It’s a sad state of affairs when the county dog warden and the local humane society can’t work together for a common goal — helping stray and abandoned animals find homes.

The conflict boiled over to the point that Bill Click, dog warden for the past 27 years, resigned his position.

According to Click, the humane society doesn’t approve of the animal shelter charging the public $15 to take in unwanted cats and $7 for kittens, thus resulting in the humane society’s refusal to continue to give out free spay and neuter certificates and the shelter refusing to take in anymore cats.

In their effort to seemingly punish one another, both parties may have failed to see that what’s at stake here is the community’s best interest, not hurt feelings or ego.

Discontinuing spay and neuter certificates will only increase the unwanted pet population. More cats and dogs breeding will only lead to a rise in the shelter’s population. And in the case of cats, those will remain on the street if the shelter continues to deny them residency in the new cat shelter.

Paying a small fee to drop off a cat isn’t unreasonable, considering the county doesn’t fund the cat shelter as it does the dog shelter.

Neither shelter runs on unlimited space or funding.

In order to have an animal shelter that runs smoothly, everyone must work together, from county officials, shelter employees, humane society members and rescue groups.

Bruised egos are no excuse stop the progress Lawrence County has made in animal adoptions in recent years.