1. Owners reunited with dog after year apart

“Ladies and gentlemen, we officially have a shelter,” Tyler Shelter Manager Shawn Markmann proudly announced Thursday afternoon, after the Tyler Animal Care Advisory Board approved a proposed schedule of fees that will allow the shelter to officially perform adoptions out of its temporary facility on Grande Boulevard.

The fees are expected to go before the Tyler City Council on Feb. 25 for final approval.

“This is brand new for the city,” Markmann said of the fees, which include costs for adoption, surrender and impounds, among others.

“Since we have never had a shelter, we have never had fees,” he said.

Markmann said the fees will cover the city’s basic expenses of caring for sheltered animals, including the costs associated with spaying or neutering, vaccinations and microchipping, in addition to food and cleaning costs.

The animals will receive veterinary care from a local veterinarian with a mobile clinic, and the city will receive low cost spay and neutering.

Adoption fees are proposed to be $80 for cats and $120 for dogs. Markmann said operations on dogs are more expensive, causing their adoption to cost more as well.

Other small animals, including sugar gliders, hamsters and other small pets, will be adopted out for $10.

The price schedule allows for the shelter to have special promotions, as shelter officials desire or wish to promote adoption of certain kinds of animals.

“I want to offer special adoption promotions — orange cats during Halloween, or maybe we have black dog Fridays,” Markmann said. “There are all sorts of specials run in the shelter world. For whatever reason, black dogs are overlooked in the industry.”

If an animal is picked up, the owner will have to pay a leash law violation fee, as well as an impound fee. The fee is $20 for the initial pickup and administrative work required and then $15 per day that the animal stays at the facility.

The fee is intended to help curb the costs of feeding and caring for the animal while it waits for its owner.

The shelter also will charge to take unwanted animals. Surrender fees are $40 for both dogs and cats, and an additional $10 per puppy or kitten if the pet has had a litter.

Markmann said the cost will go toward starting veterinary care on the animal. He said there is not significant data showing surrender fees increase the numbers of pets left on the streets, and the shelter would be looking to enact programs to enable owners to keep their pets.

“I want to give people all the options to help them keep their pet, rather than giving up on it,” Markmann said.

The facility also will offer discounted microchipping services for Tyler residents. The service would be done for $10 per animal, if approved.

Markmann said one of the goals is to keep pets with their owners, and microchipped pets are much easier to reunite with their families.

The facility also will offer owner requested euthanasia for elderly or injured pets for $35 and euthanasia and rabies testing for $75 per pet.

The rabies tests are used in the event of a dog bite. The owner can either quarantine the pet for 10 days or opt to euthanize it and send portions of its brain to be tested for the disease.

 

PROPOSED FEES:

ADOPTIONCats — $80Dogs — $120Other small animals (hamsters, sugar gliders and others) — $10

IMPOUND$20 initial fee for the intake and paperwork, plus $15 per animal perday after the first day.

SURRENDERDog — $40 per animalCat — $40 per animalLitters of puppies or kittens — $40 plus $10 per animal

OTHER SERVICESMicrochipping and Registration — $10 per animalOwner requested euthanasia — $35Euthanasia and rabies testing — $75