Volunteers seek answers on county animal problem, say spay & neuter is key

For years, Lana Bellew has made it her mission to help animals in the area.

Bellew has been involved in animal rescue with a like-minded group of volunteers for about seven years. She has no formal training, but is very passionate about the work.

Over the years, Bellew has helped foster homeless animals, paid for medical care for animals in need and even once paid to have a dog boarded for nine weeks at a veterinary office, taking it out of there every day before taking it back at night in order to allow it to get some socialization and exercise.

"When there's a dog on the side of the road and no one knows what to do with it, or it is running down the middle of the highway, or someone finds one at their house, they don't know who to call," she explained. "I get tags on Facebook or calls (about animals needing help), and I guess the community just knows who those people are who are into volunteer rescue.

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"We've rescued so many animals over the past seven years," she continued. "There's people who have done so much more than I have. We're just a community of rescuers that have it on our heart that we love animals."

Bellew said she and her fellow rescuers work with a number of nonprofit organizations that help animals, including Huckaby's Hope, Fagin Animal Rescue, the Etowah County Humane Society, Second Chance Shelter, Two By Two Animal Rescue and the Rainbow City Animal Shelter.

As she went about her work, Bellew began to realize that there are two big problems in Etowah County — the need for a more central location in the county for people to bring unwanted animals and curbing overpopulation.

"I began to question, 'Where's the animal control?'" she said. "So I had to get involved to find out. It was very discouraging to me because there's really no one to call on weekends or at night. And all of the facilities are so full.

"It kills our hearts," she continued. "We can't keep up. So many animals are losing their lives."

Recently, Bellew and a few fellow rescuers met with Etowah County commissioners Johnny Grant and Tim Ramsey to seek a way to get their goals accomplished.

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Bellew said both were very receptive to the ideas she and the her fellow volunteers proposed.

"It was a very amicable meeting," she said. "They had an open mind and let us talk and listened. These commissioners are listening to us and I appreciate that somebody took the time."

According to Bellew, only one option isn't just a Band-Aid on the matter.

"We've got to get to the root of the problem — we've got to spay and neuter," she emphasized.

Bellew came up with a plan she explained in the meeting.

"'Can we at least try and spay and neuter 100 to 150 dogs with a Snip-It Ticket?'" she said she asked Grant and Ramsey. "What that means is, if you have a dog and you can't afford to have it spayed or neutered or you're not going to and you keep it outside, to keep it from multiplying the County Commission can pay a portion of the (spay and neuter) fee.

"We were tasked with trying to partner with a nonprofit organization, people who can come up and do the spay and neuter at a discounted rate, and they (the county commission) are going to try and come up with discretionary funding to help get the dogs spayed or neutered," she added.

Bellew believes one of the biggest reasons animals end up in these situations is the location of the Etowah County Animal Shelter, which is on the edge of the county and has a Piedmont address, along with many in western Etowah County having a veterinarian no closer than Oneonta.

"If a person in Altoona finds a dog, they're not going to drive it to the Etowah County facility – if you're not an animal lover, especially," she said. "Look at gas prices. The logistics make zero sense."

But Bellew believes she may have an idea to help with this.

"We said, 'We need y'all to consider having a midway point,'" she said. "We're not asking for additional funds. We're asking for the funds that have been set aside to be redistributed where they can contract with a temporary place somewhere in the middle (of the county) where they can hold the animals (that have nowhere else to go)."

Bellew stressed that the employees at the Etowah County Animal Shelter are not at fault, pointing out that a lack of staff means too few people already have too much to do there, let alone going out all over the community to get strays.

When everything comes together and gets organized, Bellew said she and her fellow advocates will be posting for volunteers in every local community for anyone interested in helping.

"But right now, we're just trying to get people aware," she said.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Etowah County animals: Lana Bellew seeks spay and neuter help