Macon-Bibb to take new direction for animal adoptions, spay/neuter services

Come May 1, adoptions at the Macon-Bibb County animal shelter will be handled in-house because the nonprofit group that has been overseeing adoptions has announced it is bowing out.

Macon-Bibb will lose the adoption services provided by Saving Animals from Euthanasia, commonly known as S.A.F.E., after the organization terminates its contract with the county at the end of April, two months before it was set to end. Since the nonprofit took over animal adoptions and spay/neuter services last August, the county has seen an increase in the number of homes found for animals and reducing the euthanasia rates, according to report put together by the county and S.A.F.E.

Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Scotty Shepherd, chairman of the commission's Public Safety Committee which provides oversight for the shelter, said the relationship between the Animal Welfare Department and S.A.F.E. appeared to sour over a difference in philosophies about animal adoptions and euthanizations.

He said S.A.F.E. has been helpful since partnering with the county.

"S.A.F.E., in the beginning, was just an answer to a prayer, because we didn't have to euthanize as many animals," he said.

Animal Welfare Director Sonja Adams is putting together a plan with county staff about how the department will operate once S.A.F.E.'s contract ends, Macon-Bibb spokesman Chris Floore said.

Efforts to reach S.A.F.E. President and CEO Susan Helton were unsuccessful this week.

Floore said county officials have had discussions about possibly seeking another outside adoption organization, but until then, the county has enough resources and staff to manage those services.

"We want the success of both the public safety and the adoption aspects of Animal Welfare to continue," he said in an email. "The animal rescue community has been very supportive the past two years as we've found new and better ways to work together, and we are confident those efforts will continue."

In a March 29 letter to Mayor Robert Reichert, S.A.F.E.'s attorney, Kevin Bradley, said that the agreement would be terminated due to circumstances that both sides were aware of.

"I am sorry that the relationship between Macon-Bibb County and S.A.F.E. has not worked out," Bradley said in the letter.

Last year, S.A.F.E. was awarded a $115,000 contract to provide spay/neuter and adoption services at the shelter. At the time, county leaders said the county and S.A.F.E. would decide by the end of the fiscal year -- June 30, 2016 -- if outsourcing those services remained the best option.

During the contract period, S.A.F.E. accepted many adoptable animals from Animal Welfare, but the county also maintained a separate animal population.

The number of animals taken in by Macon-Bibb County dramatically jumped during the period that S.A.F.E. has been on board. From October 2015 to March 2016, the Animal Welfare Department took 1,857 animals into the shelter. Of those, 672 were transferred to S.A.F.E. and another 385 went to other rescue groups. Owners reclaimed 95 animals.

By comparison, during the six-month period between February 2015 and July 2015 -- before S.A.F.E. was on board -- the shelter took in 1,418 animals, and 605 of them went to animal rescue organizations while 104 were reclaimed by their owners, according to reports.

Overall, S.A.F.E.'s euthanization rate between October 2015 and March 2016 varied from a high of about 20 percent last October to a low of less than 1 percent in January. S.A.F.E.'s kill rate remained low through March. Meanwhile, the euthanizations at Macon-Bibb's shelter ranged from a high of about 24 percent this past January to 15 percent in December.

Floore credited the Animal Welfare staff and S.A.F.E. with improving the adoption and euthanasia rates in the county.

"We have to credit that to the work of our department, of S.A.F.E., and of many other groups and individuals that tirelessly fight every day to find homes and care for these animals," he said. "With an outside group handling the adoptions, (Animal Welfare has) been able to focus on the public safety aspect and have had great success in investigating animal hoarding and cruelty cases, as well as dangerous dogs."

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb to take new direction for animal adoptions, spay/neuter services ."