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GRAHAM BRINKThe nonprofit also will stop euthanizing healthy animals to make room for others in its shelter.
TAMPA - In an effort to keep more healthy animals alive, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has plans to stop accepting strays.
The new policy, which goes into effect in January, also ends the longtime practice of killing animals at the shelter to make room for new ones.
"We've concluded that it doesn't make sense to euthanize a healthly, potentially adoptable animal to clear space for one that has very little chance of finding a new family," said executive director Linda Baker. "This should increase our adoption rate and keep more animals from being killed."
As part of the new program, a pet owner who wants to leave a pet at the shelter will be able to do so only by appointment.
At those appointments, pet owners may get counseling about whatever problems they are experiencing with their pets and more time to think about keeping them.
Last year, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, a nonprofit group, took in 13,000 animals, most of them dropped off by their owners. About 4,000 were "homeless," or strays, Baker said.
But that doesn't mean those 4,000 strays simply will be euthanized by the Hillsborough Animal Services Department, the county's other animal shelter, Baker said.
"Our research shows that when these policies are put in place, the total number of killings go down and the adoptions go up," Baker said.
That's because there are more adoptable animals at the shelter and more people take responsibility for strays rather than turning them in.
Similar programs in Richmond, Va., and Alachua County support Baker's claim.
Alachua saw the number of animals euthanized drop 18 percent and adoptions climb about 30 percent. The total number of impoundments also dropped in many of the areas that adopted the "No Kill for Space" policy.
"There's no reason that cannot happen here," Baker said.
The new strategy will include an aggressive spay and neuter program, a comprehensive adoption program, an increased focus on community outreach and humane education, and a feral cat program.
Bill Armstrong, director of the county's Animal Services Department, supports the Humane Society's new program.
He said he realizes the county's shelter might have to deal with an increase in the number of strays, but he was optimistic the total number of animals euthanized in the county would drop.
In the past fiscal year, Animal Services euthanized 83 percent of the 31,638 animals it impounded.
"For years, we've put our fingers in the dike, but we weren't reducing the numbers," Armstrong said. "I'm willing to try anything reasonable to lower the number of killings."
- Graham Brink can be reached at brink@sptimes.com or 226-3365.