Pumpkin and Laurie Bufalo, a technician, play at Harbor Animal Hospital, on Maple Avenue, in Barrington. Until recently, most animals impounded in Barrington would have been euthanized.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

BARRINGTON — A pumpkin can grow to be pretty big, but the Pumpkin waiting for adoption from the Barrington Partnership for Animal Welfare is an especially hefty specimen.

The three-year-old cat weighs at least 17 pounds — and is still growing.

And he’s lucky to be alive, even though he’s in good health.

That’s because, until recently, being impounded in Barrington was almost a guaranteed death sentence.

In 2006, 56 cats and 19 dogs — a stunning 92 percent of unclaimed impounded animals collected in town — ended up being euthanized because homes couldn’t be found for them fast enough. And, “Barrington has consistently outpaced all other Rhode Island communities when it comes to killing impounded animals,” according to the partnership.

Now that’s changing.

The nonprofit organization, formed in August, has begun working with town officials to make sure that no adoptable stray animal gets put to sleep.

“We have agreed with the town that we will handle the adoption aspect,” said Cindy Larson, who chairs the partnership’s seven-member board.

The group, which has another half-dozen volunteers “and many other residents offering to help in other ways” according to Larson, is also pushing for more consistent policies designed to help owners find their lost animals.

For example, the group’s Web site, BarringtonPAW.org, offers information on lost and found animals in town, along with profiles of animals such as Pumpkin that are available for adoption.

The town and the partnership “have been working very well together,” Town Manager Peter DeAngelis said. “I think it’s great [that they are working to find homes for animals]. They’re willing to be part of the solution, and that really strikes a good chord with me.”

Under state law, municipalities that pick up animals must hold onto them for five days. “But the majority of towns have shelters, and most are holding them until they are adopted,” Larson said.

Barrington has no shelter, and there’s debate in town over whether one is really necessary.

One thing the new group is doing is looking to see how many animals are picked up in a typical year; 2006 may not have been a typical year, when 75 animals were euthanized under the old system.

Now, instead of being sent to the Abbott Animal Hospital in Rehoboth, which served as the town’s shelter, cats go to the Harbor Animal Hospital on Maple Avenue (where Pumpkin spends his days) and dogs are sent to East Providence.

When the town is no longer willing to pay to hold an individual animal — the time frame for that is still being debated — the partnership will take over the cost.

“There hasn’t been a permanent solution yet,” Larson said. “The town needs to continue to look at policies and programs. We have not arrived at a decision on how many days an animal will be held for.”

It all revolves around money, and the cost for an individual animal depends on the animal and its needs.

“At this point, Harbor is providing a generous discount, and in some cases losing money, because the owners are Barrington residents and want to come up with some kind of short-term solution,” Larson explained.

The group has also begun working to try to get better municipal policies for handling animal calls.

In the past, said Larson, some residents calling the Police Department for help felt they were having too much trouble getting referred to Animal Control Officer Joseph Benedetti, a civilian worker in the Police Department.

In some cases, the call may not have been relayed by a police dispatcher. In other instances, a message may have languished in Benedetti’s voice mail, Larson said. “That has improved significantly.”

“We used to have a lot of those calls being sent to voice mail. We stopped that,” DeAngelis said.

Police Chief John LaCross said there have been at least three meetings on issues that need to be improved.

One goal has been to clarify who handles a situation and how urgently it needs to be treated.

The state Department of Environmental Management deals with wild animal complaints. The town handles domestic animals.

“Some people think it’s an emergency when there’s a dead goose in the road,” LaCross said. “DEM may say we don’t deal with dead geese in the road. So do we call in the animal control officer for four hours of overtime? Some people think it’s an emergency if you get a dog off a run. But the dog may find its way back home before the officer is called in. We want to carve out procedures so we know if it’s really an emergency or not.”

gemery@projo.com