| Taking shelter: Group organizing to care for animals | | Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 10:00 pm
| By KEVIN BOWDEN
Staff Reporter
Work is continuing on the establishment of a new animal shelter that would serve all of Obion County.
Organizers met Sunday afternoon, for the second time in the past month, to discuss the proposed animal shelter.
Sunday’s meeting lasted more than three hours and was highlighted by the attendance of Weakley County animal rights activists Josh and Pauleen Pool, with Native Way Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
They deal primarily with animal cruelty law enforcement but agreed Sunday to work with local volunteers on designing a new animal shelter.
The volunteer group has secured the architectural layouts, as well as photographs, of animal shelters in Dyersburg and Hopkinsville, Ky. The shelter in Dyersburg is housed in a quonset hut and is subsidized by funding from Dyer County and the three incorporated cities in Dyer County.
The Hopkinsville shelter is a state-of-the-art facility that was built in 2001 at a cost of about $400,000. The shelter is managed by four full-time workers, six part-time employees and volunteers.
“They have an extremely good facility,” Tack Simmons said about the Christian County Regional Animal Shelter.
He is working with Pudge-N-Pals volunteers Sue and Laura Archer on the local animal shelter project. Also involved in the animal shelter project is Doris Tanner.
So far, the local animal shelter project is strictly in the discussion phase as organizers work on how to finance the project, where to locate the shelter and how to ensure the project is a success. The group does not have a formal name or any officers.
It is the consensus of the volunteer group that the shelter should be centrally located in Obion County, which means the group is looking at the Troy area.
Pool recommended a 60- to 100-pen facility that would include a central administrative facility and kennel runs with outdoor access. The main facility will need to have an intake area, offices, an isolation area, a laundry and cleaning room. He said the facility should also contain an area where animals could be checked out and treated as they are brought in.
He is proposing the construction of a main building flanked by dog pens built using welded wire panels.
“This, in my opinion, is the most economical way to build a shelter,” Pool said Sunday.
He also recommended the group work on establishing a countywide dog licensing ordinance, with the money from licenses used to help finance the animal shelter.
The group is considering a commercial building in Troy and is also looking for someone to donate a piece of property in the Troy area that could be used for an animal shelter. Pool is expected to have a shelter design and cost estimates by the time the group meets again in two weeks.
Published in The Messenger 2.21.12 | | | | |
