Following a request by the Guam Department of Agriculture, GAIN will limit non-emergency public drop-offs of animals on Tuesdays. The new policy began Aug. 20 and lasting through September.
Unless an emergency, animals coming from the general public will be asked to be held for another 24-48 hours before being turned in to GAIN.
The temporary measure is an effort to provide more kennels for Mayors and Animal Control, to respond to an increase in animal control calls at the start of the school year.
“We’re receiving more complaints about stray dogs making it difficult for school children to walk to, or stand at, their appropriate bus stops,” said Chelsa Muna-Brecht, director of the Guam Department of Agriculture. “The stray animal problem is a crisis, and it’s getting worse,” she added.
“By collaborating with GAIN, we’re managing the inflow of animals on Tuesdays in order to ensure the worst problem cases are addressed,” Muna-Brecht said. “But we still struggle with limited resources, which prevents us from properly responding to calls from the public. We need to properly support a long-term solution,” she added.
The Yigo animal shelter is a government of Guam facility, and the island’s only animal shelter. Its operations are long-term subcontracted to GAIN, a non-profit animal welfare organization.
“The Yigo shelter is 50 years old, but Guam’s dog population has increased six-fold since it was built. The shelter was never designed to handle an island with this many stray animals,” said Alison Hadley, executive director of GAIN.
“Foster families and adopters are saving lives, but they are overtaxed. Limiting intakes is a short-term, band-aid solution. Long-term, the animal shelter must expand to meet community needs, and we need an island-wide government spay and neuter program,” added Hadley.
While non-emergency public drop-offs will not be accepted on Tuesdays, the shelter will remain open for volunteers and adopters. Normal operations will continue on all other days. GAIN is open 365 days a year, and is located next to the Yigo gym.
For questions please contact GAIN at (671) 653-4246 or Animal Control at (671) 300-7964/5/6/7.