This has been a really long and drawn-out struggle; I remember the shelter was supposed to close last year and was saved. I live near this shelter, and have volunteered there in the past. I'm concerned about this story because a) here it is a year later and they're unable to place a large number of dogs; b) it's a no-kill shelter with a backlog of large pit-type dogs they can't seem to adopt out.
I googled the shelter, and came across a story from another rescue group commenting on a trip to this shelter - "Very rarely is an animal so aggressive it is judged unable to be adopted. If an animal bites experienced, paid shelter workers about 5 times then it is "put to sleep" (euthanized, put to death in a painless manner)."
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:jc0Sq9spaicJ:www.bancroftcyberfair.com/stray/wjas.html+"
That's a lot of bites, and makes me think this shelter wasn't doing its job. As far as I'm concerned, one bite to a shelter worker - who presumably knows dogs and handles them with firmness and skill - equals about 20 bites to the average adopter. I'm sympathetic to the 'save the dogs' urge that makes people post about 'rescuing' these dogs, but I hope anyone who goes to this shelter to adopt or foster a dog discriminates between a good dog in a bad circumstance and an iffy or potentially dangerous dog.
More links about the saga:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200551206002
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS01/512140380
