The number of lethal injections administered to dogs at the Coos County Animal Shelter has been cut in half since last year, according to Sonja Davis, animal control officer.

Killing animals is not a job that anyone particularly wants to do. But because of the state of the stray population on the South Coast, coupled with lost pets and unwanted litters of kittens and puppies, putting animals down is a harsh necessity and one that county animal control officers don't wish to describe in detail.

That doesn't mean the issue has gone unnoticed by local animal advocacy organizations that work with the Coos County Animal Shelter to find homes or other shelter options for the unfortunate animals when space is limited.

Davis said that help, along with spay and neuter operations being made cheaper and more available, makes up the difference for the county's stretched budget.

According to the most recent available statistics from the Oregon Humane Society, the Coos County Animal Shelter was responsible for almost as many dog euthanasia procedures as adoptions in 2002, with more than 600 lethal injections. For cats, the numbers were more bleak - 532 adopted and 1,328 killed that year.

Now, Davis said, the euthanasia numbers - at least for dogs - have dropped dramatically. The lethal injection is now mostly limited to animals that are temperament-tested and deemed unadoptable because they are aggressive against people, aggressive against other animals or because they become violent when approached while eating.

"The dogs that are being killed out here are the biters," Davis said, adding that well-tempered older dogs are sometimes killed because people are less likely to adopt them.

If room runs low for adoptable pets, the animals are moved to temporary homes where foster caretakers can help place them. Many are transported to Portland's Oregon Humane Society, a 46,000-square-foot facility built in 2000 and recognized nationally as having made progressive advances in animal welfare.

According to the OHS, one cat and about 150 dogs were taken by Coos County volunteers to Portland last year as part of the humane society's Second Chance program. The vast majority of that work has been done by Michelle Parris, founder of Grateful Dogs Rescue and a former volunteer with San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

And the constant trips up Interstate 5 have not been in vain. According to OHS statistics, 96 percent of animals at that facility are placed in homes.

"(Coos County) has the dogs we need and want here," said Barbara Baugnon, marketing and public relations director for OHS. "We do a lot for animals but the real heroes are the ones from Coos Bay who drive those animals up here."

With hard work and community involvement, Davis said, the process of taking in animals can be effective and humane, but in Coos, the situation can get better.

On any given day, the concrete shelter, lined inside and out with fenced kennels, contains a full caseload of dogs and cats to handle. At the end of a windy road alongside Shinglehouse Slough, the facility resembles a medium-security prison. From within come the resonating sounds of barks, meows, growls, hisses and whimpers.

A case of kennel cough recently swept the shelter. It is an illness that results from the cold weather and spreads easily because of the animals' close quarters. That problem can be quelled with vaccinations, Davis said, but the county needs a more permanent fix, in the form of a new shelter.

"I think that there's going to be a need for a facility for impound and investigation of animals - ideally, a humane society," Davis said.

John Fletcher couldn't agree more. He's the head of Pacific Cove, a North Bend-based organization with the goal of building a new humane society building there.

"In this new shelter, no healthy adoptable animal will be destroyed," Fletcher said, adding the county shelter has improved with community support, but still is unacceptable for housing strays. "Sonja does a thankless job. They're doing it with 25 percent of the budget the (Sheriff's) department once had but (the shelter) was never designed to community service."

The shelter keeps short hours, open four hours per day, five days a week. But besides physical needs, education is also in order, Fletcher said.

"It's not just here, it's everywhere and it's not going to go away with someone waving a magic wand and donating a million dollars," he said. "Feral cats are one of the biggest problems we face. We have to look at how to effectively manage the colonies and we need to get tough on John Q. Public dumping the animals. It's about getting people to accept that animals have value."

Baugnon said OHS can't shelter as many cats as dogs because of sheer numbers.

"We're able to help with the dogs, but not as much as the cats - not as much as we'd like," she said. "We did have a lot of euthanasia (for cats) statewide."

Fletcher said he wants to help with the dogs, too. This month, he began transporting dogs to Portland as well. His experience with tough animal-welfare work includes being the director of the Florence Area Humane Society, an organization he recently helped get back on its feet.

He said Coos County cannot rely on private resources forever, especially with the cat problem. According to county shelter workers, the feral cat population is an epidemic that has persisted.

The shelter currently has about six cages to hold cats, far too few considering the population of strays, Parris contends.

"All the shelters have the same problem, but not as serious as ours," Parris said, adding she is aware of incidences where hundreds of cats were euthanized in one day.

It's also a statewide problem Baugnon said, adding 10,056 dogs, compared with 22,759 cats were killed in 2002.

This information fuels Fletcher's drive for a humane society. He holds Bay Area fund-raisers and other social events in hopes of getting the nearly $200,000 needed to get the project going.

"We have to drag this county, kicking and screaming, out of the 1950s and into the 21st century," Fletcher said.

Davis agrees a more inviting environment would encourage higher adoption rates.

"Most of the humane societies now are much more appealing. They have a more sheltering environment instead of a jail environment," she said. "If we're an animal control facility, if we're trying to adopt things out, a better location would be good."

Meanwhile, work must continue with the resources that are available at the shelter.

The list of services Parris provides is long. She does vaccinations on the animals and also donated a new fence to the shelter to give the animals a place to play. The fence also gives Parris space to do temperament tests on the dogs.

That kind of work is what keeps the shelter operating in a humane fashion, Davis said, and Parris should be considered a shining example.

"She's the fairy dogmother," Davis said.

Davis added, "This shelter belongs to the people of Coos County and it needs repairs. ... It's in working order but it's just not optically appealing."

For some county residents, Parris said, caring about animals can be difficult, especially considering so many resources here for humans are underfunded, too.

"When you work with animals, you work with people, too. I've talked with people that are very displaced, very poor, but that doesn't mean they don't love their animals," Parris said. "In some ways, I understand there is a lot of poverty here and people that can't even feed themselves, much less their animals. I know we can't save the world, but we do what we can."

Adopting a dog at the shelter can cost between $15 and $50. The animals are not necessarily spayed or neutered, but they have all required vaccinations except rabies shots, which must be provided by a veterinarian. The same applies for cats, which cost about $10 each to adopt.

Those interested can contact the shelter at 269-2312.