Grand Traverse County in Negotiations with Cherryland Humane Society to Board Dogs

Grand Traverse County and Cherryland Humane Society (CHS) are currently in negotiations about the possibility of the Humane Society taking over the boarding of the County's dogs.

The County would like to have the Animal Control officers on the road more and are looking at options to do that in a way their budget will allow. If the contract is made, there are several items in the budget that wouldn't be needed anymore including the cleaning person on Sundays, utilities, food, supplies, and more. The entire building would probably not be needed for Animal Control as the administration part of the job could be done from an office in one of the buildings on Lafranier Rd.

A recent story about these negotiations was in the Record-Eagle and showed that the County received a bid from Humane Society on August 21st to board the dogs for $12 per dog per day. The County was expecting a lower amount based on what the Humane Society charges Leelanau County to board their dogs. However, what some of the commissioners might fail to realize is that the amount of dogs that will come from Grand Traverse will be much larger than those received from Leelanau County. Leelanau County currently brings CHS about 70-100 dogs a year. In comparison, Grand Traverse Animal Control seized/impounded 328 dogs in 2011. To take care of that many dogs (and the people looking for them), it's very likely that CHS would have to hire new staff. They will also have the expense of getting the 20 unused kennels in their facility into working condition. Quite often when the kennels that are currently used for the dogs break down, they go to the unused kennels to get parts to fix them.

According to the County, current negotiations are that the county would "own" the dogs until their stray hold was over and then the dogs would become the property of CHS. Michigan law requires that animal shelters hold stray pets for four days if they have no form of identification or seven days if they do have some form of identification such as a microchip, tattoo or license/ID tags.

The rescue group, Handds, currently takes adoptable dogs from the County so they are not euthanized and CHS also receives a number of adoptable dogs from the County. The Animal Control officers make every effort to find groups that will take in the dogs so they have a chance at finding a new home. It is unclear whether Handds would be able to work with CHS in the future to continue with their assistance but it would benefit both groups if they could forge a relationship so that Handds can help when CHS is overburdened with a full house of dogs. Handds would especially be helpful for those dogs who would benefit being in a foster situation and the small puppies who need immediate and specialized care.

Overall, at first glance, as someone who has seen both facilities, it does appear that having the dogs boarded at CHS would be a much better situation for the dog's comfort and quality of life while they are waiting for their owner or in need of a new home.

There are several things to be concerned about regarding the current policies and holding facility for Grand Traverse Animal Control dogs. One very important factor is that the facility is in a pole barn which does not have the regulated air flow that CHS offers, which controls airborne viruses and prevents disease.

In addition, because volunteers aren't allowed at the Animal Control building and the AC officers are on the road the majority of the time, there is not enough adequate socialization of the dogs.

Because Animal Control is part of the Health Department., the officers are unionized, which makes it hard to make changes in policies that the community doesn't approve of.

And although the dogs could have blankets or toys, most of the time they don't because of the way the cages are set up and how the kennels are cleaned.

I also believe, after visiting the facility, that some of the kennels are not safest set-up for the little dogs (see photo below).

If the negotiations turn out to be successful, the County will have the CHS contract available to look at before it is voted on by the commissioners. It will be a good opportunity for the dog lovers in our county to check it out and make sure it's in the best interests of our stray dogs. After reading through the contract, we will have the information and the time to let our commissioners whether or not we support it.

In closing, I sincerely hope that EVERY COMMISSIONER will visit both the current Animal Control facility and CHS so that they can make an informed decision about where our county dogs will be boarded. Reading about these negotiations on paper is NOT GOOD ENOUGH when we're talking about living, breathing creatures.