KINGSVILLE TOWNSHIP — Financial crisis and severe animal overcrowding may force the Ashtabula County Animal Protective League to become a kill shelter, APL board president Nancy Warner said.

“We are operating in a way that is not financially responsible or humane for the animals,” Warner said. “Living in a cage for a year or more is not humane. Going cage-crazy is not humane.”

The crowded conditions can make some dogs more aggressive, more timid, and more susceptible to illnesses and infections, Warner said.

Warner said the shelter must adopt out 10 dogs every day for 10 days to reduce the population to a comfortable number. If the animals aren’t adopted, any dog that shows the slightest sign of aggression or agitation, or dogs that have been at the shelter for a long time, will be marked for euthanasia.

“We are looking at 40 dogs that might be put down if no one comes forward to take them,” Warner said. “Of course, we are working with rescue shelters and other agencies to help place the dogs.”

Warner said big dogs and black dogs are the most difficult to place.

“It is very difficult to find homes for the big dogs. Even rescue shelters don’t want to take them,” she said.

The overcrowded conditions at the shelter have caused several problems, including an unbearable financial burden, Warner said.

“Though the Boo Wow Walk earned more than $30,000 for the animals, much of that money was earmarked for debts,” Warner said. “In order to stay open with an operating budget for 2008, we must — and I mean must — raise another $30,000. We need that to carry over into the new year,” she said.

The shelter takes in 2,000 homeless animals every year. The APL spends an average of $200 on every dog in vaccinations and medications during the first five days it is at the shelter. The cost of spay/ neuter surgeries is additional, APL board member Gitta Racinskas said.

“And there are the obvious operating expenses, such as heating and cooling, veterinary costs, electric bills and employee payroll, to finance,” Racinskas said. “Right now, we are short by $588 every day, and that adds up fast,” she said.

Warner and the other APL board members sent a letter to the Ashtabula County commissioners, requesting a meeting to discuss an increase in operating funds for the shelter. The shelter usually receives $70,000 per year from the county, though the commissioners, on a one-time basis this year, increased the grant to $100,000 in order to establish a spay/ neuter program, Racinskas said. The shelter has not received all of the promised spay/ neutering money yet, Racinskas said.

“The county is not providing for the number of animals the dog warden is giving us. Those animals, court-case animals and owner-(relinquished) animals have pushed this shelter to the breaking point,” Warner said.

Warner said the board is relying on the commissioners for the increased funding. County residents, Warner said, always come forward to donate and adopt new pets during the holiday season.

“The fate of the shelter is very uncertain. By no means do we want to do this. Becoming a kill shelter is an absolute last resort,” Warner said. “It makes us heartsick to think about it,” she said.