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Overcrowding Issues At Sebastian County Humane Society

SEBASTIAN COUNTY (KFSM)- Spacing issues have caused some challenges for a local Animal Control Unit and Humane Society. One Greenwood Animal Control Officer sai...

SEBASTIAN COUNTY (KFSM)- Spacing issues have caused some challenges for a local Animal Control Unit and Humane Society. One Greenwood Animal Control Officer said he was not able to bring dogs in to the Sebastian County Humane Society (SCHS) even after he was told space was available.

"I picked the animals up, called them, let them know I was going to be bringing them an animal, and they told me no and they weren't going to accept the animal after I'd already picked it up, less than 24 hours from making contact with them," Greenwood Animal Control Officer, Jerrod Ricketts said. "There's been a burden on not just Fort Smith, but also outlying communities."

SBCHS Director, Joe Sprague said that's not the case.

"They called me and said that they needed some kennels," Sprague said. "I told them all I could give them was three large kennels, and he said okay, I'll take them. I held those kennels for a week, turning down other townships, because those were his kennels. He never came with any animals."

The Humane Society has had issues with not having enough space for all the animals brought in by the public, as well as Animal Control.

"If we have space, we take them," Sprague said. "If we don't, we can't take them. It's an unfortunate situation, but you can't make kennels appear that just aren't there."

But, it is important to keep these animals off the streets.

"The importance of not having animals running around the city is it spreads disease to other animals," Ricketts said. "We don't want a child or anyone else getting bit just by some stray animal."

If the issue is not resolved with the Humane Society, Greenwood plans to find a way to manage the animals by building a temporary holding facility until they can come to a more permanent plan.

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