Animal rescue group to seek contract

SPCA challenger also plans shelter

Bobbie L. Mael, of the Eastern Niagara Animal Welfare Alliance, told the Town Board that her group intends to bid this fall for the job of holding stray or injured animals, mostly dogs and cats, that now are taken to the SPCA in the Town of Niagara.

Mael also appeared Wednesday before the Planning Board to discuss her group’s proposed shelter in Wrights Corners. But the board told her it needs more engineering details and held the matter over until next month’s meeting.

In addition to handling strays, Mael said her group has arrangements with local farms to handle large animals that are abused and is working to house animals left untended because their owners have been victims of domestic violence. “That’s a new initiative for the area,” Mael said.

Mael said the SPCA euthanizes too many animals and fails to provide prompt care for injured animals collected at night.

She told the Town Board that Louis Budik, a veterinarian on her group’s board who owns Transit Valley Animal Hospital in Amherst, has agreed to provide a veterinary technician to check animals brought to his clinic at night.

Albert Chille, executive director of the SPCA, denied Mael’s charges. “We euthanize very few dogs. Cats, it’s a whole other problem,” he said.

During warm weather, so many cats are brought in that the SPCA can’t keep them all, Chille said, since the shelter has a cat capacity of 75 to 90.

As for night service, Chille said the SPCA has a person on call to handle animal calls and pays a veterinarian technician extra to come in at night.

“We’re not afraid of the competition,” said Chille, whose group is being paid $811 a month by the town. Its contracts will expire at year’s end.

Supervisor Marc R. Smith said the town is interested in Mael’s proposal, but questioned whether her group would be ready to serve by Jan. 1. But he said the organization would be considered for a contract, even if its shelter isn’t complete, “if she can make alternative arrangements.”

Mael said the shelter would offer low-cost spaying and neutering of dogs and cats, targeting the poor and senior citizens who can’t afford the service. It would save them the hassle of sending to Albany for state vouchers for the service, she said, adding that Budik is willing to do the job.

“The [local] veterinarians have a problem with that because they think it would cut into their business. If they would volunteer one day a month, that’s all it would take,” Mael said.

The proposed shelter actually is larger than Planning Board members figured by examining blueprints at a work session last week. The two-story building, located on a 121-by-311-foot lot at 4036 Lake Ave., would contain a total 2,240 square feet.

The site is next to a music store once owned by Mael’s father and directly across the street from the Wrights Corners Fire Company.

The first floor will include animal housing and a medical center for the animals. On the second floor will be offices, storage and an educational center for programs that expose at-risk youth to pets.

Mael told the Planning Board that the dog and cat facilities will be larger and more comfortable than in typical shelters.

She said the 15 6-foot dog kennels will have glass block walls, radiant heating and Dutch doors so people can interact with the animals.

“None of these are going to be the chain-link fences with slab floors,” she said.