Malvern Animal Shelter closes due to understaffing, adoptions still available

MALVERN, Ark. – The City of Malvern’s Facebook page announced in early Sept. that its animal shelter will be closed until new staff are hired.

As the Malvern Animal Shelter fits two dogs to a kennel, its doors are now shut for walk-in visitors.

Malvern Mayor Brenda Weldon said it has nothing to do with the overcrowding happening at the shelter, but instead understaffing.

“The reason I closed it is strictly because I don’t have extra staff to keep out here all the time,” Weldon said.

Both the animal control supervisor and officer quit, leaving the shelter with one part time employee and having no choice but to close temporarily.

In the meantime, those former workers are still taking care of the dogs, as the mayor interviews people to take their positions.

“The animals are very well taken care of. I think you can see that by your camera they look great. But we just need help with either rescues or people to adopt,” Weldon said.

Appointments can still be made to look at the animals, avoiding what the mayor says is the last thing she wants to do: euthanize the dogs.

One former volunteer at the shelter believes more can be done to avoid this.

“Take photos and bios of these animals and be able to post them. To either be reclaimed, or adopted, or fostered. Because that is a major part in shelters and rescues,” a former volunteer, Audrey Norwood, said.

The mayor hopes to get this crisis taken care of soon.

“Hopefully with the new workers we hired, and you know, we’re trying to promote adoption work with rescues, hopefully we can elevate our crisis right now,” Weldon said.

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