Mahatma Gandhi, who spent his life struggling for freedom and justice said: “You can judge a society by the way it treats its animals”. Folks, we’re losing the battle here in Nodaway County.
It may be the best of times for renovating downtown Maryville, restoring the courthouse, expanding NWMSU, constructing a new county administration building and other materialistic and aesthetic projects to beautify our town.
But, it’s the worst of times – the worst I’ve ever seen -- for this community's animal shelter on South Depot Street – the place where those who have no voice sit in cages awaiting a grim fate. As I see it, it’s only a matter of time until the shelter has to close its doors.
Pets are disposable; owners don’t even come forward to claim many of them. Roadside breeders continue to breed the black Labs they claim to love so much; yet the shelter provides sanctuary to many of them and their offspring. Dogs and cats come to the shelter horrified that they will be kicked, shot, beaten, and abandoned; and illegal puppy mills thrive.
Where are our priorities?
Since 2004 the City of Maryville has paid $4,100/month in exchange for animal control. They also provide an animal control vehicle and pay the shelter’s water bill. You and I know that expenses have skyrocketed since then. We are horrified when we go to the grocery store, fill our cars with gasoline or pay our utility bills.
When Chip Strong was a member of the board in 2004 he asked the city for an increase to $5,000/month and to pay the shelter’s monthly Aquila bill ($5,000/month). God bless Chip Strong for having the courage to reach out for help in a desperate situation, even if he didn’t get the much-needed help.
In 2005, Nodaway County paid $12,000/year for animal control. Over three short years, that amount was slashed down to $4,000 ($333/month) in 2008. I don’t know their business or how they have raised funds for a new building, but I do question their lack of support for a struggling non-profit group desperately trying to provide shelter and care for the county's unwanted animals.
When our “humane” facility goes under, the result could be a city-run, high-kill shelter or no shelter at all.
Isn’t taking responsibility for God’s abandoned and abused creatures a priority too?
Marlene Thompson
Maryville
