BIXBY, Okla. — Overcrowded animal shelters are a persistent issue across Green Country, but in Bixby, the problem is simpler: the city has no shelter.
That could change if an August bond passes, which includes money set aside for a new facility.
WATCH: Bixby Police, residents asking for animal shelter:
For years, Horizon Animal Hospital housed Bixby's makeshift animal shelter until space became a problem. Amanda Newman, who worked at the hospital for over a decade, said the issue got worse since 2017, when the hospital first stepped up to help.
"It outgrew us, and it broke our hearts. We didn't want to give it up, but there was just nowhere else to put them," Newman said. "It is a problem. We need a building to house them."
Bixby Police Chief Todd Blish sees the need firsthand, "We get calls about stray animals every day. Not only stray animals, but we also get calls about people wanting to surrender their animals."
Currently, officers drive animals to facilities in other cities, such as Coweta.
"That's taking officers off the street, or animal control officers out of the city. Having to drive to other communities to deliver the animals, which removes assets from the city that citizens are paying for," Blish said.
A new shelter funded by the August 25 bond could change that.
"The Bixby dogs could stay in Bixby, and we wouldn't overwhelm the other towns. People could claim their animals better," Newman said.
"We were told that we would get a shelter in Bixby, and we'd only have to hold them here for a few years. But it was longer than a few years," Newman said.
"In a city this size, we've reached a point to where it's necessary to keep our economic resources in town, and give our citizens some convenience in dealing with their fur babies," Blish said.
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