Tulsa Changes Policy On Euthanasia Of Animals

Tulsa's animal shelter has stopped euthanizing animals for suburban cities, after an audit found the practice was costing the city money and discouraging other alternatives.  The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports it's been a brewing controversy, since an audit of the Tulsa animal shelter by the Humane Society found Tulsa was euthanizing animals for almost all of the suburbs with the exception of Broken Arrow.

Now those towns have to come up with other plans, at least for now.

The cats at Claremore's Animal Shelter would be fortunate to be adopted, but the reality is that some of them will be euthanized instead.  For several years the Claremore shelter has sent their overflow of animals to Tulsa, where they would be euthanized and cremated at a subsidized rate.

"We're under the understanding it costs them $10 an animal and we're not opposed to paying them whatever it costs to do away with the subsidy," said Cassie Sowers with the City of Claremore.

But, the Tulsa shelter has stopped the practice of taking in animals from suburbs, following an order from mayor.

"This had become a regional place to bring animals to be euthanized," said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.

Mayor Taylor wants time to meet with suburban mayors and come up with a regional plan for animal shelters, to get away from what's happening now.

"Almost encouraging people to euthanize animals by allowing the Tulsa Animal Shelter to be a dumping ground for a dollar," said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.

Back in Claremore, the shelter plans to use a local vet to kill animals until Tulsa comes up with a new plan.  The city says adoptions are already twice the rate of a year ago, but they hope to build on that so few animals will be killed.

"We're looking at different long terms solutions, try to do some educational events on spay and neutering, some different adoption events, try to get our adoption rates up," said Cassie Sowers with the City of Claremore.

And that, says Tulsa's Mayor Taylor, is what all the animals shelters should do.

"If we spay and neuter our animals, we'll reduce the population and reduce the need for euthanasia," said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.

The Tulsa City Council and mayor are working on revamping the policies of the Tulsa shelter, not just on this issue, but revamping the whole operation.

The mayor says the Tulsa shelter will never be a true no kill shelter because there will always be a need to kill diseased and injured animals, but she would like to get as close to it as possible.