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1. The existing animal shelter is over 50 years old and does not meet modern animal control facility standards. In 2016, fifty shelters, similar in service area to the Marshall shelter, were randomly surveyed. The only shelter older than ours has since been replaced with a new one. Photos on this page are of the current Marshall shelter.
2. The operational cost of a newly-constructed animal shelter is only incrementally greater than the true total cost needed to operate the existing facility. The city is currently understaffing the existing facility. The shelter’s yearly budget is less than $145,000 per year. That pays for three employees, fuel, building and vehicle maintenance, pet food, medicine, corpse disposal, and the care of two to three thousand homeless pets per year.
3. As many as 80% of the pets taken in each year are exterminated because there is insufficient space to hold them for adoption or rescue. When the weather is cold, pets in exterior pens are exterminated for lack of heat. When animals with highly contagious disease are brought in, such as parvo, all animals in the facility are exterminated due to lack of sanitary facilities. Our euthanasia rate in Marshall is four times higher than the national average.
4. Replacing our animal shelter is a part of the cost of running our city. It’s our job as citizens to hold elected officials responsible for making proper decisions. Not constructing a new animal shelter to replace the deplorable, underfunded and inhumane existing facility is not just improper management, it is irresponsible and neglects the needs of our city.