MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - The new developments at the Memphis Animal Shelter are there are no new developments. Mayor A C Wharton was hoping that a private company would take over the day to day operations, or at least help the city change things. Requests were sent out all over the country and the city hasn't received a single response.
The new shelter opened this fall and there were hopes that when it opened, a private company would be in charge. But for a city that had been slammed all across the country for animal shelter problems, when it came time to put up or shut up, people shut up.
When it comes to running the new Memphis Animal Shelter, critics have apparently decided to wrap an old cliché' around their necks like a collar: all bark, no bite.
All across the country, notices were sent saying if any company or group wanted to run the new animal shelter, send your bids to Memphis. There were no takers.
"We didn't get any interest," said City CAO George Little. "We were surprised. I mean, there was no interest, considering the hue and cry and the kinds of concerns being raised."
Hue and cry is one of those fifty-dollar phrases. He means a lot of you raised one heck of a stink over what you thought were stinky conditions at the Memphis Animal Shelter. There were problems, no question about it. Lots of them. They are problems that the city will now try to deal with all by themselves.
Little said, "If you look at the concerns being raised, a lot of them have to do with sort of the processing of animals: which ones end up in the adoption areas, which ones ended up in euthanasia, how are they tracked."
But even with the city continuing to run the animal shelter, Little says things are going to change; they have to change.
"With a new facility, new possibilities that we've got to focus on; getting the people turned around there on the staff, and getting the culture where we want it to be because we've got a golden opportunity."
Little says two new veterinarians have been hired, and that's a good start.
Staff members will get some new training so there are no more dogs that end up on billboards in the city. Remember Kapone?
