Reversing a schedule adopted 17 months ago to increase
adoptions, reduce euthanasia and provide greater public access, the
Hollister Animal Shelter will reinstate Monday hours and no longer
be open on Saturdays.
Reversing a schedule adopted 17 months ago to increase adoptions, reduce euthanasia and provide greater public access, the Hollister Animal Shelter will reinstate Monday hours and no longer be open on Saturdays.
“It looks like the Saturday openings did just the opposite of what we were hoping for,” said Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller, whose department also oversees animal control.
From March 2009 through February 2010, while shelter admissions jumped nearly 10.5 percent, the adoption rate decreased by 4.5 percent and the euthanasia rate jumped more than 8 percent.
“People expect government offices to be open Monday through Friday,” Miller said. “This caused calls to stack up for Tuesday because people called in on Monday when the staff was not there.”
Despite promotion of the new days of operation last year, including mention on the city’s website and a note on the door of the shelter, “there appears to have been insignificant public utilization of the Saturday opening,” Miller wrote in a report to the city council. He said the weekday-only schedule will also allow his department to offer more administrative support to the shelter.
Mayor Victor Gomez, who voted for the change in days last year, said he “expected different results.”
“That’s the good thing about these numbers – they don’t lie.”
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