It

just doesn't make economic sense to keep the

Fayette County Animal Shelter open on Saturdays

anymore, county commissioners decided last week.

"If

you apply a solid dollars and sense viewpoint to

this, the result us not good enough to continue

to spend the money for such little

activity," said commission Chairman Harold

Bost before the group unanimously voted to end

the two-year practice of opening for half days on

Saturdays.

The

Saturday hours were tried at the request of

animal shelter and advocacy spokesmen who pushed

the idea in hopes that it would e easier for

families to adopt animals on weekends than during

the week.

But

it hasn't worked out that way, said Bill Newman,

director of the shelter. "It hasn't turned

out like we thought it would," Newman told

commissioners during their work session last

week. "And it has hurt us in terms of

manpower."

He

asked commissioners for more personnel during

their just completed budget writing process, but

was turned down. Newman said that with current

staffing, the Saturday hours are making it

difficult to keep someone on call for off-hours

emergencies, plus staff the shelter during week

days.

Bost

pointed out that during the first six months that

the shelter opened on 25 consecutive Saturdays,

there were only 21 adoptions and only 22

reclamations of lost animals, an average of less

than one of each.

"We

are always in a financial pinch," he said.

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