LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Louisville Metro Animal Services will soon accept surrendered animals by appointment only. A pet owner can currently drop-off a pet on-the-spot, even when the shelter is full.
LMAS will implement a new process next month called managed intake. It will require owners to fill out a pet history form, schedule an appointment to surrender their pet, and pay a $25 impoundment fee. Stray, sick, injured, or aggressive animals will continue to be accepted immediately, without an appointment.
"It's a better plan to save more animals lives,” LMAS Director Ozzy Gibson said. “When you allow people to just surrender your pet you're basically teaching them that it's OK to abandon your pet – and it's not.”
The agency’s Animal Care Center on Manslick Rd. often operates at capacity and is further strapped by influxes of surrendered pets. Gibson said transitioning to a managed intake system would help reduce overcrowding by giving staff time to prepare and make arrangements for incoming animals.
The Kentucky Humane Society implemented a near-identical policy in 2012 when it became a managed intake shelter. Andrea Blair, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Humane Society, said the change enabled KHS to become a no-kill shelter.
Both KHS and LMAS said research of other managed intake facilities did not show an increase in animal abandonment in their respective communities. Blair said KHS followed-up with owners who failed to attend their scheduled surrender appointments and found that most owners found someone to take in the animal on their own or decided to keep their pet.
Blair added that many owners who felt like they had no choice but to surrender their pets have been connected to resources through the organization’s free pet help hotline, 502-509-4PET (4738).
LMAS will begin operating under the managed intake system on May 1.