OSWEGATCHIE, New York (WWNY) – The St. Lawrence Valley SPCA near Ogdensburg is making changes so it won’t have one of the highest kill rates in the state.
In 2022, 90 percent of animals there were euthanized. This year, the kill rate has dropped to 80 percent.
“This drop took some time,” said Kevin Feuka, president of the board for the St. Lawrence Valley SPCA.
Adding a new, full-time shelter manager is one change to bring that rate down. Kim Sola started this month.
Not only did the board upgrade the manager’s job from part-time to full-time, but it’s also expanding hours of operation at the shelter.
The goal is to improve adoption rates.
“The work here is constant and both care of the animals and answering questions for the public,” said Sola.
Another change: the shelter may not be able to take in every animal that’s brought there.
“Where we’re taking a hotter stand, before we agree to take someone in, we need to understand all the conditions. But number 1: what is our capacity? Because if we bring too many in, we can’t handle that,” said Feuka.
Feuka says their shelter will lean on other organizations if they need the help — something that may not have happened as much in the past.
“We just want the animals to benefit from what we’re all doing, even if it’s not something any one of us can handle alone,” he said.
The shelter is located on State Route 68 just outside of Ogdensburg. Its phone number is 315-393-5191 and is currently updating its website.
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