Dear (County Mayor, or Sheriff, or County Commissioner, or City Mayor, etc)
As a taxpayer and voter in this county, I am appalled at the lack of respect for animals displayed
by my county government.
I understand that TN state law requires animals be spayed or neuter prior to adoption in order
to stop the cycle of overpopulation. I also understand the law has a loophole permitting animals to be
adopted out unfixed on deposit. The minimum deposit is $25 and we can charge more than that, and
the higher the fee, the higher the compliance rate. We should be charging $200.
There are no exceptions to this law and it applies to all shelters, private rescues, and non-profit
animal welfare programs. The uncollected deposits, by law, are to be put towards spay/neuter in our
community and not put back into the county budget.
Why is our county government violating the state law? Check with your local shelter policies to
understand the violations happening at your shelter.
Animal control officers and animal shelters provide a tremendous service to improve public
health and safety by safely housing stray and unwanted pets. Letting those animals leave the shelter
unfixed only adds to our problem.
If our only goal at our shelter is to give the shelter the staff the privilege of euthanizing (killing)
the children and grandchildren of the dogs and cats adopted out unfixed, let's keep on doing what we
are doing. But I think we can do better. In Tennessee, the average cost to house an animal at the
shelter for two days is higher than the cost to s/n one animal in the community (a one-time cost). I think
we can find a way to fix all animals prior to adoption and I want my tax dollars going towards a solution
to prevent shelter intake instead of funding the cost of destroying lives.