County Mayor's message

I just attached an 8"X12" magnet to the side of my dusty car. It's not the sort of thing I normally do. I did it because this magnet reads "Please Adopt Today."

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is sponsoring a competition that will award $100,000 to the shelter that ends up with the largest increase in adoptions over the last year.

More than 700 shelters expressed interest in the challenge, with 50 chosen to take part. Salt Lake County Animal Services is the only animal shelter in Utah participating.

The best part of this competition is that with every animal adopted, one less faces euthanasia. We love our domestic pets, but there are many dogs and cats being put to sleep in area shelters. This isn't just a Salt Lake problem, Wasatch Front problem or Utah problem. It exists nationwide.

And that is why our Division of Animal Services has pursued creative programs and events to emphasize pet adoption. We work every day in Salt Lake County to provide a high quality of life for our residents. Among our priorities for more than five years has been to increase adoption and reduce euthanasia of healthy domestic pets. The results we have seen in the past two years have been so positive that we began to wonder if we could eliminate all unnecessary euthanasia in the shelter.

In an unusual move for a government-run animal facility, we have set ourselves the goal of becoming a 'No-Kill' facility. We hope to accomplish this status through discount adoption initiatives, increased rescue efforts, and trap-neuter-return programs for feral cats.

As with almost everything, it takes a collaborative effort to get positive results. We have developed strong relationships with local rescues and volunteers as well as partnering with groups such as Best Friends Animal Society and No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

Besides adoption, our shelter has pet licensing, offers free humane education for schools in our area and investigates complaints of animal cruelty, abuse and neglect.

There is still a great deal to do.

And so I'm asking our great Salt Lake County residents to consider adopting a shelter pet. If you want to bring a new pet into your family, consider Salt Lake County's Animal Shelter. It's located at 511 West 3900 South.

For complete information on the ASPCA $100,000 challenge and all animal services provided by Salt Lake County, you can visit us on the web at AdoptUtahPets.com.

And be sure to look for those car stickers and magnets advertising this great program.