Burlington’s animal services director appeared before the city’s elected leaders this week to address changes at the city’s animal shelter that have left some area residents howling in protest.
Jessica Arias acknowledged that she’s well aware of the pushback to these new intake procedures, which were the centerpiece of her report to Burlington’s city council on Monday. Arias nevertheless stressed that there are good reasons for these policy adjustments at the shelter, which serves not only Burlington but Alamance County and all of its constituent cities and towns.
Arias recalled that since the late 1970s, Burlington’s animal shelter has served as the go-to location for lost and unwanted pets from every corner of the county. Since that time, the shelter has expanded its operations to include a pet adoption center next to the pound and a subsidized spay-and-neuter clinic at the juncture of South Church Street and Alamance Road.
Arias insists that these two subsidiary operations have helped lower the shelter’s euthanasia rate to less than 10 percent, allowing it to claim the mantle of a no-kill facility for the past several years. For a while, the shelter also witnessed a dropoff in its admissions, which fell from more than 8,000 in 2008 to just over 4,000 in 2020…