Good afternoon,
I am a long standing volunteer at the shelter.  I have communicated with you in the past, on several occasions.   It is always with a heavy heart when I am emailing you, and today is no different.  Sadly, my concerns for what is happening at the shelter and the conditions for animals and staff have not changed.  Honestly, not much has changed.  Maybe for a few days here and there things seem to improve and then they get worse.  I am sure much of what I am going to say will sound like a broken record, and you have heard it before, from me for sure,  but when I see it week in and week out I can’t just keep pretending it isn’t happening.  The shelter is extremely over capacity.  The shelter that was never, ever equipped or intended to house this many dogs. And yes I know that grand shelter is being built, somewhere, one day in the future(heard that for years now).  I get it, however, we can’t keep ignoring the problems at hand, maybe you can, but its hard for me to keep pretending they don’t exist.    

Currently I would guess we have have 50-60 dogs in crates in the garage and crate room.  When I was there on Sunday we had filled every spot available and were starting to set up crates in UB and down the hallway, if necessary.  THIS IS INSANITY. I have done nothing but help walk crate dogs since December.  We have had dogs in crates for countless months now. It is insane, borderline abuse, imo, 23 1/2 hours a day in a crate with half  of these dogs in a very HOT, loud garage.  And yes, there is a portable ac unit in the garage, but it is still hot, and it is still a garage no matter how you spin it.  In addition, so much time is spent caring for crate dogs, that there is no way the dogs on the floor can get what they need, ie, enrichment, time in the play yard, stimulation of any kind.  There is just no time or staff for this. To complicate things more, we currently have more staff on light duty than we do normal duty.   I get things happen and maybe those things are unavoidable but you also can’t ignore the fact that this mean there are not enough capable  bodies to care for these dogs.  I get the need for this temporarily, as it is truly an epidemic happening everywhere currently, but not for weeks and months on end.  Our staff are hurting, physically and mentally. The current “well” staff are working 50-60-70 hours a week just trying to get everything done.  I see them staying late every single day, long past closing, sometimes as late as 8/9/10 p.m.  How long do you all think they will last? How long before they are all broken, or suffer work related injuries from doing too much. How long would you all last under those conditions and all while getting paid a whooping $15.50 per hour????? Guaranteed, not long.

I am thankful that so many of them truly care for these animals in our care, but everyone has a breaking point.  I know we have hired temp people to fill in for things like cleaning, however, they call out more often than not, especially on the weekends when help is most needed.  Hopefully we aren’t paying a lot for that non service.  I keep hearing that  HR has people hired and waiting to be onboarded but heavens they are needed desperately NOW.  We are now without a vet, or seeking one.  It is my understanding that Ed has resigned and is due to leave this month.  I have not seen any posting of the director job.  I certainly hope it is the intention to replace him.  There is some chatter that he is not going to be replaced and supervisors at the shelter are going to oversee things with commissioners.  I certainly hope that is not the case as the shelter is in desperate need of leadership, a vision, a plan, something.  I’m not at all sure how anyone can look at what is happening now and what has happened and think it is good and that this is a good plan, and we should continue on this course.  

It going to be a long, hot summer, and probably guaranteed that dogs will keep coming, and hopefully, staff will not keep leaving. We have to try to do the best possible to manage the uncontrollable.   I hope and pray for rapid hiring of the staff we need, a vet, a director, and that many, many adoptions occur.  I hope all of you will make the shelter a priority for the county, put it at the forefront, get us out there, improve our image. Maybe this will implore more residents to want get involved, volunteer, and make a difference for these animals of Alachua County,  We changed our name, now lets live up to it. 

Thank you for your time, and consideration.  I hope you read the words I wrote.  They come from a good place.  I care immensely for our staff and animals and the future of the shelter. 

SHARON GILBERT 
 
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