This letter is about the St. Croix Animal Shelter, St. Croix Animal Welfare and the St. Croix Animal Rescue Center. They all are the same and their phone number is 778-1650.

The shelter was started approximately 35 years ago to alleviate the problem of packs of dogs that roamed the St. Croix streets impacting the safety of the residents.

With generous donations from the public "the Shelter" has managed to survive and the results are evident in placement of animals after rescue, public education and spay and neutering programs. Sadly many animals, despite all these efforts, still have been neglected to the point that they have to be humanely euthanized. As of Oct.1, 90 percent of animals that were euthanized were vicious, wild of suffered serious health problems.

Then we have another reason for the shelter's survival: its contract with the V.I. government. The annual contract was signed April 1, 2009. The services to be performed are:

- Furnish animal shelter facilities.

- Maintain proper housing.

- Maintain suitable hours for public convenience and the ability to impound animals.

- An "animal warden" will enforce the V.I. Code including capturing and impounding small animals, assisting the V.I. Agriculture Department, rescuing animals for police and paramedics, licensing dogs and restraining dogs running at large.

- Provide proper food, water, shelter and other humane treatment.

- Investigate every report of person bitten by animals and quarantine those animals for 10 days.

- Investigate reports of animal cruelty or violations of laws and show cause for prosecution of those persons.

- The center shall collect all dog fees and impound fees and permit the Government to audit such records for accuracy.

- Rescue of animals - The center, in addition to other duties, is subject to being called to rescue any injured, trapped or unnaturally restrained animals. The Daily News on Oct. 17 had an article where a marijuana operation could not be completed until the shelter removed three pit bulls and a chow that were guarding the illegal operation.

- Maintain a program of education to promote proper care and treatment of animals.

- Enforce laws related to animal control.

All of this for a contract of $45,000.

Yes you are reading it correctly - $45,000 - which, by the way, as of Oct. 19 had not been paid to the shelter.

A statement by Gretchen Sherrill, director of the St. Croix Animal Shelter, follows:

"Although we are not "animal cops," we do respond to criminal cases involving animals. In March 2009 we took in dogs in the double digit numbers from two separate murder scenes. Several of these dogs were vicious and it was very taxing to my staff and our resources.

"We receive no additional compensation for these acts or others such as coming to the aid of paramedics who cannot get into the homes of sick people because of their dogs.

"For $45,000 we are expected to employ a staff (currently 10 people), run the facility, feed and water animals, pay a year's worth of WAPA bills, purchase costly medications, operate a truck, and buy gas and supplies such as crates, nooses and traps that are essential to animal control, education and investigation."

The government has put the shelter in a "nonprofit" category and subsequently cut the allotment from $90,000 last year. If the government was given the responsibility of the above mentioned, they would fail miserably in the mission and still would consume hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages, benefits and equipment.

The allocation should be large enough to fund the task. It would be catastrophic for our shelter to fail. The allocation should come from the Agriculture Department.

I am now appealing to the community:

- To make tax deductible donations to the shelter.

- Urge your senators to increase the allocation for animal control.

Please contribute whatever you can.

No donation is too small.

-- Carol L. Johnson is a St. Croix resident.