MANKATO — The troubled regional humane society chapter is making slow progress on solving the problems that prompted staff and board resignations, shuttered its animal shelter for a week and has left it now operating in a diminished capacity.
Whether fixes come more expeditiously in the next two months, though, could be a life-and-death matter for Mankato’s stray dogs.
City officials are preparing to reopen a municipal dog pound with a plan to euthanize unclaimed dogs less than a week after they are picked up. Currently, dogs are sent to the Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society’s no-kill shelter under a contract between the nonprofit and the city.
Public Safety Director Jeremy Clifton wishes it would stay that way.
“I think the animal impound is best suited to be at the humane society,” Clifton told the City Council after The Free Press reported last month about the issues threatening the future of BENCHS. “But if they operationally are forced to close their doors … then we will have to do something statutorily for the animals in our city.”
The Department of Public Safety was relieved of much of that responsibility during the past four years because of the partnership with BENCHS, allowing the shelter in Sibley Park to be converted to other uses. But the struggling nonprofit notified city officials earlier this year that it would not be able to continue the contract in 2025.
Barring an exceptionally quick reorganization of the humane society, the city will once again be impounding dogs that have bitten someone and pets left behind when people die in their homes — holding them at a municipally owned and operated shelter in Sibley Park starting Jan. 1.
“We’re working in the background now for that just-in-case moment,” he said.
John Brady, president of the BENCHS board of directors, indicated those contingency plans might be necessary because the fixes for the organization shouldn’t be rushed.
The remaining three board members — with help from the Mankato Area Foundation — are working to solidify the organization’s bylaws and practices to ensure it can function more professionally in the future. The next step would be to begin interviews to bring the board up to five to seven members. Once that is accomplished, the board can begin seeking a new executive director and a permanent shelter manager.
“So we’re just moving forward slowly rather than impulsively,” Brady said in an interview Monday. “We want to do it right.”
During an October board meeting, Brady said the nonprofit was in crisis, and an Oct. 17 Free Press story described the tensions between board directors and staff that prompted multiple resignations. Among the problems, according to staff members at the meeting, was excessive board interference in day-to-day operations. A BENCHS shift leader accused the board of disregarding recommendations to euthanize dogs with irreparable behavioral issues, and multiple attendees at the meeting reported getting bitten by those dogs.
BENCHS has a no-kill policy, generally meaning it doesn’t euthanize animals to make room. The board’s approach to the policy, the shift leader said, keeps euthanasia from happening in cases where it would be the most humane outcome for the dog.
If Mankato resumes operating its own facility, however, there’s a real danger that even well-behaved dogs could be euthanized.
“Right now, we would not be operating a no-kill shelter,” City Manager Susan Arntz said. “So statutorily, we’re required to hold the dog for five days and provide them care — food and water and take care of them for those five days. And if the owner is not found within that time period, the law allows the city to have the dogs euthanized.”
Because the city is legally obligated to have an impound facility ready and operational when the BENCHS contract expires, preparations are underway at the Sibley Park building. Floors are being sealed and wainscoting installed in the former city dog pound to make it easier to clean. Some additional kennels also may need to be purchased.
Although $12,000 is likely enough to cover the cost of creating a shelter, the staffing costs of operating it would be much higher. For that reason and others, Arntz said the city is unlikely to go much beyond that legal obligation.
“We don’t intend to turn the city into an adoption operation,” she said.
The state doesn’t require municipalities to impound stray cats at all, and there would be no intention to provide food, shelter and care for felines that are separated from their owners in Mankato.
Arntz imagined one potential solution for unclaimed but non-aggressive dogs if BENCHS stabilizes.
“Maybe a hand-off after our five-day period,” she said of dogs moving from the pound to the humane society shelter.
Even if that doesn’t come to pass and a death sentence is hanging over a dog’s head, the city will work to find the pooch’s owner during the five-day waiting period.
“Candidly, one of the best things that Facebook has done for the world is help reunite missing animals with their owners,” Arntz said. “It’s one of the handful of good things that you can find on Facebook. And we will take advantage of that, too, where we can … .”
Brady is hopeful the crisis at BENCHS will pass, particularly after the enormous amount of support the community has expressed since news of the organization’s struggles surfaced.
“Right now I’m feeling quite positive about the future,” he said. “This has always been a community that comes together in a time of crisis.”
While Brady said he has little doubt that the BENCHS shelter is best equipped to provide top-notch care for stray animals, he can’t guarantee the organization will be able to resume its contractual relationship to serve as the city impound facility. He intends to schedule more discussions with municipal leaders, and he can foresee some future role for BENCHS in helping find homes for adoptable dogs that end up in the city’s custody.
“As animals wait for adoption, BENCHS is probably the best place for them to be,” he said.