HURON — The Beadle County Democratic Forum met Feb. 26, with two speakers.

Kim Krueger, executive director of the Beadle County Humane Society, spoke at length about the animal shelter. She has held that position for 28 years.

The other guest at the meeting was Adam Weiland from Sioux Falls. Weiland is the co-founder of Dakotans for Health. He spoke about the final push to get petition signatures and demonstrated a new app which will help people gather signatures.

Krueger began her presentation with a brief history of the private non-profit organization, saying it was started in 1991 and moved to its current location in 1994. They are currently undergoing renovations to create a cat room, alleviating the need for cats to be kept in kennels. One question she gets asked a lot is how often the dogs go outside.

“The answer is, more than my own dogs,” Krueger said. The dogs are taken outside every three to four hours throughout the day from before opening to well after closing time.

Someone goes to the shelter every day of the year to care for the animals. She is hoping to make improvements to the dog park in the future, including water and lights.

“We have people who come very early in the morning to run their dogs,” Krueger explained. “They park so their headlights shine into the play area.”

She explained the reasoning behind asking for an adoption fee.

By the time an animal is ready for adoption, the Humane Society has incurred a lot of expense caring for that animal. Also, she stressed the long-term commitment and cost of pet ownership. If someone is worried about paying an adoption fee, they probably can’t afford a pet.

The Humane Society contracts with the city to provide animal control services. That includes trapping strays and feral animals and responding to possible abuse and neglect. Tips are always anonymous and often all that is needed is to educate the owner on proper care. However, they do not respond to barking dog complaints. That is a noise complaint and goes through the police department.

Her big push is to convince people to spay and neuter their animals. One cat and her litter can produce 420,000 cats over a seven-year stretch and a pregnant dog can create 66,000 offspring in six years. Krueger said the campaign is working.

“We are seeing a steady decrease in animals coming through the shelter,” she said. When she first began, the shelter saw 1,300 cats a year and last year only 800. “That may not seem like a lot, but any decrease is a big, big number for us.”

Volunteers to help care for the animals or become a pet foster home are welcome. The shelter runs on donations. Money as well as food, bedding and other supplies are always needed.

“Our community is so supportive,” Krueger said. “We appreciate that support and strive to offer a safe haven for homeless animals.”

Weiland explained that this new app lists registered voters who have not already signed the petition. This means people circulating petitions can tailor their route to a specific sub-group of registered voters. Gatherers can also choose a specific area to canvass, such as their neighborhood or around their workplace, making it quite likely they will be contacting folks they already know.

After explaining how the app works, Weiland assisted attendees in installing it on their phones and accessing the database.

He went on to explain that it is legal to gather signatures on any public sidewalk or in any public gathering space such as the courthouse, city hall, and the library.