Rescue Being Forced Closed, Change or Amend Town of Saltville's New Dog Ordinance

Concerned citizens, Animal Lovers, Animal Advocates and Animal Rescues respectfully request from the Town Council of Saltville, VA that they either change, amend or rescind the dog limit ordinance passed on September 8, 2009.  This ordinance will affect the only rescue in town, Saving Furry Friend Rescue, and in effect possibly close them down.  If the ordinance cannot be amended, changed or rescinded, please grandfather the rescue in.

This rescue has been a valuable asset to the Town of Saltville for more than four years, rescuing and saving almost five hundred dogs, saving the town thousands of dollars and rehoming death row adoptable dogs with loving families.

From SFF;

Today I was greeted at the door of my home by a Town of Saltville Police Officer who handed me an envelope. In the envelope was a letter from the Saltville Town Manager informing me that the Saltville, VA Town Council passed a new ordinance on on Sept 8th stating that anyone residing within the town limits could no longer have more than 6 dogs on their property, excluding dogs under 6 months.

Despite the fact I have 4 acres and have been operating here for 4 years and our property is zoned for agricultural use, which as you may or may not know, management of domestic animals fall under the Jurisdiction of the Dept of Agriculture, if Saving Furry Friends Rescue cannot fight this, the Town of Saltville will be essentially shutting us down!

It is my opinion, the Town of Saltville is protecting the breeders in town by putting in a clause to prohibit puppies under 6 months of age from being counted toward the 6 dog limit, while punishing us, Saving Furry Friends, the ONLY rescue in this town. It appears that Saltville is more interested in adding to the problem of pet over population than it is in solving the problem. It seems they are also protecting hunters with a limit of 6 dogs where most ordinances usually limit the number to 3-4 dogs. In essence, this new ordinance will affect only us, Saving Furry Friends Rescue and Sanctuary!! Is there a reason that we seem to be specifically targeted?

It should be noted that EVERY animal control officer in this county has been here and complimented us on the work we do as well as the care of the animals and the cleanliness of our rescue. Thankfully we have written references from them. We also have several reference from neighbors in regard to how our animals are cared for, how clean our rescue is, etc. In fact on one occasion we were actually called by the Saltville PD to please come and pick up a stray beagle, which we did.

As for the animal loving citizen%u2019s of this town, we ask that you remember these council members as well as the mayor come election time. If you happen to be a resident of Saltville, VA, please contact the Council Members and let them know what you think about this.

Those wishing to help us in our fight may make a tax deducible donation to help us defray legal expenses. Donations may be made online on our website www.savingfurryfriends.com or thru snail mail:

Saving Furry Friends
PO Box 741
Glade Spring,Va 24340

PERMISSION IS GIVEN TO CROSS POST AND IS APPRECIATED!!! WIN, LOSE OR DRAW I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW THIS TOWN'S OFFICERS REGARD ANIMALS

Thanks to SFF and its volunteers, almost 500 animals have been spared. Some where adopted to be therapy dogs, some were adopted to widowers whose only company and companionship comes from an animal they adopted through us, many many more were adopted to families with children; by parents who wanted their child to have a pet to grow up with, to teach them unconditional love, compassion and responsibility.

Aside from rescuing and adopting pets that where on death row, our rescue has distributed petfood to low income families in the community who, without our help would be unable to keep their pet(s). Our rescue has also picked up pets belonging to the citizens of this town, some of them shut-ins that did not have a way to get their pet to the vet to be vaccinated, and transported them to the veterinarian, at our cost. Our rescue funded the surgery of one Saltville woman's dog after he was struck by an automobile and required an amputation of his front leg. She called us for help upon realizing she herself could not afford his much needed surgery, surgery I might add he would have had to been put to sleep without.

We have also, through rescuing dogs, saved the tax payers of Smyth County over $8000.00.  Monies that did not need to be spent for the medications used for euthanizing dogs, for feeding them, for housing and caring for them because they were here at Saving Furry Friends Rescue, and for hauling off the bodies of animals that would have been euthanized if not for our efforts.

Perhaps you are not an animal lover, not everyone is as passionate about them as I am. But I ask you, what is my crime?? I ask you, how can I be guilty of a crime when they wrote the law FOUR YEARS AFTER I started this??? Per the new ordinance if I am not in compliance by 10/10/09 (note THAT IS LESS THAN 30 DAYS) I could be charged with a Class 1 Misdemeanor.

We will be speaking to an attorney on Monday as I am not sure, but I believe this to be illegal as I feel we should have been grandfathered in.

I will update everyone on Monday after I meet with the attorney.

In any event if this IS legal, we will still continue to run our rescue utilizing fosters and boarding for the older dogs until such time that we can sell this property and secure another. We will continue taking in kittens/cats and puppies under 6 months old.

We are also asking our rescue friends, should it become necessary to move dogs, if any of you can commit to taking a dog in, should it come to that. If we are not able to fight this I don't want to be scrambling to find homes/fosters/rescues at the last minute.

If anyone has any insight into matters like this please email me at savingfurryfriends@yahoo.com.

Contact Information

 Saltville Mayor
Jeffrey L. Campbell - jcampbell@saltville.org

Saltville Town Manager
Steve Johnson - townhall@saltville.org

Saltville Town Council
Stanley Cahill     
Danny Maiden     
Thomas Holley     
Neil Johnson     
C. Todd Young     
Dickie Dye

Saltville Town Hall
Physical Address: 217 Palmer Avenue, Saltville, VA
Mailing Address: PO Box 730, Saltville, VA 24370
Telephone: (276) 496-5342
Fax: (276) 496-4814