Dog tired of spending money on Manatee County's animal shelters

In 2025, Manatee County commissioners drew a hard line when it came to much needed road improvements.

The given reason they called off some of those projects was a lack of funds.

Backing off the road improvements, such the widening of Lorraine Road, came despite taxpayers screaming for traffic relief. Right or wrong, you have to respect the commissioners for making a tough decision if the funds weren't in place.

But now, they don't seem to have that same resolve when it comes to animal shelters.

No matter how much money commissioners pour into animal shelters, it is never going to be enough.

Consider that more than 2,000 residents have signed a Change.org petition about their discontent with the county's shelter expansion, which includes a new adoption center and eight 15-kennel cottages.

When Manatee County took over the shelter in 2022, it was billed as a 25,000-square-foot, "state-of-the-art facility" that had the capacity to handle 372 animals at one time. Manatee County's aging animal shelter in Palmetto was overcrowded and had been forced to handle up to 190 animals at one time.

So forgive me, but if you are gifted a facility that can handle almost double the amount of animals of your existing shelter, and is state-of-the-art, Isn't that sufficient?

But then Manatee County took over the Bishop facility, and poured $12 million of improvements into the "state-of-the-art facility" that included those eight 15-kennel cottages.

Surely, that is enough capacity.

I guess it isn't though, because in East County Observer reporter Lesley Dwyer's story, Commissioner George Kruse talks about the possibility of putting together a $15 million budget about three years from now to build an additional new shelter in East County.

I am sure Kruse is frustrated because he has done everything in his power to appease the animal activists who want him to turn the Bishop into a doggie Taj Mahal. That would include tearing out some of the new improvements and starting over.

But he needs to realize that it's never going to be enough to satisfy some activists. He could put Bose speakers in all the kennels and play Andrea Bocelli tunes 24 hours a day and it wouldn't be enough. Caviar could be served twice a day and it wouldn't be enough. Heated massage chairs could be added and it wouldn't be enough.

Our area's dogs are running away from their homes in the Lake Club because they want to be captured and brought to the Bishop.

And the county still is considering to build another shelter, and to pay for more improvements.

It's time to just say no.

The theme of this column is the same as the one I wrote in 2020 knowing that this spiraling monetary dump would be in our future as Manatee County residents. In 2020, I urged the county to sink funds into public-private partnerships with shelters such as Nate's Honor Animal Rescue, which is just completing its $16 million "journey home" capital campaign to expand and improve its Lakewood Ranch campus.

Even renovating the Palmetto shelter would have been an option.

But now here we are.

Manatee County's planned Animal Welfare budget for 2027 is $6.33 million. Of that, $3.76 million is for personnel. Then there's $2.57 million for operating costs.

What if you gave approximately $3 million a year to several private animal shelters with an agreement they would accept your strays?

Wouldn't it be great to get out of the animal welfare business? 

Of course, that's not going to happen, but can't we at least use some common sense when it comes to providing amenities for the animals?

On the tour of the Bishop last week, Kruse noted that "On average, other than a handful of dogs, most of the dogs come (to the Bishop) for less than eight weeks."

Eight weeks. Can we please give our commissioners a break, and thank them for securing a much better facility for strays, instead of bombarding them with requests for upgrades?

At this point, commissioners are only hearing from those who want Hilton conditions for the animals under the county's care. I admit that I am OK with Motel 8 accommodations for two months.

If you believe that being granted an $18 million facility and then putting another $12 million into it is enough to serve the county's strays, then contact your commissioners and let them know. They are only hearing one side of this because that is the way it works. Those who are pushing for change are loud and those who are disinterested are silent until they get the bill.

And if you are OK with the direction the shelter situation is going, consider that the old "rat-infested" Palmetto shelter is being leased to Friends of the Pelicans, a nonprofit that saves injured seabirds from the Skyway Fishing Pier. How long will it be before the county pours $3 or $4 million into that facility because it is insufficient to serve the needs of the birds?