Fees to drop off animals at shelter will mean many will be abandoned

Dear editor:

Regarding the article Sept. 2 in the Mountain Home News. There were many items that I agreed with and many that I didn't.

Our economy is already creating the situation that animals are being abandoned now. If you increase the fees for owning animals, think of what it will do to senior citizens when they can barely feed themselves, much less food for their animals.

Senior citizens need animals. You will be taking away money people use to feed abandoned cats and you also will be making people dishonest for the first time in their life. People will be dumping their animals more than before. Hiring another licensed employee to euthanize will be necessary, to handle all the animals the Mountain Home shelter will be getting.

The people who take in these abandoned animals get them their medical needs. They keep these animals from starving and freezing, etc.

Another item to be discussed is fees for taking in animals at the animal shelter. This is where you will be doing wrong.

People definitely will abandon their animals before paying these fees. They have the love and the decency to take them to the shelter. They probably can't afford them in today's economy. So you don't need to burden their hearts, too, along with their pockets.

The old building that was used for years to house the dogs is empty and needs to be either rebuilt or taken out and a new building put up for more animals.

The housing for the cats is definitely not large enough. There is only a small area as you walk in for the cats that are to be adopted. I believe it is only 12 cages. This is a shame.

The city budget needs to allow more money to be spent on getting more available room for these animals. Get that old building out of there and get another one in place of it.

Nancy Landry