Donations sought for animal shelter
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A local non-profit organization that cares for many of Highland County's needy animals, may soon be without funding to continue operating, according to a news release from Brad Adams, who represents the Highland County Humane Society with its animal cruelty investigations.
The animal shelter is located at 9331 S.R. 124, just east of Hillsboro.
Director Melonie Dodson said if donations don’t begin to pick up, the shelter may be forced to close its doors.
“We would never want to close our doors on any animal or pet owner needing assistance, but right now we only have enough funding to get us through for a couple more weeks and if we don’t have the funding, we may very well have to turn in that direction," she said. "The survival of this organization is by the kind donations from the people around Highland County. The donors have always been very gracious to us, but donations have slowed down recently.”
The Highland County Humane Society has been serving the communities and animals since the 1960s and has never been at a state of possibly shutting down operation. The shelter currently has nearly 50 animals in their care, according to Dodson.
“We have nearly 50 animals in our care and they depend on us every day. I’ve been here at the shelter since 1999 and I don’t remember our shelter being so low on funding where we’ve had to shut down. It‘s a constant struggle to continue our main mission, and that is helping the animals in need, but we do it. We have to buy food and pay veterinary care expenses along with utilities such as gas and electric. We don’t only have those expenses, but also have to pay for fuel so we can respond to animal cruelty complaints.”
One of the main functions of a county humane society is handling complaints of animal cruelty. Since the shelter only has one full-time and two part-time staff members, Brad Adams has been responding to animal cruelty complaints as a representative of the humane society for the past few months after he was asked by the Ohio SPCA to assist the humane society with a complaint in December. He served as Greenfield’s Dog Warden for nearly seven years until the city eliminated several positions to balance the budget in 2009.
“Back in December, an animal cruelty complaint came into the Ohio SPCA and they asked me assist the humane society since they didn't have anyone to do it," Adams said.
"After I responded to that complaint, I returned to the shelter and offered to handle all the backed up animal cruelty complaints that had not been handled and got those done the same day. The society really hasn’t had any particular person to primarily focus on handling animal cruelty issues and I've decided to step up as a representative of the society and make sure every neglected animal is cared for properly through good humane education to the pet owners. After being in animal control for several years, I've attended and completed several training classes through animal control related associations as well as on the state level in regard to handling animal cruelty issues. The training has helped me greatly through the years to deal with these types of complaints," Adams said.
Dodson said the society has responded to nearly 75 animal cruelty complaints so far this year.
“Out of those complaints, 66 animals were involved. Animals included horses, cows, dogs, cats and even goats. All of those animals are now in a better situation, because the society is able to provide this service. If the society doesn't have the funding to fuel vehicles to respond to animal cruelty complaints, I fear there will be many animals out there suffering and their suffering will continue to exist," she said.
"I have faith in this community. When there are tough times, people seem to pull together and help in some way or another and right now one of those ways would be monetary donations to help the shelter remain open and to help continue to help animals.”
If you would like to make a donation to the Highland County Humane Society, you may mail them to: P.O. Box 471, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.[[In-content Ad]]
The animal shelter is located at 9331 S.R. 124, just east of Hillsboro.
Director Melonie Dodson said if donations don’t begin to pick up, the shelter may be forced to close its doors.
“We would never want to close our doors on any animal or pet owner needing assistance, but right now we only have enough funding to get us through for a couple more weeks and if we don’t have the funding, we may very well have to turn in that direction," she said. "The survival of this organization is by the kind donations from the people around Highland County. The donors have always been very gracious to us, but donations have slowed down recently.”
The Highland County Humane Society has been serving the communities and animals since the 1960s and has never been at a state of possibly shutting down operation. The shelter currently has nearly 50 animals in their care, according to Dodson.
“We have nearly 50 animals in our care and they depend on us every day. I’ve been here at the shelter since 1999 and I don’t remember our shelter being so low on funding where we’ve had to shut down. It‘s a constant struggle to continue our main mission, and that is helping the animals in need, but we do it. We have to buy food and pay veterinary care expenses along with utilities such as gas and electric. We don’t only have those expenses, but also have to pay for fuel so we can respond to animal cruelty complaints.”
One of the main functions of a county humane society is handling complaints of animal cruelty. Since the shelter only has one full-time and two part-time staff members, Brad Adams has been responding to animal cruelty complaints as a representative of the humane society for the past few months after he was asked by the Ohio SPCA to assist the humane society with a complaint in December. He served as Greenfield’s Dog Warden for nearly seven years until the city eliminated several positions to balance the budget in 2009.
“Back in December, an animal cruelty complaint came into the Ohio SPCA and they asked me assist the humane society since they didn't have anyone to do it," Adams said.
"After I responded to that complaint, I returned to the shelter and offered to handle all the backed up animal cruelty complaints that had not been handled and got those done the same day. The society really hasn’t had any particular person to primarily focus on handling animal cruelty issues and I've decided to step up as a representative of the society and make sure every neglected animal is cared for properly through good humane education to the pet owners. After being in animal control for several years, I've attended and completed several training classes through animal control related associations as well as on the state level in regard to handling animal cruelty issues. The training has helped me greatly through the years to deal with these types of complaints," Adams said.
Dodson said the society has responded to nearly 75 animal cruelty complaints so far this year.
“Out of those complaints, 66 animals were involved. Animals included horses, cows, dogs, cats and even goats. All of those animals are now in a better situation, because the society is able to provide this service. If the society doesn't have the funding to fuel vehicles to respond to animal cruelty complaints, I fear there will be many animals out there suffering and their suffering will continue to exist," she said.
"I have faith in this community. When there are tough times, people seem to pull together and help in some way or another and right now one of those ways would be monetary donations to help the shelter remain open and to help continue to help animals.”
If you would like to make a donation to the Highland County Humane Society, you may mail them to: P.O. Box 471, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.[[In-content Ad]]