Animal owners can no longer drop pets off at the Anderson Animal Shelter after hours.

The drop boxes, which previously were used to leave animals outside of normal business, were welded shut Tuesday evening. This is just one of several changes the city will be implementing at the animal shelter in upcoming weeks.

After meeting with the Madison County Animal Welfare Coalition, an animal rights organization, the city and the coalition have come to an agreement about improvements needed at the animal shelter, said Lisa Patton, city public information officer.

The first change will include the hiring of a member of the coalition, Terri Kelly, who has experience as a veterinarian assistant.

“She will be secondary dispatcher, and she will be here at the front desk, and she will intake animal adoptions,” said Larry Russell, senior humane officer of the shelter. “This allows us to put one more driver on the street because one of our drivers had to be here.”

Kelly will provide advice from her experience in the industry. Also, she will start advertising animals nationally for adoption, Mayor Kris Ockomon said.

“She’s been very active in Internet transactions as far as adoptions go,” Ockomon said.

The Madison County Animal Welfare Coalition has already taken pictures of animals at the shelter to advertise on popular Web sites and through rescue networks, Patton said.

Eventually, the animals will be vaccinated and spayed or neutered before they leave the animal shelter, said Dick Wiley, chairman of the Board of Public Safety.

“We have a couple of clinics that have agreed to offer low-cost spay or neuter for any animal that’s adopted out of the animal shelter,” Russell said. “We have to give them a call to see what their parameters will be.”

Russell said he also wanted to raise the rates for adopting animals.

“We’re talking about raising the rates so that the people who adopt the animals will have a stake in it,” he said.

Rates at the animal shelter are set by the Anderson City Council. Currently, it costs $10 to adopt a dog and $5 to adopt a cat at the shelter.

The increased costs would include the animals’ vaccinations and other services, Russell said.

Russell said he would like to raise the rates of euthanization as well.

The biggest change Russell plans to make is how the city works with the Madison County Animal Welfare Coalition and rescue agencies in the area.

“We explained to them that we’re bending over backwards to work with them, and not against them,” Russell said. “We don’t want an adversarial relationship with them as it was with the former director. We hope to come to agreements and compromise with them. If I get them working with us, I think we can lower the pet population here at the animal shelter.”

By doing that, Russell said, the animal shelter can drastically decrease the amount of euthanizations it must do.

Maleah Stringer, president of the Madison County Animal Welfare Coalition, said she was pleased about the changes.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “We have to have changes in there.”

Stringer, who writes a column on animals for The Herald Bulletin, said she thought Kelly’s employment was a great start.

“She’s wonderful,” she said. “She knows what she’s doing. She’s knowledgeable. I’m thrilled that she’s in there. I think that she can make a difference on what’s going to happen.”

Stringer agreed that raising the adoption rates was necessary. By raising rates, the animal shelter could help decrease the amount of dogfighting taking place in the community, she said.

“That’s a wonderful move,” Stringer said. “I’m just hoping that they’re going to be willing to work with the welfare group as well as the rescue groups. I hope to reduce drastically the euthanizing. That’s going to change the nature of the facility itself. There’s so many opportunities to make this into a wonderful place, and there’s so many people willing to help.”

Russell said he would try to visit other regional shelters to see what they were doing that could be done in Anderson.

“I am working with the animal welfare coalition to improve the operation of the animal shelter,” he said. “We’ve been in control a little less than a week, but we’ve already met with them and we’ve agreed to work together. So, at face value, things are a little better. We’ll see how things go.”

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