Memphis, TN - There is new hope for animals at the troubled Memphis Animal Shelter. After a nationwide search, the city has hired a new administrator to run the shelter. Ernest Alexander plans to increase adoption rates at the shelter. In 2007, 85% of the animals brought the shelter were killed.
Alexander also plans to press charges against more owners who abuse and neglect their pets. He also wants to increase the number of animals that are spayed and neutered at the shelter each year.
However, he says his main focus will be on reducing the numbers of animals killed at the shelter. He says he will increase the shelter’s adoption rate by starting outreach programs, working with rescue groups, boosting community involvement in the shot, working with community centers, doing pet therapy, and possibly establishing a transfer program where animals are given to other shelters in the Unites States.
Wednesday night, members of an animal advocacy group called the Memphis Animal Coalition held a reception for Alexander at the Cordova library. They hope his new policies will reduce the shelter’s euthanasia rate. Animal rights advocate Lisa Trenthem makes regular visits to the shelter. She said, “It makes me really sad and it makes me have a house full of dogs. I pulled eight this week (from the shelter.)”
Alexander has been volunteering at animals shelters since he was a teen in New Orleans. He spent the last eight years as the director of a shelter in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
15,000 stray animals end up at the Memphis Animal Shelter each year.
