Letter to the Editor: Communitywide approach to helping homeless animals
Communitywide approach to helping homeless animals
The formation of Friends of the Montclair Township Animal Shelter is great news and hopefully there will be a strong response from the community. Volunteers are an essential part of every successful shelter, but it must be also recognized that the shelter should serve as a safety net where as few animals as possible will end up.
A townwide spay/neuter program for all pets and spaying and neutering of free-roaming cats are the first line of action to reduce the number of homeless dogs and cats. Education of rental-property owners on the proven economic benefits of renting to responsible pet owners eliminates one of the primary reasons that animals end up in shelters: landlords who won't allow pets. Fortunately the Human Needs Food Pantry and HUMANEmontclair have already worked together for several years providing supplemental pet food to clients so they don't have to surrender their companions when times are hard.
In addition, Montclair needs to ensure that there is adequate and fair funding of our shelter by the townships it serves. Based on the real costs, it is unclear that this is the case.
There must also be serious consideration to joining the Montclair, Bloomfield and West Orange shelters in a collaboration which would end the competition for contracts with surrounding communities, offer improved service through cooperation, and open up the opportunity for the generous grants that are available for such collaborations.
The communitywide nature of these issues calls for action by the Township Council and an Animal Advisory Board would serve that purpose beautifully. We can reduce the number of animals who end up homeless, and this begins in the community - beyond the shelter walls.