Collier County Commissioner under fire for proposal to convert Domestic Animal Services into a death facility.

Chris Hall, the District 2 Commissioner for Collier County, is receiving criticism from animal rights activists after making the following remarks last Thursday at a county budget meeting:

“So my thoughts are, to risk sounding cruel, and I’m not cruel. We have a no-kill policy, and it seems like to me if you ever go to a no-kill policy, there’s no turning back. When it comes to money and funding, do you want to fund pit bulls, pit bull mixes, or do you want to fund people?” said Hall. 

The statements came up during a heated exchange between Commissioners about the intricacies of Collier County’s budget’s future, According to a recent article by Ryan Arbogast of NBC2

Commissioner Hall urged the other members of the local government to investigate the Collier County Domestic Animal Services budget and to think about reducing it in favor of Parks & Recreation initiatives.

“I can’t speak for the other commissioners, and I am at the risk of sounding bad, I just want to throw that out. That’s a place I think we could probably take a look at, to save money,” added Commissioner Hall. 

For many years, Collier County Domestic Animal Services has operated as a no-kill facility. The statements made by Commissioner Hall are currently simply comments, according to DAS, and they want to keep things that way until the local government orders a change. Last month, more than 500 animals were abandoned at Domestic Animal Services; only around 100 of them were adopted. If the rules were to change, a number of those animals would be put to death.

“Whether are a pet owner or not, I don’t think anyone wants animals killed for no reason. I want the animals that are there to be thought of as important because all lives are important,” said Mary Heend, a foster mother for cats who recently saved the lives of two that would have been euthanized. 

“I think this is cruel. I think this is cruel. I think it shows he hasn’t done his research. He needs to go to the shelter. You need to go there. You just can’t sit behind your desk and make a statement like that,” said Heend, who has fostered hundreds of cats and kittens in her twenty years of volunteer work. 

For response and clarification on Commissioner Hall’s remarks, NBC2 News has contacted his office many times.

He has not yet responded to any inquiries.

This article originally appeared on NBC2

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