INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Animal care advocates are calling for money to operate Jackson County’s new animal shelter. Jackson County recently requested more proposals from private operators after the city of Independence said it would allocate only about $300,000 to run the shelter.
It costs Kansas City more than a million dollars a year for a contractor to operate a shelter similar in size. The county and city agreed to a contract where the city spent $5.5 million to build the shelter in exchange for Independence operating it.
“It costs a lot to run a shelter, it costs a lot to care of animals,” said Courtney Thomas with Great Plains SPCA. “The general public doesn’t think of it that way. They think of it as a place where they can just bring the animals in but on average it costs $315 per pet for shelter to provide them with medical care staffing expenses, electricity food medical care.”
