CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Since 2011, the Horry County Animal Care Center has euthanized more than 34,000 cats and dogs.
To put that number in perspective, that’s nearly double the entire population of Conway, South Carolina.
This is a story News13 has followed since 2008. We were there when the center was under different management and saw trash bags of animals piled on a truck to be taken to a local landfill.
Rick Tebbs says when he first heard the number of animals killed at the shelter, his heart sunk.
He is part of a group called Horry County Humane Voters Coalition, and says they’re working to fight for animals at the Horry County Animal Care Center.
“Every single day that we do nothing, fifteen animals are being killed out there,” said Tebbs.
The center has a budget of 1.1 million dollars of tax payer money, and Tebbs says he’s worried about how that money is being spent.
“We must have a huge budget for garbage bags because there are way too many coming out of that Horry County Animal Care Center, and I hope, I hope that they’re doing things right up there,” said Tebbs.
News13 requested numbers from Horry County, and we found that from 2011-2015 32, 654 animals were euthanized at the Horry County Animal Care Center. Already, 2,386 cats and dogs have been killed since July of last year.
Here’s the breakdown of the numbers:
2011 – 8,332 euthanized, 1121 adopted
2012 – 8,145 euthanized, 1222 adopted
2013 – 6,624 euthanized, 1,192 adopted
2014 – 5,327 euthanized, 835 adopted
2015 – 4,226 euthanized, 1,206 adopted
