New shelter is cat’s meow
After a couple of years of planning and fundraising, Clarke County’s problem of stray pets is one step closer to being solved.
The Clarke County animal shelter, 125 East Ayers St., opened June 15 and already they have many tenants and had two adoptions.
In the building just east of Osceola Can and Bottle Redemption Center, sit more than 50 abandoned and unwanted cats, dogs, kittens and puppies just waiting to be adopted.
The building is the former large-animal clinic of Dr. Fred Wood, a veterinarian at Clarke Veterinary Clinic.
The purchase of the building was made possible by a donation from Wood and a grant from the Clarke County Development Corporation.
“The building is working out great,” said Tony Caligiuri, a member of the shelter’s board. “We have made numerous improvements and have filled it faster than we expected. There is no shortage of stray pets in this economy.”
Wood housed and cared for many stray animals before the shelter opened. He had as many as nine or 10 dogs and 20 cats and kittens at one time.
“Frankly, I don’t know how he did it,” Caligiuri said. “This is a bit overwhelming for us right now.”
The shelter was created as a response to strays in town, but it may not be able to keep up with the amount of animals.
“It’s not a quick and fast process,” said Sara Carson, the shelter’s director of operations. “The problem that we have been running into is the overabundance of strays.”
Kris Tina Walters, a board member of the shelter, said one of the reasons pets are abandoned is because of behavior problems, but these problems can be fixed if the owner takes the time to do so.
The animals at the shelter will be trained to not jump up and to walk on a leash, Carson said.
“The socialization skills that these animals are getting will make them a better animal for anyone by far,” said Walters. “Some owners get frustrated by certain behaviors, but they don’t know how to train [the animal].”
Walters said the shelter will work at eliminating pet abandonment by educating potential adopters how to deal with these issues.
“Hopefully, we won’t just help people adopt a pet, but we will teach them responsibility,” Walters said. “It’s really a team effort.”
At this point, the shelter isn’t worried about going over capacity, but having enough supplies and volunteers to care for the animals.
Day-to-day operations can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, depending on the number of animals, said Walters.
To reduce costs, the shelter is trying out different cost-effective materials like using sawdust and shredded paper as kitty litter.
Although the shelter is open, they are still working to have everything run smoothly.
“We’re not perfect yet, but we’re getting there,” said Walters. “We’re functional to a point, but we are finding things we still need to improve on.”
To make these improvements, the shelter is in need of cash donations, volunteers, foster parents and people to adopt pets.
“We especially need cash donations for day-to-day operations right now,” said Caligiuri. “With the current economy, our donations have been pretty slow.”
Walters said the shelter doesn’t expect to rely on donations from the public, but will also apply for grants.
Other fundraising activities include the opportunity to sponsor an individual kennel in the memory of a loved one or pet and donating money from bottle redemption.
In the future, the shelter will be providing spay and neuter education and hopes to offer low-cost clinics for pet sterilization.
“There is certain funding that we are applying for which would provide the sterilization services,” Walters said. “We can’t provide the service yet because it would take all of our money.”
The shelter is now working on a Website, which will showcase pictures of the available pets. Lost pets will also be posted to the Website.
Carson said she hopes the opening of the shelter will lead to more community involvement with pets and wants to see a dog park built in Clarke County.
