Pittsylvania County animal shelter to open on Saturdays

CHATHAM — A committee of Pittsylvania County leaders and a local animal-welfare group took the first step Thursday toward increasing pet adoptions at the county’s animal shelter.

Starting July 18, the facility in Dry Fork will be open and staffed Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Animal Welfare League of Pittsylvania County and a committee of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors agreed to the change during a meeting Thursday. The shelter will be open Saturdays for a six-month trial run, and will require monthly reports to the Board of Supervisors.

“I am thrilled with having Saturday hours,” said Betty Camp, a board member of the league, after the meeting. “That’s one of the main things we’ve been requesting.”

The organization asked the board last month to take steps to reduce euthanasia rates and increase adop-tions at the animal-control facility in Dry Fork. Other changes at the facility the league has requested include guaranteed staffing during posted hours; clean, dry comfortable housing for animals; separation of dangerous dogs from adoptable ones; release of dogs to reputable animal rescue operations in addition to the Danville Area Humane Society; and to lower the high euthanasia rates due to inaccessibility.

The shelter’s hours posted on the county’s Web site are Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., and at other times by appointment. 

Chief Animal Control Officer Pete Boswell said publicity about the shelter has doubled its pet adoption rate from less than 10 percent in 2007 to 20 percent this year.

As for issues related to dry, comfortable conditions for pets such as partitions between cages and a sepa-rate room for adoptable dogs, Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis said the county has purchased a house and property for a possible new animal shelter. Committee Chair Coy Harville, representing the Westover district, said those matters could be addressed by the county’s Property and Building Committee.

Another league request, releasing dogs to rescue operations, raises issues — including whether the county would be willing to waive fees, who and where to send the pets to, transportation issues, and the fact there so many rescue organizations, said Assistant County Administrator Otis Hawker.

Harville recommended that league members research the topic further.