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But then what are you going to do with them?” she questioned. “You can’t just say we’re going to have a shelter and then load up the shelter with animals that you have no outcome for.” PCACC is overfull and amid a remodel. When InMaricopa interviewed Michael, the shelter had custody of 270 dogs and three dozen cats, and more than 50 dogs in foster homes — but only 118 kennels due to the ongoing construction that began in February. When the remodel is completed, the shelter will have 149 kennels. Michael noted the remodel does not include the addition of any new kennels. Because, she predicted, a new kennel block was “going to be full within a day.” “Then you need more staff; you need more supplies and you need more resources. So, we didn’t really want to add more kennels,” she said. The remodel moves the meet-and-greet areas inside, adds new office space for staff and play yards with shade structures, astroturf, kennels and a wide walking path. The cats at the shelter will also be moved to the front in the lobby so people who come in will see them right away. According to Michael, PCACC took in 2,496 stray cats and dogs from Jan. 1 to Oct. 24 — an average of 10 a day — but she said a normal year sees some 5,000 animals. This year, 65 cats and 89 dogs came from incorporated Maricopa. When fully staffed, the shelter has 43 employees, but today there are only 36 on the payroll. Not only is the shelter overfull, it is understaffed. The Maricopa County Animal Shelter, which serves 4 million people, takes in 60,000 animals a year and has custody of 900 animals at any given time in a building that only has 300 kennels. As such, some animals arrive in Casa Grande from north of the county line, and Michael smells a similar problem if Maricopa opened a municipal shelter. “If a shelter opens in Maricopa, people from unincorporated Maricopa will try to bring the animals to you, which is in itself a nightmare,” she predicted. “People want to help but they don’t understand jurisdictions, so it causes a little chaos which is not fair to the citizens or to both shelters.” She said even if the city council and mayor agreed to build a shelter, it would still take a long time to become operational. “If they want to do that, that’s great, but it’s going to take some money and planning,” Michael said. “We’ve been going through a remodel that got approved four years ago but only got started this last February.”
Pinal County Animal Care and Control Director Audra Michael sits at her desk with a dog nearby.
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SHOULD MARICOPA HAVE AN ANIMAL SHELTER?
“Imagine putting that money into your city,” McCarthy said. “Putting a shelter here that’s not an hour away.” Her rescue, its vets and its volunteers have offered to help get the shelter up and running if the city were to invest in one. Ferguson said a local shelter would collaborate with rescues and rescuers in the city. “Few things are more agonizing than watching something innocent suffer and not being able to help,” Ferguson said. “It all boils down to the love of pets and some people consider their pets to be major parts of the family. That’s why we rescue for love. Our blood — actual blood like from a bite or scratch — sweat from catching kittens in the summer and tears when one dies go into caring for the kittens and cats of Maricopa. They’d get more help if we had an animal shelter.” The harsh reality of a local shelter PCACC Director Audra Michael said she understood why some 97% of Maricopa residents wanted an animal shelter but questioned if they grasped the gravity it would entail. “When we impound an animal, we have to give them a vaccine. Vaccines cost money. We have to give them flea and tick treatments, that costs money. Before we adopt them out, we have to get them spayed and neutered,” Michael said, among other costs. “You have to go into it thinking how are we going to help the community — not just get a bunch of stay animals off the street.” Michael worried if McCarthy’s proposal was thought through fully. “You want to have a shelter for picking up all the stray dogs that are running down the street.
that in 2024 there will be 58 vicious dog calls and 214 barking dog calls. McCarthy said not only is Little Whiskers inundated with calls from residents, but the rescue has been called on by Maricopa police and fire departments to pick up feral cats they had encountered. One recent example was a cat left in a car when the owner was arrested. The rescue foots all the vet bills and TNR costs. McCarthy noted the city used to pay for five cats a week to undergo TNR but a year ago, suddenly, it stopped and gave no reason. “The rescue is always in debt,” McCarthy said. “That’s never going to change ... We’ve all talked about it, closing our doors because financially it’s insane.” McCarthy has been in conversation with Maricopa Mayor Nancy Smith and City Councilmember Eric Goettl about options to improve the feral cat problem. She envisions a “nice structured mobile home” with land for cats and dogs to roam. Inside, she sees adoptable cats, intakes, a sick quarantine and vet’s clinic. McCarthy’s retained veterinarian, The Mobile MASH Unit, has pledged weekly visits to Maricopa if such a property was developed. Goettl said a satellite shelter should be funded by the county. “Our residents here in the city already pay county taxes that are supposed to provide for animal control services,” said the councilman. “The onus really does lie with the county in building some type of satellite facility out here on the western side of Pinal. As a city, we’re working to see if we can influence the county to consider that; it’s been a long process.” Goettl said the hope was that once Pinal County Supervisor-elect Rich Vitiello, who
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lives in Maricopa, is sworn in next month, the city might have new leverage to divert resources toward Maricopa. McCarthy said the likelihood of PCACC building a satellite building in Maricopa was low, noting the department is looking to build one in San Tan Valley instead and advocates a city-run shelter in Maricopa. “Stop putting rocks in cages. Stop beautifying things that don’t need to be beautiful. Build a shelter,” McCarthy demanded. “You can make a shelter a nonprofit which means you get donations, you get help, you get grants and it’s a huge part of it. But a lot of grants are not available in Pinal County for foster rescues. They want the brick-and-mortar.” The city pays per animal taken to the county shelter in Casa Grande and again for each day on intake, stray or medical hold.
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InMaricopa.com | December 2024
December 2024 | InMaricopa.com
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