The March 11 story "Now boarding: Pets to get a place to stay at airport" details the Metropolitan Airports Commission and the Animal Humane Society efforts to open a boarding-and-dog-day care center near the international airport.

What I want to know is how does the AHS feel this helps the animal population problem that the cities -- actually the entire state -- is experiencing? Isn't the organization supposed to focus on helping animals?

Wouldn't its big-bucks budget be better spent on programs that would offer low- or no-cost spay/neuter assistance for pet owners? Or how about better handling of the animals that they take in by offering training and socialization to those animals rather than being forced to put them down?

Their focus seems to be misguided, and the public should know that the donations that it gives to AHS seem to go toward bettering AHS -- not the animals in its care.

STACY NELSON, LAKEVILLE