Jackson City Council members vote to move forward on animal care center

JACKSON, Tenn. — In 2016, the Jackson City Council approved funding to build a new animal care center, run by the city. Three years later, the city of Jackson approves a new contract to build the facility.

Despite support for building the new care center, which would be run by the city, many people spoke out during the meeting, offering alternative plans.

“If we did aggressive spay-neuter with $1.5 million, we could take care of this problem tomorrow, but warehousing animals in cages in a facility that has overhead is, in my opinion, bad use of taxpayer money for animal welfare,” said Karen Byers, director of West Tennessee Spay and Neuter.

Byers is a strong supporter of spay and neuter. She thinks the new facility would fill up fast due to overpopulation.

“I know that the problem with pet overpopulation is not that we’re not rescuing hard enough,” Byers said.

Byers was the only person to speak out against the animal care center, while members of the Humane Society and the committee on the animal care center supported the construction of the center.

After Byers’ public comments, the City Council passed the motion to find a contractor for the building’s construction.