Nearly every day, Town of Cary Animal Control officers are called to pick up stray or lost animals. But beginning July 1, what happens once that animal is loaded into the officer’s vehicle will change.

Since 1971, pets picked up in Cary have gone to the SPCA of Wake County to either be reunited with their owners or placed for adoption. But the town’s contract with the SPCA expires on June 30 and town officials have chosen not to renew. Instead, animals will be sent to the Wake County Animal Shelter in Raleigh.

Cary and Garner will both transfer their animals to the Wake County facility on July 1, a move that has many SPCA supporters and animal activists crying foul. About 70 people attended a meeting at the SPCA last week to address that and other concerns.

“This is going to affect all the animals in Wake County, not just Cary and Garner,” Hope Hancock, executive director of the Wake County SPCA, told the attendees.

Concerns range from overcrowding to rising costs for taxpayers and the treatment of animals at the Wake County shelter, which uses the gas chamber to euthanize animals.

Potential benefits

Michael Williams, the animal control director for Wake County, and Deputy Chief Barry Nickalson of the Cary police say there are benefits for Cary residents and the town.

“The biggest is that it will make it easier for citizens to find their lost animals,” Williams said. “Right now you have to search in two different places. Both shelters agree that it’s inefficient to have to do it that way.”

In an e-mail to town staff, Nickalson cited savings to the Town of Cary in staff time and more effective administration of billing as reasons to make the switch. Currently, the town pays the SPCA for services and is reimbursed by the county. Using the Wake County shelter would remove the middleman. Nickalson also cited extended hours at the Wake County facility as a pro for residents.

“We believe in working with our county partners that transitioning over to the county, joining forces with other communities … will be best for the Town of Cary and animals for the Town of Cary,” Nickalson said in an interview last week. “We’ve worked with Wake County for many years and we’re confident the county’s treatment of their animals is going to meet what’s offered by the SPCA.”

He said that the change to using the Wake County shelter’s services goes back to a plan drawn up in 2004 to use one main facility for sheltering services.

“It’s a decision that’s not anything new,” Nickalson said. “It’s gone back quite a number of years.”

Nickalson did cite a drawback in Wake County’s adoption program.

“The SPCA has a stronger fostering and adoption program than Wake County does, and Wake County has certainly recognized that and committed to us to pay attention and to address those concerns,” Nickalson said.

Cary resident Michelle Stephenson, who was recently reunited with her 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier Allie through the SPCA, said she has concerns about the town changing facilities.

“If [the SPCA is] already getting numerous animals in our smaller area, countywide they’re not going to be able to manage like they were for the situation with Allie. That’s a legitimate concern,” Stephenson said. “The volunteer [at the SPCA], you could tell she really had a heart for the people and their personal pets. Being countywide it’s not going to be that personable.”

Williams said he anticipates an increase of about 1,500 more animals from Cary and Garner, or a 10- to 15- percent addition to animals received from the rest of the county.

“The number we’re expecting from those two towns, we don’t feel it will significantly impact us,” Williams said. “We’re confident we can handle that added amount of animals.”

Humane treatment

Mondy Lamb, spokeswoman for the SPCA of Wake County, said this rise will cause the overall rate of euthanasia, currently 67 percent of animals at the Wake County shelter, to increase.

“Because Cary and Garner animals are going to increase the numbers going into that one building, all the animals are going to lose out,” Lamb said. “That was originally a concern of the citizens of Cary [in 1971]. One of the reasons Cary, Garner and Raleigh sheltered with the SPCA is the way we euthanized.”

The SPCA only uses lethal injection to euthanize animals, where the Wake County shelter uses a carbon monoxide chamber to put down aggressive animals. Hancock said the gas chamber is a more expensive and less humane method of euthanization.

Lamb said that in 2007 the SPCA received 423 animals from Cary. Of those, 42 percent were euthanized, half due to behavior problems or illness.

The rest were euthanized due to what the SPCA calls “time and space” reasons.

“Those are animals we would’ve liked to have saved. Maybe they were injured but they could’ve healed if we had more time and space,” Lamb said.

“This is a problem that just about every community faces, I’m afraid,” said Kim Parker, a Cary resident and volunteer at the SPCA who attended the meeting at the SPCA. Parker also raised concerns about euthanasia, attributing the high rate to overpopulation.

“The biggest problem with overpopulation is that animals aren’t being spayed or neutered,” Parker said. The SPCA alters all animals it adopts out, while Wake County will not spay or neuter an animal if it is too young or too sick.

Lamb said the goals of the two organizations are not the same.

“The only real mandate the Wake County Animal Shelter has is to protect public health by rounding up stray animals. And this is OK, it’s simply not their job to care about the animals,” Lamb said. “The mandate the SPCA has is to create a more humane community by sheltering, protecting and advocating for the animals.”

Lamb also pointed out that the SPCA receives the majority of its funding from private donors, whereas the Wake County shelter is funded entirely by tax dollars.

Lamb and Tommy Esqueda, Wake County’s director of environmental services, both said costs will rise because of the conversion.

Wake County now reimburses the SPCA $60 for each animal sheltered at the SPCA facility. But because of the increase of animals expected at the Wake County shelter after July 1 and staffing changes to accommodate the move, taxpayers will pay roughly $95 for each animal sheltered, an overall increase of $13,500.

At the public meeting, Esqueda said he was willing to work with the SPCA to address concerns over euthanasia and the county’s spay and neuter policy.

“We’re talking about the animals here and I think that’s great,” Esqueda said.