Barbara Hays was halfway through her morning commute to her job in Springfield, Mass. Feb. 5 when she received a tearful phone call from a former co-worker.
She was calling from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals facility in Springfield to tell her that the MSPCA facility would shut down in six weeks, Hays, the executive director for Springfield’s Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center, said.
‘For us to lose a huge shelter way across town that would accept all kinds of animals, it’s pretty awful,’ Hays said.
The closure is especially hard to bear because Hays’ own center is also experiencing budget cuts.
‘I’m going to be losing about 40 percent of my work force while doubling the number of animals we’ll be taking care of,’ she said.
The MSPCA announced Feb. 5 that due to endowment losses, they would be closing three animal adoption facilities by September. It is one of many local animal shelters reporting smaller budgets and higher surrender rates by owners who can no longer afford to take care of their pets. After this, the pet owners need to check their options regarding pet care.
The MSPCA lost about a quarter of its entire operating budget because of the poor economy, MSCPA spokesman Brian Adams said.
The Springfield facility will cease operation by March 31, the Martha’s Vineyard shelter will close by May 1 and the Brockton shelter by Sept. 30, Adams said. More than 11,000 animals were cared for in the three facilities in 2008, Adams said.
Four remaining MSPCA adoption centers in Boston, Centerville, Methuen and Nantucket will remain open, he said.
The organization has made other cuts in addition to closing shelters, Adams said. Fifteen people within administrative departments at MSPCA headquarters in Boston were laid off, and senior management salary has been frozen for two years.
The MSCPA is working on a plan of action for communities now dealing with the impending absence of these shelters, Adams said.
‘The animals in these communities will continue to be surrendered to organizations, continue to be dumped,’ Adams said. ‘Our charge right now is how to best prepare the towns for what they’re going to have to take on.’
The numbers of animals that are euthanized will likely rise because the number of animals coming into her facility is expected to double as a result of the closure of certain centers, Hays said.
‘I think what we’re really looking at, in a year or two, we’re going to undo all the wonderful strides we’ve made,’ Hays said.
Animal Rescue League of Boston spokeswoman Jennifer Wooliscroft said even though successful financial planning spared her organization heavy endowment losses, she does not know how the shelter will deal with a higher influx of animals. The ARL only takes in an animal when it has space for it, and the shelter cared for over 3000 animals in 2007 alone, she said.
‘It’s incredibly sad, but it remains to be seen [how the numbers of animals at ARL will change],’ Wooliscroft said. ‘Humane societies are pretty smart about having a pretty solid network. It’s times like this that shelters realize it’s more important to help each other.’
Until the economy turns around, Hays said she fears for the future of her animals and her employees, but no one will give up.
‘I don’t know what we’re going to do or how we’re going to do it,’ Hays said. ‘We’re all here because we want to have happy endings.’
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Please don’t allow the MSPCA to mislead you. They DID NOT lose 25% of their operating budget in 2008. They lost 11 million dollars of their endowment (investments). They still have a $50,000,000 budget. about $20,000,000 in donations alone each year. ( Insiders there tell me they actually did better in 2008 than in 2007). <p/>If you look at the IRS form 990 submitted by the MSPCA in 2007 (on the Attorney General website) you will see they received almost 20 million in donations that year and with combined revenue with FEES from services they made of 50 million. Don’t cut these guys any slack. They still have plenty of money. <p/>The MSPCA is closing the 3 shelters in question for one simple reason. They don’t want to operate these shelters because they are not making the MSPCA enough money. They simply used the current state of the economy as cover for the cuts but it appears to be backfiring on them. <p/>People are waking up to the fact that the MSPCA spends more on the salaries of a few executives than they do on saving the lives of animals. <p/>Take it from someone who has done their homework on this organization, the people running that place care very little about animals and a whole lot about MONEY. It’s an out-of-touch and greedy HOG of an organization. SHAME ON THE MSPCA!