Help Support a new county animal shelter

Cochise County needs a new animal shelter.

Your activism is needed now!

UPDATE BELOW....

Board of Supervisors work session Tues Aug 27 2:30pm

The Board of Supervisors will be discussing options for the new Cochise County animal shelter.

One of the options is purchasing Tailtopia Boarding in Sierra Vista (located near the mall on county land). 1601 S WARDLE Road Sierra Vista AZ for sale: MLS #6651927 | Weichert

Tailtopia is the best option for a more centralized county animal shelter. It's a modern facility ready to occupy as a shelter, well located, plenty of space for county dogs and cats. Perfect for adoption events, volunteers to help, and an easy location to retrieve your lost pet.

The Douglas and Willcox shelters are currently the county shelters. So, if you lose your dog in Whetstone, the dog is taken to Douglas shelter. Too far to volunteer, retrieve your dog or adopt an animal. Both shelters have a high euthanasia rate due to overcrowding.

This effort to find a new county shelter has been going on for 6 years since the county shelter in Huachuca City closed. Since then, hundreds of county dogs have been killed due to the remote locations of the Douglas and Willcox shelters.

This has got to stop!

Tailtopia is a modern facility perfect for a county shelter.

One of the other options for a county animal shelter is the former juvenile detention building in Bisbee - the project cost is +$3million and not avail for over 2 years. Plus, the location is very remote for a county shelter.

What can you do?

Email the Board of Supervisors and tell them you want Tailtopia as a county animal shelter.

Tell them to protect our innocent county dogs from euthanasia at the Douglas and Willcox shelters (due to overcrowding).

Email:

Ann English aenglish@cochise.az.gov

Peggy Judd pjudd@cochise.az.gov

Tom Crosby tcrosby@cochise.az.gov

And please attend:
County Animal Shelter Work Session
Tuesday August 27 @ 2:30pm
1415 Melody Ln Ste G, Bisbee, AZ 85603

This is our taxpayer money!!

Please email the Board of Supervisors by Friday 8/23

Thank you, please spread the word!!

Update - June '24

It's been almost 6 years.....

....since the Board of Supervisors have been working on a new County animal shelter. 6 YEARS!!!

Does the Board truly want to save County dogs from abuse and/or euthanasia at the Douglas shelter (the current county shelter along with Willcox shelter) or are they just kicking the can down the road? You decide, read on.....

Proposed County Shelter in Bisbee

This proposed county animal shelter site on Tovreaville Rd in Bisbee seemed like a good location initially - anything is better than the Douglas animal shelter (county shelter) with very small 3'x5' all concrete kennels with no sunlight, and a very high euthanasia rate.

The Humane Society of Southern Az (HSSA) was supposed to operate and equip the future shelter including underwriting the cost of personnel. But then HSSA 's CEO was fired (gross negligence). And HSSA has been in turmoil ever since and has expressed no interest in operating the future County shelter.

Even still, the Board continues to move forward with this $3 MILLION project located in the middle of nowhere - too remote for adoptions, volunteers, and retrieval of lost animals.

ALL ABOUT $$$....

You see, before Steve Farley, CEO of HSSA, was fired, he helped procure a USDA grant of $1.1 million to be used towards construction costs of the County shelter on Tovreaville Rd, Bisbee.

As part of the funding, the USDA grant specifies that HSSA will operate and equip the County shelter. The grant is only for that location. The grant is specific and very controlling,

Does USDA know of the changes in their grant specifications? (i.e HSSA no longer involved etc...) This would be the responsibility of the County Administrator Richard Karwaczka .

Even though they have no shelter operator in HSSA, the Board agreed to spend $65,000 of OUR taxpayer $$ to hire an architect (total fee of $250,000) to determine the feasibility of the Bisbee building for a shelter. That decision was made last month (Tom Crosby voted against it).

This Bisbee location will not be ready for occupancy for 2-4 years.... Again, at a cost of at least $3 million.

In the meantime, County dogs are suffering!

Tailtopia Boarding Facility as a County Shelter ...

Tailtopia boarding facility became available to purchase a few months ago for $1.5 million. The owners of Tailtopia want to sell their facility and contacted the County to purchase their facility as a county shelter.

See the property listing HERE

The modern facility is perfect for a County shelter. It's located on County land in the middle of Sierra Vista near the Mall. Its move-in ready. In fact, the Sheriff currently uses Tailtopia to Board their working dogs.

Anyone who has been to Tailtopia knows it's a first-rate facility.

It's a 5,700sf building on 2.29 acres. It has 24 indoor/outdoor modern kennels, three play yards, many dog walking areas, a cat room, grooming area, office, kitchenette, reception area, washer/dryer., quarantine room, dual separate ventilation systems, and much more.

Sheriff Dannels., Deputy County Administrator Sharon Gilman, and Supervisor Tom Crosby toured and liked the facility. Supervisors Ann English , Peggy Judd and County Administrator Richard Karwaczka have not toured the facility.

Tailtopia is available NOW at HALF the cost of the Bisbee project ($1.5 mil vs. $3 mil). The Board said they have the funding to purchase the facility. But yet two Supervisors (English, Judd) are moving forward with the Bisbee location that the public does not want.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IMMEDIATELY!

Send an email to the Supervisors and County Administrator below and tell them you want Tailtopia as a County animal shelter ($1.5 million - available NOW) vs the Bisbee location on Tovreaville Rd ($3 million avail 2-4 years) - tell them to act immediately!

Peggy Judd pjudd@cochise.az.gov

Ann English aenglish@cochise.az.gov

Tom Crosby supports the Tailtopia site.

Richard Karwaczka rkarwaczka@cochise.az.gov

This is OUR taxpayer money - please stand up NOW for our County animals!!

Tell the Supervisors and Administrator to STOP kicking the can down the road. County dogs are dying. We need a County animal shelter NOW!!

Send your email to them by JULY 15.

* The Douglas shelter is going through some positive changes - this shelter will still remain a county shelter for dogs/cats from that area (Portal, Pirtleville etc) through a contract with the City of Douglas.

Why does cochise county need a new animal shelter?

Douglas Animal Shelter is one of the County Shelters.

Cochise County citizens are rallying for a

NEW county animal shelter!!

Most residents of Cochise County do not know that the county animal shelters are located in Douglas or Willcox.

If you lose your dog in Whetstone, it will be taken to the Willcox shelter OR to the Douglas shelter.

If you lose your dog in Hereford, it will most likely be taken to the Douglas shelter.

The Douglas shelter is too far away to retrieve a lost dog, to volunteer or to adopt a pet.

The Douglas shelter was never meant to be an animal shelter. Rather, it was used as a recovery area for the adjacent former vet office after they would

perform surgery procedures.

Kennels at Douglas Shelter are very small. Inhumane?

The kennels at the Douglas shelter are 3' x 5', all concrete, no outside area. (see photo on right)

There are no defined outdoor dog-run areas.

Douglas shelter has no volunteers.

Douglas shelter does not encourage adoptions.

Douglas does not promote the dogs for adoption.

The risk for these dogs is that they become anxious and mentally deteriorate in the small kennels and are then deemed unadoptable. At risk of euthansia.

Douglas shelter has a high euthanasia rate.

According to the Cochise County disposition document on left, for 2021-2022 there were 308 county dog intakes at Douglas shelter. Of those dogs, 83 were euthanized.

+26% euthanasia rate.

There are only two Animal Control Officers at the

Douglas shelter.

Cochise County NEW Animal Shelter

Help Support a new county animal shelter

Thank you for your activism...

Update May '25