Hello and welcome!

Posted on August 3, 2011 Updated on August 8, 2011

Hi everyone,

This will be our new page of information as to current animal happenings in Allegany County. We are an advocacy group that supports the endorsement and implementation of the No Kill philosophy in our municipal shelter. You, the community  have stepped up and supported the shelter with amazing donations and contributions of supplies, vet expenses, and volunteer time.

For those who are not familiar with the path the Allegany County Animal Shelter has taken in the last 8 months….

Dick Devore, chief of the county’s Emergency Management Division, which oversees the animal shelter operations put a stop on the senseless killing at the Allegany County Animal Shelter on 11/29/2010, after a story of 4 abandoned dogs went viral and public outcry over the shelter’s conditions and abuses emerged. A euthanasia committee meeting with several members of the community was called and at that very first meeting, we introduced the No Kill Equation and the tenets of the philosophy to Chief Devore.

The manager of the Allegany County Animal Shelter resigned on 12/17/2010. The majority of the work in the Animal Shelter was taken over and continued by dedicated group of volunteers, that set up many of the tenets involved in the No Kill Equation. We were and continue to be the target of sabotage, harassment and intimidation from people who want to continue the killing in the Allegany County Animal Shelter or have vested interests in the status quo.

In the beginning of April 2011 a new manager for the Allegany County Animal Shelter was selected, and today the Allegany County Animal Shelter has a saving rate of 93%. Previous to 11/29/2010, the kill rate was 86%, the saving rate just a little bit over 10%.

The next step that needs to be taken now is to change the County Code for euthanasia or hand over the Shelter to a non-profit organization. The County Code still allows the killing to continue at any time and as long the County Code is not changed, the killing can continue at any given time.

No Kill Allegany consists of Peter Masloch, Kerry Shoemaker Davis, and Jodi Sweitzer, board members of the Queen City Animal Rescue. We initiated this rescue in December in order to help the ACAS implement the tenets of the No Kill philosophy, and have been extremely successful in teaching the tenets to the county leadership in Allegany County.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact us at nokillallegany@gmail.com!