‘Huge Numbers Of Animals. Why Humane Society And Dickson County Split.

Dickson County Humane Society and county roads with operating expenses.

The city of Dixon, meanwhile, will continue to use the Humane Society shelter it opened in 2017 for housing, treatment and animal adoption services.

The county paid the nonprofit $45,000 a year, but was later asked to pay $150,000.

Carrie Parker Perry, humane society board chair, said the organization has rescued more than 500 animals each year for the past two years.

"He charged HSDC more than he was getting paid from the county," Perry said.

The city and county have been working with the Humane Society for these services since 2019.

Dickson County government has begun using the decades-old Eno Road animal control facility in recent weeks.

When the tripartite partnership was formed four years ago, the Eno Road facility was in poor condition and would cost at least $200,000 in repairs or a new facility, officials said.

How did the country reach the crossroads of human society?

County Mayor Bob Rial and Perry began talking over the summer and "met a few times," Perry said.

"We (actually) HSDC cannot continue to provide regional animal control services with the amount of animals the county is bringing in with current funding," Perry said.

The county and city "can't expect to pay what they're spending per animal," Perry said.

"But with so many animals, we didn't expect that," Perry said. "We know this is not sustainable and fair for us and we need more money to provide the quality service we provide to the country."

In a letter to county commissioners, Real told the Humane Society he wanted a 333% increase.

"The sheriff and I are committed to working with them," Rial wrote. "The sheriff wanted to see how things were going with other animal control units in the state."

When Sheriff Tim Eads completed his review in October, he was informed that the county Humane Society was considering terminating the contract, the mayor said. A month later, Rial wrote, the county received notice that the humane society had exercised its 60-day right of revocation.

And later?

"We held urgent meetings with various regional authorities to come up with a temporary solution to meet the tight schedule we were given at that time," Rial said. "The quickest and most humane way to address this situation was to rebuild the old county animal control building."

Eads said he is developing a long-term solution to animal control "without risking similar obstacles to future local agency decisions."

Peary and the Humane Society are asking citizens to contact county commissioners. They believe the use of the former animal control building is "deeply disappointing on many levels," including quality of care, euthanasia policies and aftercare.

"In any event, as a non-profit organization, we cannot serve Dickson County at a significant financial loss," Perry said.

More : Dixon Pet Haven's groundbreaking ceremony is a dream come true.

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Tennessean: "Animals of Abundance." Why did the Humane Society and Dickson County split?