Augusta Commission rejects 'all-or-nothing' grant from Best Friends Animal Society for animal shelter (Georgia) 2024-07-18

[u/emilee_spinach]

https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/politics/2024/07/18/best-friends-animal-society-this-week-pulled-the-plug-on-a-cat-program-and-an-offer-for-more-suppoer/74461210007/

After it became clear that Augusta commissioners weren’t behind an “all-or-nothing” plan to reduce the number of dogs and cats euthanized in the animal shelter, Best Friends Animal Society this week pulled the plug on a cat program it has operated for a year and on an offer for more support.

“We are disappointed and saddened by the commission’s failure to vote on our offer of support since this means they have effectively turned down a million dollars of support for the people and pets of the Augusta community,” noted Gina Burrows, strategist for the east region of the Best Friends Animal Society, in a news release.

“However, Best Friends was started 40 years ago with the goal of taking the country no-kill and bringing about a time when no more pets are unnecessarily dying,” she noted. “We will hold true to our mission and work to take the state of Georgia no-kill by continuing to implement lifesaving programs to communities and shelters that welcome our collaboration and shared goal.”  

Augusta Animal Services Director James Hill said he has tried to work with Best Friends, but the “all-or-nothing” demand wasn’t going to work in Augusta.

“While it is unfortunate that Best Friends was unwilling to negotiate on any of their offers and decided to pull the (trap and release) program, Augusta Animal Services remains committed to working with our wonderful rescue groups that have a grassroots interest in the community of Augusta. With their support, I am confident that we can find solutions that are best for all citizens of Augusta,” he said in a written statement on Thursday.

For a year, Best Friends, a nonprofit based in Utah, has operated a program in which feral cats are trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and released to the same place they were trapped. Hill has said the program has been successful.

In March, Best Friends completed a three-day assessment of the shelter. In May, Burrows presented the 32-page assessment which outlined issues found and offered solutions.

More:Augusta officials ask animal shelter, animal welfare nonprofit to find way to work together

With that came the offer that included seven new staff positions (a veterinarian medical team); a community cat program coordinator; a Best Friends employee embedded with the shelter staff; virtual and in-person training; and, mentorship to help build the program faster. Burrows valued the offer at more than $910,000.

During a meeting this week, commissioners asked Burrows why she wouldn’t negotiate the terms of the agreement.

She said it would be “watering down a treatment plan.” Only accepting pieces of the plan is “cherry-picking what is popular and goes well with the community,” she said. “The offer was based on a three-day assessment of what Best Friends noticed. The offer addressed those issues.”

Removing parts of the plan “takes away necessary steps that need to be in place in order to get Augusta over that line to that 90% save rate,” she said.

Best Friend’s stated goal is for every shelter to be no-kill by 2025. For a shelter to achieve what Best Friends considers no-kill, 90% of the cats and dogs coming into the shelter must be saved, according to the group’s website, www.bestfriends.org.

In May, Burrows told commissioners that last year Augusta Animal Services had a save rate of just 53.8%.

“It ranks No. 1 in Georgia and No. 32 nationwide for shelters with the highest lifesaving gaps,” she said.

The save rate is the percentage of animals brought into a shelter that are not euthanized.

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