Speak up for a program for less killing
We, the residents of Horry County, are the guardians of our animal companions, both wild and domesticated. Whenever cruelty and endangerment is so clearly documented and brought to our attention, we must act.
Views in society evolved on issues from civil rights to environmental protection, and animal issues are no different.
The longevity of Horry County's standard policy of trap-and-kill is no defense to the overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty and endangerment. We cannot accept the decades-old policy of trap-and-kill, which has been a failure not only to society, but to the animals we have a responsibility to treat humanely.
What has changed is the increasing compassion and caring we have for animals. Euthanasia means killing. Killing defenseless animals is an injustice we, as residents of Horry County, can no longer accept.
Horry County shelter is a high-kill shelter, euthanizing most of the animals in their care. Our shelter needs help to decrease intake, euthanasia rates and increase adoptions. Killing costs all of us a lot of money; trap-neuter-return programs for cars have been proven nationally to save both the county and the taxpayers' money.
Horry County has recently received a generous pro bono offer from a national animal organization willing to lend their expertise to Horry County to help turn our Animal Care Center from high-kill to low-kill. We ask the governing body of Horry County to work with them for a humane alternative to trap-and kill. It is time to change our policy and offer real long-term solutions to the problem.
So what can you do to help? Call 843-915-5120 or contact the council member for your district by mail or email; tell them you want them to accept this free offer. Tell them that killing our animals is no longer an acceptable method of population control. Speak up for the animals: the animals need your voice now.
The writer lives in Conway.
This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 7:20 AM with the headline "Speak up for a program for less killing."