695-3450 or ashelter@co.washing…
Source: Washington County
"I hate to lose it, but it is what it is," she said. "It's unfortunate."
The problem was a new indemnity clause, which essentially says if an animal transferred through the program bites somebody or causes another problem at its destination, the county could get the blame, negating the legal immunity Arkansas law gives to county governments.
Ledgerwood said she and county attorney Steve Zega spent weeks going back and forth with the company's lawyers and researching ways to cover the added liability without success. Zega also said PetSmart would already have legal protection as a nonprofit group, making him wonder why the clause was added.
"PetSmart kept trying to tell us: 'The risks are so minimal -- just sign the contract,'" Ledgerwood said. PetSmart Charities spokespeople couldn't be reached Monday evening.
Officials at the shelter have complained about being overloaded with animals almost since it opened three years ago. It holds roughly 200 cats and dogs at a time, and about 2,300 in all came through last year.
Washington County's membership in Rescue Waggin' meant about 1 in 5 dogs that came in were sent out to other shelters last year, opening up 260 slots in the shelter in 2014 for other animals.
Losing the PetSmart release valve could mean more strain on the shelter's $616,000 budget, about 1 percent of the county's overall spending. Many past Quorum Court members opposed building the shelter to begin with, and members have said they're reluctant to increase its checkbook.
"I just ask you to continue to look for ways to minimize the cost per unit coming through there," Harvey Dowell, a Springdale Republican, said Monday. "Because they're eating our lunch."
Ledgerwood said other charities might be able to fill PetSmart's shoes. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has a Moving Animals Places program that can take both cats and dogs to shelters with high demand, for instance.
"The only drawback with the MAP program is they don't actually send a wagon through to pick the animals up," Ledgerwood said. "It's just something that will take some time to set up."
Meanwhile, the shelter has stepped up advertising in newspapers, radio, billboards and TV in recent weeks thanks to an $8,000 grant awarded by PetSmart Charities last year, Ledgerwood said.
"We still hear, honestly daily, 'I didn't even know you were here,'" she said. "It's not costing the county anything, so I think that's been fantastic."
NW News on 07/07/2015