The City of Orange’s Animal Shelter is located on Simmons Drive close to the Orange Boat Ramp. It is a busy place. The shelter comes under the authority of the Orange Fire Department within the city.
Deputy Fire Chief Lee Ann Brown said the shelter has 24 kennels and usually houses 20 to 25 animals. Brown shares that about 20 percent of the animals brought to the facility are adopted later. The shelter works with the Humane Society of Southeast Texas in Beaumont which comes to pick up some of the more adoptable pets and has a larger pool or audience of persons willing to care for an abandoned animal.
Because the Orange shelter is a state regulated facility they are required to spade or neuter all the pets to be adopted and give them a rabies shot. Brown advises by performing those two procedures the shelter does charge citizens $98 to adopt a pet which is a greatly reduced price than if the citizen had it done on their own with a veterinarian.
Andy Borel and Marc Hogden work at the Animal Shelter. Andy and Marc stay very active usually making over three thousand contacts annually picking up stray dogs and cats, but also wild animals including horses, skunks, pigs, raccoons, and the occasional alligator. Borel and Hogden collect stray pets, but also pickup far too many animals that have been allowed to run loose and have been struck by vehicles.
The shelter is open to visitors from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM and from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The operation policy at the Animal Shelter according to Brown is to keep all stray dogs or cats picked up by Borel and Hogden for a minimum of 72 hours. If capacity allows, some strays are kept longer than that, especially if the animal is deemed an adoptable pet.
The capacity of the Animal Shelter in Orange does require that some animals are put down to prevent overcrowding. Brown would love to never need to put another dog down, and identifies stray dogs and cats as not an animal problem, but more of a human problem. Her first wish is that pet owners will take better care of their dogs and cats by getting them the proper vaccinations, keeping them contained inside their house, in their yards, or on a leash. Brown hopes, “Having that pet owner be responsible for their pets.”
The cities of Pinehurst and West Orange both operate animal shelters. Those are smaller in size and are no-kill shelters for the animals brought to them.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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