Commissioners Deny Additional Funding for Animal Shelter

RUSK — The Cherokee County Commissioners Court denied the Richard D. Klein Animal Shelter’s request for additional funding. KETK reports the Jacksonville animal shelter gets $15,000 a year from the county. But shelter officials asked for $7,000 more, to cover different needs. Right now, to drop off an animal, someone who lives in the county has to pay $45. The shelter wants to waive that fee altogether, because not everyone can afford it. Also, the shelter had to discontinue its low-cost spay and neuter program. Shelter officials say commissioners denied their request because they claimed they didn’t have enough information to make a decision.

Shelter reps say theirs is the only shelter in the area, there is no animal control, and they really don’t have another alternative. One shelter official says, “We’d like the citizens to stand up and explain that to the county commissioners if it is something that affects them. We want them to be the voice in that situation because at the end of the day they are the ones that are going to get hit with it.” The Jacksonville animal shelter takes about 1,500 animals every year from Smith County, Jacksonville, and Cherokee County.