Support a New Animal Shelter for Prince William County

We need a new shelter!

While we apprecaite support from all animal lovers, we primarily need signatures from people in Prince William County, Virginia.

The antiquated, 37-year-old Prince William County Animal Shelter has insufficient space for the intake numbers, has a failing ventilation system, and lacks necessary features such as separate areas for exams, adoptions, grooming, quarantine, euthanasia, training, visitation and equine/livestock. The living conditions at the shelter threaten the health and safety of the staff and animals that are exposed to diseases that require weeks of antibiotics, and often result in euthanasia for many animals.

Recently, the shelter has become an “Adoption Guarantee” facility, however, animals are still being euthanized because of the inferior living conditions offered by an inadequate, outdated facility. The poor ventilation system hinders disease prevention and contributes to outbreaks that affect the entire shelter population, including its staff. Animals that enter the shelter system healthy often become sick, need medical attention, are administered costly treatments, and are often euthanized despite the shelter staff’s efforts. The “adoption guarantee” policy cannot be fully effective until a new shelter is built.

A new shelter will:

• better serve the growing demands for providing shelter and care to the abandoned, abused and neglected animals in PW County
• include a state-of-the-art air exchange system, the use of lots of natural light and larger kennels and cages.
• improve the living conditions of the animals and workers
•  save the county money by euthanizing fewer animals/adopting out more healthy animals
•  assist in caring for animals involved in cruelty and hoarding cases
• attract more residents to the facility, resulting in more adoptions
• improve the shelter’s ability to control disease outbreak, resulting in euthanizing fewer animals
• keep residents from seeking out newer, more attractive animal shelters in other jurisdictions.

Did you know?

• The shelter has been on the county’s “Unmet Critical Needs” list since 2012
• The shelter was listed on the 2014 CIP, but was removed in 2012
• The county has never built an animal shelter. The existing shelter was donated to the county by a local nonprofit group in 1977.
• The current shelter receives 180,000 walk in requests, 12,000 calls for service annually
• 7,000 animals enter the shelter annually; in 2012, 47% of the animals were euthanized
• The cost to euthanize and dispose of an animal is $25.79
• The cost to house an animal for one day is $164.26
• Sick animals, on average, cost the county approx. $72.93/stay above the housing cost
• Fee charged for each animal adopted is $45
• The county would not need to invest in any additional property for the new facility. The current property is large enough for expansions.
• By Va. law, the county must provide a shelter for stray, abandoned or unwanted animals
• Prince William County takes in as many animals as Fairfax county’s animal shelter, which was just recently renovated and expanded its facility at a cost of $20 million
• Prince William County is the second largest county in Virginia with a population of 420,000 people, is the 12^th wealthiest county in the United States, and is 1 in Virginia for job growth