I love animals. I milk two little goats that are like pets to me. I also have a yellow cat that sleeps in my bed and swats me in the face in the mornings until I get up and feed him. This is more effective than an alarm clock. Animals have always been a part of my life.
I appreciate the folks around this community that do so much for the dog and cat population. Many hours of volunteer time have gone into the spay and neuter clinics and the shot clinics.
However, after reading the article in The Boulder Monitor about the animal shelter levy, I have some concerns. The article tells us that Cheryl Haassakker gave some figures to the Jefferson County Commission. The number of dogs taken in by Cheryl and other volunteers that often are taken into the Lewis & Clark Humane Society is up to 40 per year at a cost of $125 per animal—that’s an annual cost to the county ranging from $3,000–$5,000 per year. The cost for a new facility to be built and run in Jefferson County would cost taxpayers $265,365 per year. That figures out to be about $6,634.13 per animal for the approximately 40 animals a year the county handles. I assume the facility would increase the amount of animals it would handle, but you see the point I am trying to make. This is a drastic increase of cost for this service. I appreciate the compassion, but I think the cost should also be a deciding factor for these types of decisions. In a small community that struggles to keep an ambulance service and is not able to maintain a police department, an animal shelter in Boulder seems to be a premature development.
