FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (WHNT) — Big changes are coming for the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Animal Shelter.
The shelter, run by the Humane Society of Lincoln County, will no longer provide Animal Control Services for the City of Fayetteville and Lincoln County.
The Lincoln County Humane Society recently gave notice that it will turn over Animal Control services starting on October 1st.
Members of the Humane Society board say funding was the biggest reason for them deciding to step back.
“We were getting to a place where we could no longer do animal control services just with city and county funding,” Rini Taylor said. “Our donors, they are donating to run the humane society, and we don’t want to jeopardize those funds.”
Taylor said a lot of expenses have gone up, and the shelter is also finding it challenging to find veterinarians and supplies. The staff said that has made it challenging to care for the hundreds of animals they see each year.
Right now the shelter is caring for 12 cats, 46 kittens, 24 puppies, and 39 dogs. “It’s a pretty high number, especially for such a small town, such a rural area,” Taylor said.
Since the building that the animal shelter operates in is owned by the local government, Animal Control will retain it. That means the Humane Society will need to find a new location.
Hannah Faulkner, the Vice President of the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Humane Society told News 19 that they will need help from the community when they start the transition.
“We’re initially going to go foster-based, which means we are going to need a lot more people to step up and foster cats and dogs from our community, and we eventually hope to go to another brick and mortar,” Faulkner said
She said they have lowered adoption fees and are running deals, to try and find homes for as many animals as possible.
“We want to get as many animals as we can, into homes before we move to foster-based,” she said.
The current adoption rates are:
- $150 for a puppy
- $75 for a kitten, or two kittens for $99
- $50 for dogs and cats over six months old
The shelter said it is very pleased with bringing down the euthanasia rate, to nearly zero. It said it 90% of animals that have come through the shelter in the last five years.
You can check out what animals are for adoption by checking out the Animal Shelter’s Facebook page or website.
News 19 reached out to both the City of Fayetteville and Lincoln County for a comment on the situation. At this time, we have not heard back from the city, and the Mayor of Lincoln County said the county has “no comment at this time.”
