Kendall County Animal Shelter May Close, Report Says

YORKVILLE, IL — The Kendall County Animal Shelter may have to close because there aren't enough people to run it, WSPY News reports. At a meeting of the County Board's Animal Control Committee Dec. 19, officials said that the resignation of the assistant warden in November and the absence of the shelter's director, Laura Pawson, who is on family medical leave, had left the facility severely short staffed.

The shelter has been temporarily closed since November, leaving some residents confused about where to take stray animals, officials said.

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The Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Yorkville is currently picking up the slack, accepting stray animals while the county shelter is closed. But Amy Cesich, the committee's chair, said she was concerned that police departments don't know where to take stray animals when they find them.

The committee discussed making the arraignment with Countryside, or a similar one, permanent and continuing to contract out shelter services instead of reopening the public facility. Doing so would save the county about $4,000, officials said.

But Gary Schlapp, the owner of Countryside Veterinary Clinic and the county's veterinarian administrator disagreed with that approach.

"Animal Control is nothing so dramatic as the fire department or sheriff's department, but still they provide a good service the citizens deserve, and since it is relatively close to being self sufficient, I strongly believe that we should maintain it in a function very close to what we have now," he said, according to audio from WSPY News.

The issue will go before the full board on January 10.

Read more from WSPY News.

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