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Every year, 5,600 to 6,000 dogs, cats and other animals pass through the shelter just off U.S. 21 near the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, said Toni Lytton, who heads the department.
Before January, 72 percent to 76 percent had to be euthanized.
Thanks to changes at the shelter, she said, the rate has dropped to about 50 percent each month this year.
One of the small changes making a big difference is building formal partnerships with local humane societies and animal rescues to remove animals from the county shelter before they're killed.
"We call them every week with available spaces here so we can take dogs from them," said Franny Gerthoffer, director of the Hilton Head Humane Association, which operates a no-kill shelter. "We pulled five dogs last week; we're pulling four this week."
The island shelter is also able to treat animals with medical conditions -- from ear infections to broken bones -- that would lead to an animal being euthanized at the county shelter, Gerhoffer said.
"Since we're capable of rehabilitating animals that would otherwise be euthanized, it gives them the opportunity to save the ones that are difficult to save," Gerthoffer said.
The island shelter has always tried to respond when Beaufort County asked for help, but Gerthoffer said she is preparing a formal agreement for a more proactive relationship.
More formal partnerships also are being set up with organizations like the Humane Association of the Lowcountry, Palmetto Animal League, Camp Green Dog and local veterinarians after a meeting Lytton and public safety director William Winn had with these groups and others a few weeks ago.
Lytton's employees also are reaching out to rescue organizations across the country, sending animals with volunteer drivers to reputable groups as far away as Connecticut and New York, she said.
Lytton and others hope the euthanasia rate will continue to decline.
"This is important because it is an issue that taps the humanity of the people in Beaufort County," said Rick Caporale, a County Council member who has called for improvements to the animal control department. "It's not on everyone's radar, except for all the rescue groups out there using their own resources to do something as simple as save the life of a cat or dog. It shows you the real soul of a place."
MORE CLINICS, MORE ADOPTIONS
Another part of cutting the euthanasia rate is getting owners to spay and neuter their pets.
"You can't expect everyone to own three dogs and five cats," Caporale said. "Eventually, you bottom out on adoptions. The only way to possibly solve the problem is to have low-cost spay and neuter available all around the county."
Thirty-one dogs were neutered at the county's first low-cost clinic May 15 in Beaufort, Lytton said. She hopes to hold one clinic a month in areas where the shelter finds most of its animals, like St. Helena, Sheldon and Big Estate.
As part of the partnership with the Hilton Head Humane Association, animal control officers will now carry spay and neuter vouchers for pet owners who cannot afford the surgeries. The costs will be covered by the association, Gerthoffer said.
In addition to putting down fewer cats and dogs, physical improvements are helping the animal shelter run more smoothly.
Until a couple of months ago, the county's six animal-control officers shared one computer and one telephone line. Now, by shuffling the department's resources, Lytton said, they each have their own.
This week, a sewer system is being installed, which Lytton said should save her employees from the flooding and messy cleanups that came with septic tanks.
Even with 380 adoptions between January and April, up more than 16 percent from 2009, the shelter is feeling its normal spring pinch.
"All of the animals are breeding and getting pregnant, so we're getting lots of puppies and kittens," Lytton said. Young animals can't be adopted until they weigh enough to be spayed or neutered. To keep the animals long enough for them to grow, the county needs foster homes, because there is not enough space at the shelter.
"It would only take a couple weeks for some of them," Lytton said, "if we could get more people."
