Janie Greenspun Gale, board chairwoman for the Animal Foundation, the private nonprofit that operates the Lied Animal Shelter, cries while explaining that the shelter's policy of holding animals for long periods of time has led to overcrowding and disease-ridden conditions. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Lied Animal Shelter officials said Wednesday that they will end the facility's "low-kill" policy, which they said had led to overcrowded and diseased conditions.

Since last week, the shelter has euthanized 1,000 cats and dogs that had highly contagious diseases.

"Our policies were written to save every animal we possibly could," said a weeping Janie Greenspun Gale, chairwoman of the board of the Animal Foundation, the private nonprofit group that operates Lied. "In that misguided policy, we caused animals pain."

Greenspun Gale said the shelter will adopt a policy toward keeping animals for only 72 hours. Its current low-kill policy is to keep animals for 120 days before euthanizing them.

"We're not a hotel for pets," she said.

Greenspun Gale, with elected officials and Lied administrators, spoke to animal rights supporters Wednesday evening to address what some called a "state of emergency" at the regional pound.

Lied was closed briefly last week after veterinarians from the Humane Society of the United States inspecting the facility discovered an outbreak of several diseases in cats and dogs. Roughly 800 cats and dogs at the facility have not been euthanized.

The shelter is now accepting stray cats and dogs, but not animals that pet owners want to leave at the facility.

Pet owners who come to the facility to get rid of their pets are being told that if they do so, their pet will be euthanized, not adopted, Lied spokesman Mark Fierro said.

He said the facility is encouraging owners to keep their pets until the shelter fully reopens, possibly by Friday. They're also directing owners to private rescue organizations that might be able to assist them.

"It's not acceptable," Gina Greisen, director of Nevada Voters for Animals, said of Lied's refusal to accept unwanted pets from their owners. "If they can take in the strays, then they need to take in the home (pets)."

Greenspun Gale said overcrowding at the facility helped the spread of distemper and Parvovirus in dogs and panleukopenia in cats.

One animal rights activist said the Animal Foundation was warned about the large number of sick animals.

But Greenspun Gale said shelter officials had thought the number of sick animals was not unusual.

"It's (diseased animals) such a part of sheltering," she said.

The 11-year-old shelter, which has contracted with Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, also has used vaccines and immunizations that were ineffective, Greenspun Gale said. The vaccines utilized dead viruses and took up to 10 days to become effective.

Greenspun Gale said the proposed changes at Lied are based on recommendations made by the Humane Society of the United States. Lied officials asked the group for help, Greenspun Gale said.

The team arrived Feb. 5 for a four-day inspection but stayed on Friday after noticing dogs and cats with serious respiratory and intestinal diseases.

The team declared a state of emergency and closed the facility to the public Friday.

Lied has frequently been overcrowded because of its policy of keeping animals longer in hopes they will be adopted.

"Humane sheltering is a very new movement," Greenspun Gale said. "We have been flying by the seat of our pants."

The Henderson Animal Control Bureau, which only accepts strays caught in Henderson or pets that have been dropped off by Henderson residents, sees about 15 to 20 dogs afflicted with Parvovirus each year, administrator Gary Weddele said.

The facility doesn't keep any of the roughly 7,000 animals it sees each year if they run out of space at its animal care facility.

"If we run out of space, then we have to make decisions," Weddele said.

In the Animal Foundation's 10-year contract with Clark County to provide shelter services, the foundation was to receive incentives for increasing pet adoptions by 5 percent each year. The contract, which began in 2005, also stated the foundation would be penalized $3,000 for each day it violated Humane Society regulations or county codes on neglecting or abusing an animal.

Karen Layne, president of the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society, said Lied's policy as a low-kill facility "was a mirage" that led residents to believe it was OK for their dogs and cats to have offspring.

Layne said people dropped off pets at the animal shelter because they had the false belief that those pets were certain to be adopted.

"I would hope that we would be more honest with the population," Layne said.

But city and county officials didn't want to start placing blame with Lied administrators. They said ultimate blame rests with pet owners who don't spay or neuter their animals.

The officials said their immediate priority was finding facilities where people can drop off their pets.

"I just want to make sure the animals are taken care of," Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said Lied should consider setting up a temporary location where residents can get rid of their pets.

"If we need to find a site, then we need to find another doggone site," she said.