The second new director this year has been hired to oversee the Montgomery County Animal Shelter.

Montgomery County ended its contract with Care Corporation last summer and took over the shelter in November after concerns about shelter management and poor condition of the animals arose from volunteers and other stakeholders.

Todd Hayden replaced former director Michael White—who took over the shelter for a short time in February—in March. 

White, director of the Harris County Veterinary Public Health unit, said the shelter had more issues than he knew about when he took over for a brief time. He also said he saw a no-win situation that would be difficult to change.

“I understand that the new director has started making changes, and I’d assume he’d get pushback,” White said. “I felt like there was a lot that needed to change. The volunteers did whatever they wanted, there was conflict between the nonprofits and the rescue groups and employees didn’t follow the rules. I really want the shelter to succeed, but it’ll be very painful to achieve.”

At the May 10 Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting, county residents voiced their concerns over the shelter.

Resident Joe Michaels said once the shelter lost the many partnerships it had with rescue groups and nonprofit organizations and saw a decline in volunteers, amenities began to decline.

“The latest change at the shelter has been for new management to come in and fire most of the people who have been key employees with no plan on how to replace [them],” Michaels said. “As a result, we’ve lost support of our rescue groups, and volunteers are discouraged. There’s no communication from leadership. We need to have a more cohesive program at the animal shelter.”

However, some believe the shelter is on the right path to recovery by implementing new programs to help animals. Montgomery County commissioners approved the Community Cat Program at their May 10 meeting that will allow animal control officers to trap stray cats, spay or neuter them and then release them back into the community.

The new program is in partnership with Texas Litter Control, a nonprofit veterinary clinic based in Spring. Deana Sellens, executive director of Texas Litter Control, said benefits of the program include less cats being euthanized and less overcrowding.

“Shelters without a Community Cat program frequently euthanize 60 to 80 percent of cats due to lack of space,” Sellens said. “[The Montgomery County Animal Shelter] has an unacceptable rate for cats, especially during the summer months when foster and rescue groups are at capacity. There are five rooms alone at the shelter just filled with cats.”

Sellens said every healthy stray cat is accepted into the program and is spayed or neutered. The stray is then put back where it was found. Cats who go through the program will not mate and will therefore lower the cat population and make room at the shelter for all animals. The program is expected to start in June.

“This will absolutely help overcrowding and free up space for other animals like dogs,” Sellens said.

Sellens said for the shelter to continue on the path to recovery, more rescue groups, nonprofits and volunteers need to come together.

“I’m really happy with Dr. Hayden; it’s nice to see an attitude looking at more progressive measures,” Sellens said. “I would really like to see the rescue community come together—it would be really beautiful. We need to start working on the key areas where we’re having trouble.”