Elvis, a Black Mouth Mountain Cur Mix

That's the question I was asked recently when filling in as a volunteer at the Spring River Animal Services office. No, we are absolutely not in the business of euthanizing animals surrendered to us - unless they are so ill they cannot recover, or - they are so vicious they cannot be rehabilitated.

As a matter of fact, we work very hard to find adoptive parents, foster parents, or rescue organizations for the animals we have in our kennel. We're scheduling and holding Adoption Drives at least once a month at area events and I will have more information on these dates in a future blog.

Sometimes elderly folks are unable to continue caring for their pet(s); a death or tragedy in the family, job loss, transfer or moving can contribute to having to find a pet a new home. If folks are unsuccessful placing the animal, we will accept them from Cherokee Village and Ozark Acres residents. There is a $35 surrender fee imposed for each animal.

Our facility is run by the City of Cherokee Village and the Ozark Acres community has partnered with us in the Animal Control area. We hope to expand the facility in the future and have other communities join us in the areawide effort to get the animal population under control.

It's important to note here that it is against the law to abandon an animal! Abandonment carries a stiff fine and is not as hard to prove as some folks might think! So, please DO NOT DUMP OR ABANDON your pets - they cannot fend for themselves and often end up hurt or dead from gunshot wounds.

Last week was a very busy week at Spring River Animal Services! We have taken in many animals - especially cats and kittens and we hope you will come visit and adopt some of them!

Until next time - more information on future events and special residents of our facility!