Washington’s King County Plans to Close Its Animal Shelters

Seattle’s NPR station recently ran a story about the closing down of King County’s animal shelters.

King County At Loss To Fund Animal Shelters

For months King County has been planning to leave the animal shelter business. But there’s still no plan for where to place the county’s stray and abused animals. Cities are accused of not paying their fair share, but say they’re broke. They want the county to increase its euthanasia rates.

King County’s animal shelter in Kent isn’t supposed to be here anymore. Last fall the county said the shelter would be closed by October, and all the animals and equipment moved away from the potential flood zone. But that never happened. Some cages and equipment were relocated. Now they’re coming back — because the shelter is still operating.

There was a plan to move the animals to the Seattle Humane Society, but the humane society would want additional funding to take on these animals.  My hope is that other solutions can be found rather than simply increasing euthanasia rates.