Muncie animal shelter begins charging for surrenders
MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) — The Muncie Animal Shelter is charging a new fee for the surrendering of a pet.
Muncie Animal Care and Control is the city government agency that operates the shelter. It runs on tax dollars.
Superintendent Phil Peckinpaugh said with the number of animals surrendered each year the cost is too high and the $25 fee is necessary.
The money is going into the spay and neuter fund at the shelter.
“We’re not out to get people, we’re not out to get rich off it. I mean the money we spend here is far more than the money we take in,” Peckinpaugh said.
They take in about 2,500 unwanted animals a year.
He said between medical expenses and care, the cost can be astronomical.
“I mean we can get into the hundreds of hundreds of dollars and sometimes thousands just treating one pet,” he said.
Many people agree with the addition of the fee.
“I think it’s reasonable because they have so many people bringing in dogs every day,” Ball State student Nate Newman said.
But that feeling isn’t unanimous.
“I don’t think shelters should really be charging fees to drop animals off,” Ball State Student Keith Khumalo said.
Many fear that people will just leave their animals in the streets instead of paying the new fee.
Peckinpaugh said he will work with people if they can’t afford the fee.
“We’re always going to act in the best interest of the animal,” he said, “If we think that the animal is going to be dumped or harmed obviously we’ll waive the fee and take the animal in.”
But he hopes this fee does the opposite of that.
He hopes it encourages people to take having a pet more seriously.
“What we’re doing is putting a little bit more responsibility on the people that drop off their pets as something disposable and charging that fee,” he said.
Many other animal shelters charge a fee for surrendering animals.
Peckinpaugh said those communities haven’t had issues with dumping.
If that becomes a growing concern in Muncie they will re-evaluate the fee.