Osawatomie Pound may revert to killing animals if city declines aid

Osawatomie Pound manager Deana Brim prepares a shelter resident to go on a "doggy date" with a volunteer. (Erin Socha)

OSAWATOMIE — After a popular social media post provoked an inspection of the Osawatomie Pound, the city is considering cutting ties with Always and Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill rescue that has managed the pound for four years, and returning to a regular euthanasia schedule.

In May, Always and Furever shared a Facebook post intended to raise $10,000 in funds to cover the cost of a new air conditioner at the pound. While the funds were raised, community members expressed outrage that the cost was not being covered by the city-owned facility, and the post was re-shared across Facebook more than 500 times, said Jennifer Dulski, founder of Always and Furever. The post has since been deleted.

It was around this time that the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Animal Health received a complaint about the air conditioning at the shelter.

The air conditioner is too old to purchase replacement parts, said Deana Brim, an Osawatomie resident who has managed the shelter for the past two years. It is usually functional but often fails, she said. The pound operates out of a metal building without windows. Miami County saw temperatures in the 90s by early May.

"When I found out about the air conditioner, three weeks ago, I reacted," Dulski said. "I wrote a post and that post was shared everywhere. I screamed and I shouted and I demanded that people start caring. We cannot wait for a single soul to die till people cared."

She said that she regrets speaking out so emotionally.

On May 18, the air conditioner was working, but the impromptu inspection found the shelter's cages, which pre-date Always and Furever's management, are dilapidated. Brim estimated the cages to be 25-35 years old.

Now, city manager Michael Scanlon plans to recommend to the Osawatomie City Council that the city end its partnership with Always and Furever. The council will consider his recommendation at its meeting Thursday.

"Solving the cage problem is at the top of our list — but these cages are hard to get and expensive. For the cages we need to purchase, the cost is equivalent to one-mill of property tax in our community or about $36,000," Scanlon said in an email.

He declined to answer questions for this story, citing legal concerns.

Dulksi said she proposed to meet with Scanlon ahead of the city council meeting and that Always and Furever is willing to provide the funds needed for cage replacement.

In emails obtained for this story, Scanlon declined her offer to meet because she had already retained legal counsel, saying a meeting "at this point would be ill-advised."

"We will be visiting with our City Council on Thursday," Scanlon wrote. "You have made it clear we don't have a future role with Always and Furever and as such our recommendation to the City Council will reflect that."

In four years, Always and Furever has placed almost 1,000 dogs and cats into homes, Dulski said. Removing Always and Furever would allow the shelter to return to euthanizing animals for space.

According to the emails, the city manager is proposing to halve the number of kennels available to six, and for the pound to return to its previous style of operation, where animals are euthanized 72 hours after intake. Previously, the pound was not open to the public, nor is its location found on Google maps.

Before Always and Furever's management, Brim said, Miami County residents had a difficult time finding their missing dogs when they ended up at the pound.

"One lady is really livid because about six years ago her German Shephard was brought out here and she tried to reclaim it, but after the third day they already euthanized it," Brim said. "She tried to get her dog back, but they had already euthanized that dog."

Brim also described how city workers only stopped by weekly to provide food and water, and did not walk or otherwise interact with the animals. The kennels were filthy and the buckets used as food containers were moldy, she said.

"It smelled like death in here," Brim said.

Over the past four years, Always and Furever has provided almost $250,000 in funds to run the shelter, Dulski said. Osawatomie pays the electric and utility bills with money that it charges the city of Paola and Miami County for each animal it takes in, Dulski said, while Always and Furever pays for medical care and food, and provides manpower to clean cages, walk dogs and find fosters and adopters.

This is not the first time that Dulski and her organization have been at odds with local government. On May 2, the Miami County planning commission voted against approving a permit for Always and Furever to expand their main facility in Spring Hill, which would have included a facility to replace the Osawatomie Pound. The commission rejected it on the grounds that it was too large and would change the rural character of the neighborhood. The proposal would have been cost-free for taxpayers and have had capacity for 230 animals.

Dulski said she had anticipated Osawatomie's support of her permit application.

"No one in the city of Osawatomie showed up to support us," Dulski said. "We had assurances they would. They didn't."

The Osawatomie City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to hear the city manager's recommendation. Meetings take place at Memorial Hall at 11th and Main in Osawatomie.

by Erin Socha, Kansas Reflector June 6, 2023

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Erin Socha is a nontraditional student studying journalism and mathematics at the University of Kansas.