Officials consider plan for new Virginia Beach animal shelter

VIRGINIA BEACH

Politicians, pet lovers and police agree an adoption-friendly animal shelter is the best way to spare more Fidos and felines from sad endings.

They agree on little else.

Council members are weighing a recommendation from police Chief Jake Jacocks to build a new shelter, hire a director and, possibly, move the building away from the public compound at the end of Leroy Road.

The plan, which could cost more than $3.5 million, would be funded by higher pet license fees - money that isn't coming in as quickly as hoped. The issue is complicated by ill will between the Police Department and the Virginia Beach Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"Everybody needs to come together for the benefit of the animals," said Pat Wise, cofounder of Friends of Virginia Beach Animal Control. "We just want to see all adoptable animals find forever homes."

The city raised pet license fees last year to create a funding stream to rebuild the animal control shelter. This spring, the council decided to make the facility "adoption-friendly," which means putting more impounded animals in homes and reducing the number euthanized.

It's a common theme nationally, as animal control shelters adopt "no-kill" strategies. Shelters in Norfolk and Portsmouth have considered increasing adoption rates to ease overcrowding.

Jacocks recommended adoption-rate goals of 85 percent for dogs and 40 percent for cats. In 2007, animal control statistics show 62 percent of dogs were adopted and 23 percent of cats.

"I think we're moving closer to our goals, even though it feels like tiny steps," Mayor Meyera Oberndorf said. "You have to learn to crawl before you can walk."

A modern shelter with a director dedicated to animal care - not enforcement of animal laws - is a first step, said City Manager Jim Spore.

The next question is where.

Dave Hansen, deputy city manager, said a public meeting will be held by this fall to discuss potential locations. One option raised by Jacocks, but not recommended, was to put the shelter near the SPCA office on Holland Road.

Wise said a more accessible site would help publicize the adoption program but the SPCA hasn't endorsed a location.

"The quality of the facility is more important than the location," Councilman Jim Wood said. "No matter where you put it, it's going to be inconvenient for somebody."

Money to build the facility also is in doubt.

Hansen said higher pet fees could raise $1.8 million a year, if enough residents comply with the law. He said it's a "cultural commitment" to get more people to license their pets. Once that happens, the city will have a funding stream to build, staff and operate a new shelter.

The city can't say how much the new fees have generated, but Hansen is preparing a report.

"I know we haven't done well," he added. "Part of the initiative going forward is to enlist the support of our public."

Sharon Adams, executive director of the Virginia Beach SPCA, called an adoption-friendly center a noble goal. But her agency has been squabbling with the police over what she calls a "cruelty-tolerant community."

Adams has criticized animal control as lax to issue summonses and recently said criminal cases were dropped in retaliation against an officer who spoke out against the department. City officials denied that.

"Our job is to make sure the reality matches the rhetoric," Adams said. "What is said is far less important to us than what is done."

Jacocks, in a presentation to the council last week, said animal control officers do their job well.

"Nobody out there enjoys having to put an animal down," Jacocks said. "Sometimes, it is necessary."

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com