Animal Advocates of horry county
NO-KILL IS COMING TO HORRY COUNTY
NO EXCUSE CAN WITHSTAND THE TRUTH
NO LOGIC EXISTS THAT IS POWERFULL ENOUGH TO SUPPRESS IT
NO ELECTED OFFICIAL CAN STOP IT
NO EXCUSE CAN WITHSTAND THE TRUTH
NO LOGIC EXISTS THAT IS POWERFULL ENOUGH TO SUPPRESS IT
NO ELECTED OFFICIAL CAN STOP IT
ANIMAL ADVOCATES OF HORRY COUNTY
PO Box 16184
Surfside Beach, SC 29587
Membership cards are now available for $10.00. Please join to help us in our fight for animal welfare in Horry County.
- No-kill Is Coming To Horry County
- No Excuse Can Withstand The Truth
- No Logic Exists That Is Powerful Enough To Suppress It
- No Elected Official Can Stop It
BECAUSE WE DEMAND CHANGE
The Animal Advocates of Horry County (AAHC) is a coalition of Horry County voters and animal rescue members who care about the humane treatment of animals. The main purpose of the group is to serve as an educational outlet for the voting public. The AAHC is not a rescue organization; instead, we serve as a support system for local rescues and other animal welfare advocates and all Horry County residents.
AAHC membership is needed to force changes in Horry County. Our membership cards are now available. Please join for $10.00 to help us in our efforts. Personal information of members will never be shared.
AAHC members will receive periodic email alerts when an animal welfare issue arises in the county. As needed, members will be asked to call, email or write letters to elected officials regarding humane issues. Members will also be notified about voting dates, locations, candidates and issues during election years.
Organizational Goals:
- To foster constructive dialogue between elected officials and concerned citizens and to facilitate communication between candidates for office and constituents
- To ensure that tax dollars are being effectively appropriated and utilized for the welfare of all animals in the county
- To keep Horry County residents apprised of local news and legislation concerning the humane treatment of animals
- To inform Horry County residents on every council council member's position concerning animal welfare issues; only then can they make an informed choice of either electing the candidate who most represents their concerns and issues or replacing the council member with another candidate.
IMPLEMENT NO-KILL
- Target Zero was a national animal organization that offered to mentor Horry County Animal Care Center for up to 3 years at no cost to the county. They would have paid all their own expenses; their own rooms, food, travel expenses and no consulting fees. They offered their expertise to the county for up to 3 years to help Horry County go from high-kill to low-kill. As a taxpayer, I was shocked when Horry County Council Members Al Allen and Chairman Mark Lazarus turned down this free offer three times!
- When Horry County took over the shelter operations, their budget was a little over $700,00. Now it is over $1,200,000. When council turned down these offers, they refused to help the residents of Horry County. Now that Mark Lazarus is gone from county council, we are going to approach council members again to ask them to implement programs to change this high kill shelter.
- No-Kill means that 90% of the healthy, treatable and adoptable animals are saved and only unhealthy and animals that cannot be medically treated are euthanized. Horry County Animal Care Center is still killing more than 50% of their animals according to the 2017 and 2018 statistics. Cats die at a higher rate.
- The members of the AAHC believe that animal control exists for the protection of animals and citizens. We as taxpayers, pay for our county shelter with our tax dollars. It is a county run department which provides public services for every resident in Horry County. In that regard, it is no different than the police, fire, and parks and recreation and public service departments. Because it is a public department funded by tax dollars, the county shelter is accountable not only to local officials but also to the public. Money is being needlessly wasted as there are proven alternatives to the high cost of taking animals in only to kill them. Why has there never been any discussion by council members with public input?
- When Horry County took over the shelter operations, their budget was a little over $700,00. Now it is over $1,300,000. County Council has never had a meaningful discussion on the cat issues since they took over they shelter. County Council members have know for years about the tremendous costs to operate the shelter with minimal progress for more than than 7 years, a terrible waste of taxpayer dollars. When they turned down the free offer from Target Zero, they, in effect, refused to help the residents of Horry County. Council members have forgotten that they are accountable to the taxpayers of Horry County. Horry County citizens can no longer accept the complacent attitude of the our county council members, who are resistant to the progress for Horry County‘s Shelter. The status quo of our county shelter and our elected officials will no longer be acceptable to Horry County citizens and voters.
- Horry County citizens do not want County Council members who are unwilling to try the proven No-Kill method. TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) is a keystone of No-Kill. We are calling for a commitment from county officials and shelter staff to implement No-Kill.
- The components of No-Kill are proven to work, but they must first be adopted by Horry County Council Members, the Shelter Director and staff, who have consistently resisted trying this proven method.
- The AAHC is calling on county officials, the Shelter Director and shelter staff to meet the expectations of No-Kill, including following the latest protocols of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, training staff to be qualified to assess animal behavioral issues, establishing a regular low-cost spay/neuter program, implementing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) of feral cats, revising strategies for adoption events and targeting breed-specific rescues to increase adoptions. All of these activities are expected of any employee at any animal shelter, whether that facility is working towards the No-Kill status or not.
It is the expectation of all Horry County citizens that their tax dollars be used wisely. Mass killings of animals is a waste of the taxpayers money currently used to support the failed policies of the past. Implementing No-Kill will reduce the tax burden on all residents. The residents of Horry County demand that the Shelter use our tax dollars wisely and Implement No-Kill Now.
The Animal Advocates of Horry County supports the exemplary work of all animal welfare groups in the county. Citizens who work with any rescue or volunteer group are free to hold simultaneous membership with the AAHC and join us as a member. As animal welfare advocates, our end goal is always the same: help save as many shelter animals as possible. Please join our efforts to move Horry County's elected officials and our Animal Care Center towards the end goal of a No-Kill shelter .
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