BLOG: A Shelter is Good For Bowie

There are many citizens who support the creation of a City run small short-term animal shelter.  They have experienced the heartbreak of losing their pet.  They have felt the tragedy, however, there are some citizens that have been fortunate enough to been spaired the grief, the anquish.  For those citizens who have never suffered the pain of having your pet go missing, of not having the ability to find your precious pet, which in many cases is an important part of your life, I share some facts in the hopes that this will help you understand why we fight so hard to help the Bowie pet owners. 

I am sure each of you has a passion, a cause that you feel so strongly about that you will fight for til your last breath. The citizens of Bowie number over 57,000 and we all pay taxes for amenities that make Bowie the wonderful place it is but have you stopped to think about how many of those amenities you actually take advantage of?  Some of us have children and use those amenities but not the ones for seniors.  Some are seniors and do not use the ones for the children and so forth.  We all pay taxes willingly because we know it helps MANY citizens, not just a small number.  It is time to take the Bowie pet owners under our wings and help them as we have been so proud to help the others.  For all the taxes that we pay, I totally understand those who say "NO MORE TAXES".  I only ask you to really check out the stats before you decide.  You may be very surprised. I hope that is some way, this has helped you and I hope that you too will see the importance of the shelter and support its creation.  After all, shouldn't we help ALL the citizens of Bowie.  Isn't that the right thing to do?

• Over 50% of Bowie citizens own pets, many of those households have more than one pet
• There are over 30,000 pets in Bowie
• About 90 animals are received at the Prince George's Animal Services Facility on a daily basis
• PGASF receives Bowie animals in different ways
  • Bowie Animal Control pick ups
  • Prince George Animal Control pick ups
  • Bowie residents that find an animal
• The euthanizia rate at the Prince George's Animal Services Facility is 30-50%
• 33% of the Bowie animals that were taken to the PGASF in 2012 were euthanized

A Shelter is Good for Bowie

A small, local, centralized "holding shelter" benefits Bowie.  This
would not be a large, facility similar to the one at the County level. Instead,
this would be a small shelter equipped to hold animals a minimum of 5 business
days.  Benefits include:

For Bowie Citizens

• Enhances services to the more than 50% of Bowie households with cats or dogs.
• Allows Bowie citizens more time to locate and retrieve lost pets.
• Provides a convenience to residents eliminating travel to the County facility.   Provides a local and convenient location for citizens to bring a lost or found pet.
• Possibly saves money for the citizen spent on veterinarian care due to stress and diseases that could possibly be contracted while in a large scale animal facility.

For the City Government and Bowie Animal Control (BAC)

• Enables BAC the ability to provide additional animal services in Bowie. 
• Provides Bowie an additional source of revenue from fees normally collected by the County facility for reuniting families with lost pets.
• Positively impacts Bowie’s carbon footprint.
• Saves money by reducing employee hours spent transporting and processing animals as well as lower fuel and maintenance costs.
• Increases amenities making Bowie a more attractive place to live.

 For the Animals

• Allows BAC and CLAW more time to identify rescue groups and foster homes for unclaimed pets thereby reducing the number of animals the County must care for.
• Prevents lost pets from ending up in the County with other lost pets and strays because local veterinarians are not willing to hold these pets due to liability issues.
• Allows time to create a foster care program which the County does not have.
• Provides a small, safe, comfortable place for strays while they are legally held for 3 to 5 business days and abandoned pets while they are observed for possible fostering or release to an approved breed rescue group.
• Reduces the potential of exposure to the stresses and diseases associated with large scale animal facilities.