by Chris Munzing
As recently reported by the Herald ["No room for Fido," Sept. 11-17], the shelter was dangerously close to its capacity for dogs, some of which faced the possibility of euthanization if capacity was reached.
The shelter is capable of housing 14 dogs, and the number of canine residents remains at 11. Marion Taylor of the Long Beach Humane Society said that since the story appeared, only one dog had been adopted, and its place was quickly taken by a new one.
"A lot of people call for small dogs," said Taylor, adding that one of the biggest problems for the shelter is the North Shore Animal League nearby. North Shore has the benefit, according to Taylor, of a much bigger budget, a larger network of advertising and contacts, and celebrity endorsements, including the wife of Gov. George Pataki. But Taylor said that the biggest thing North Shore has going for it is one simple fact: "They always have puppies."
The Long Beach shelter rarely gets puppies, and when it does, they're in the building for barely a day before someone comes and adopts them. Taylor said that the shelter recently took in a purebred puppy, and had to turn a number of unhappy people away.
The shelter usually receives larger dogs, which are harder to get people to adopt. "They're all about a year [old]," Taylor said. "They're big and need a lot of love."
The shelter provides adopting families with information such as whether the dog has been fixed and whether it gets along with other animals and children. As Taylor previously told the Herald, "We don't adopt out dangerous dogs."
But until people look into the eyes of these animals, they'll never know what they're missing, she said. "There are some beautiful animals there. We have some loving, adoptable dogs. Come and take a look."
