DALTON, Mass.—The Police Department is looking for solutions for the lack of kennels in the area for displaced animals. 

 

When the Sonsini Animal Shelter closed the department converted their cells into a "very temporary kennel" to house dogs for short term situations, Police Chief Deanna Strout said. 

 

She added that although the Sonsini Animal Shelter looks like it is opening in North Adams, the new location will be out of the department’s reach.

 

The other immediate option would be to utlilize Berkshire Humane Society, but Strout said this option is too expensive. She said they want an "outrageous amount of money" to hold a space for the department.

 

"The amount of dogs that we would bring there, it's so minimal. It was upward of like $25,000 I think. We're talking maybe 5 to 10 dogs a year at most. So that's just not an option for us," Stout said. 

 

Strout said the department does not take surrendered dogs so the situation is manageable, at the moment. 

 

Also, Animal Control Officer Levi Lisi said most of the time the animals are picked up withing 24 or 48 hours.

 

"Most of our dogs end up getting claimed relatively fast. So, most dogs aren't spending any time back there in reality," Lisi said in a follow up with iBerkshires. "Our dispatchers here are very good about spending a little bit of time when the dog initially comes in if I'm not here, to avoid putting them back there. Because even though it is perfectly humane and the Department of Agricultural Resources says it's perfectly fine to house that way, it's away from everybody, and we don't like secluding the animal." 

 

Under state law if the department puts the dog in the department kennel they have to hold the dog there for seven days. 

 

"We don't have a contract with anywhere since Sonsini has closed, so right now it's up to us to hold that for the entire time," Lisi said. 

 

The last few dogs that the department has housed were claimed within three hours max, he said. The department has a "very updated list" of the dog owners in the area. 

 

So, when they find a dog they look up the description and narrow down potential owners within the database and then make a few phone calls to locate the owner. 

 

In most cases, the department has had to deal with animals getting lost because a fence was left open or broken, or the dog escapes when entering the home, Lisi said. 

 

He said since they set up the temporary kennel they have not had to house a dog for the full seven days. But if they do, there is a protocol.

 

"When I get a dog, and I make an appointment with a shelter rescue on the Department of Agricultural Resources Approved Shelter List.” he said. "I've had to make appointments in Springfield just because, right now, we have a very high population in the county of surrendered animals so not necessarily anywhere local who's on the list might not have room.”

 

In cases like animal cruelty, where the dog has to be placed in a long term facility, the department does have procedures and can utilize resources from organizations like the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the Department of Agricultural Resource. 

 

"The larger organizations like the MSPCA, who's mainly out of Boston, and their law enforcement team and their animal care team, in those larger cases are very good about assisting us, especially with the housing of animals side of it," Lisi said. 

 

"They have teams who come out to the center of the state, not necessarily in the Berkshires, but some of the surrounding counties, and they've assisted in taking animals and transporting them to the MSPCA facilities, and the other shelter rescues around who are more equipped to handle those types of cases and housing."

 

Strout’s other thought was a regional kennel, and she emailed the Berkshire County Sherrifs Office to gauge his interest.

 

"He said, I wasn't the first person to approach that, and I did remind him that Franklin County was currently doing that program, so I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. But at least I put it in his mind because most of the small towns here are without a kennel option," Strout said. 

 

iBerkshires reached out to Sherriff Thomas Bowler who confirmed these conversations with Strout did take place. However at the moment there are no plans to implement a regional kennel.