County Animal Shelter Adds Evening Hours
The Tuolumne County Supervisors this morning approved adding evening hours, one day a week, to the county animal shelter´s operating schedule.
The revised schedule will affect Wednesdays only, with new hours from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Morning hours on that day are being discontinued.
Animal Control manager Jennifer Clarke says the revised hours of operation will help shelter personnel better comply with the new state mandated holding period for owner-relinquished animals, put into law July 1.
As of July 1, the state mandated holding period of owner-relinquished animals has increased to the same as that for stray animals. All animals, whether adoptable or not, must be held the same amount of time, increasing the daily numbers of dogs and cats, and at the same time putting a strain on the limited amount of holding space the shelter has for animals they are trying to hold and promote for adoption.
According to county animal control, the Hayden legislation requires that every animal be held for six business days after the day it is received. By adding a weekday evening the hold period can be reduced to four business days.
As stated in a report presented to the Supervisors Tuesday, the added hours will give shelter staff greater discretion when making decisions about which animals to keep.
Shelter hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The shelter is closed on Sunday.
