The Brown County Humane Society is trying to build a new shelter to house all of the county’s lost pets and stray animals, but it needs help to make it a reality.
The cost of the new shelter, which is to be built near the current shelter on State Road 135 South, will be $3.2 million, board member Sue Ann Werling reported to the Brown County Council last month.
She asked the council to consider donating $300,000 over three years toward the building of the new shelter, plus an additional $7,500 added onto what it regularly gets from the county to run the shelter and the S.P.O.T. program next year.
Earlier this summer, the society had received pledges totaling $2,664,948 toward the new shelter, leaving $535,052 to raise.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]The shelter operates primarily on donations and a contract with county government. Currently, the shelter gets $45,000 from that contract, plus $15,000 to subsidize its S.P.O.T. program.
S.P.O.T. began in 2009 in an effort to reduce the number of animals coming into the shelter. It provides low-cost spays or neuters and free pet food to owners who have fallen on hard times.
“We feel like that the Brown County Humane Society is a very valuable service to our county,” Werling said.
For 2018, the humane society received $40,000 from the county through the contract to take in animals that the county’s Animal Control department picks up.
The humane society provided shelter to a total of 724 total animals last year.
Werling broke out the costs the shelter incurred to house and serve animals that were brought in by county Animal Control or as strays.
The total cost for utilities, insurance and supplies for the shelter was $54,095 in 2018. The Animal Control and stray population made up 53 percent of the total animal population in 2018, which means $28,670 of that total went toward serving them.
Including salaries for employees who care for those animals, the total amount spent on Animal Control animals and strays that came in the shelter in 2018 was $141,585.
Private donors help subsidize the costs to run the entire humane society shelter, contributing about $455,000 each year.
“In 2020, we feel like the county is getting a real bargain,” Werling said.
For next year, the humane society asked for $50,000 to cover the animal control contract and $17,500 for S.P.O.T.
“Combined, that’s $67,500. That’s about 17 percent of the annual costs Brown County would incur to match those services provided by the Brown County Humane Society,” Werling said.
Regarding the need for the new building, Werling said the humane society isn’t expecting more animals; members are just hoping to give a better resource to the community with the new shelter.
“The current shelter is no longer meeting needs the needs of our community for our people and for our pets,” she said.
Meetings to create the county’s 2020 budgets will begin at the end of August.
“We aren’t coming here to have you bail us out. We’re asking you to partner with us and work with us to make this just a great facility for our community,” Werling said.
Commissioner Diana Biddle said there may be money left in the capital improvement loan the council took out last year to cover the first $100,000.
Council Vice President Dave Critser said the county has a tight budget and it will be hard to add on additional expenses.
“We may not be able to do anything in 2020. It may be 2021,” he said.
Council President Dave Redding asked if there was anything the council could do in the meantime. Werling said to send anyone who wishes to donate her way. “We’re going to need everyone’s help in this county to make this happen,” she said.
The Werling Charitable Foundation is matching each donation made toward the building up to $1 million.
Biddle said that it would cost the county more than $100,000 to pay an Animal Control employee to take care of whatever animals that agency brings in. “We would have to build a building and we have to pay for people. It only makes sense for us to partner with the humane society because they do such a fantastic job at what they do. We can’t duplicate it for what it costs,” she said.
Commissioner Jerry Pittman previously served as a liaison between the county council and animal control commission. “What some of these people won’t tell you is the many, many hours that are absolutely donated. Those salaries, if everyone got paid minimum wage, it would be double what you just saw. These are good people,” he said of shelter volunteers.
“If this were to disappear tomorrow, you’d have to be finding a quarter-of-a-million soon, within weeks. That’s the kind of job they’ve done over the years. They are still doing it.”
The shelter also is nationally recognized for its save rate.
“If there’s money available, it would be money well spent,” Critser said.
“The SPOT program has really helped us, and she’s asking for less money than (the increase she requested) last year. … The more dogs we get spayed and neutered, the less we’re going to have to gather up.”
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To learn more about the capital campaign to build a new shelter, visit unleashbc.com, where you can see the floor plan, watch a video and donate.
Other ways to donate:
- Call 317-946-8235
- Email [email protected]
- Mail a pledge card to Brown County Humane Society Capital Campaign, P.O. Box 430, Nashville, IN 47448. Pledges can be paid over as many as three years.
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When a visitor enters the Brown County Humane Society’s lobby, there’s only a bench big enough for two people to sit on. Sometimes, a spot is taken by a cat, because that’s where the half of the society’s feline visitors stay while waiting for a forever home.
Daily business and behavior assessments for dogs are also done in the lobby, along with adoption meet-and-greets.
Spays and neuters for pets brought in by their owners for surgery are also done in the lobby at 6:30 a.m.
“Currently, the environment for our animals we feel is unhealthy,” humane society board member Sue Ann Werling said.
“We also feel like that a lot of visitors may have a poor experience because of the very cramped conditions in our current building. There’s a lot of overlapping and unmanageable space in our building.”
The current building is 32 years old and is a little over 4,000 square feet. The new facility will be 9,000 square feet.
“The lack of space really limits our productivity in the building, the expansion of the programs that we could expand is very limited, and also providing education to our residents is very, very limited,” Werling said.
The building is also in need of “major repairs,” she added.
The public phase of the humane society’s capital campaign began on June 1, but the humane society’s board has been fundraising since last fall.
For the shelter pets, the new facility will provide isolation areas. Currently, if a dog is brought into the shelter, it goes back with the other dogs. “We have no idea if it has anything, if it does, it’s going right back there with the other dogs because we have no other place to put it,” Werling said.
The new facility will have a dedicated treatment room for animals that are brought in, where they will be examined and vaccinated before going back to the kennels.
Currently, dog kennels face each other. “You walk down the middle of a hallway and all of these dogs are barking at you. They are all facing each other and it’s very stressful for them,” Werling said.
The new facility would no longer have dog kennels facing each other, and cats would have “free-roaming cat rooms.” Natural lighting will also be provided for the animals, which also will help reduce stress, Werling said.
After-hour animal drop-offs can be done with the new facility. Now, Werling sleeps with a phone next to her and is on call 24/7 if officers find stray animals throughout the night. “Typically, at night it’s a dog. If any dog is running at large in our county, I’m the one they call, and it’s either me or another board member who meet the officer at the shelter,” she said.
“It’s not in our contract, but we do it because we think it’s very important to do.”
As far as the community goes, Werling said the new facility will have an open lobby with “plenty of seating.”
“But the building is not overdone. We do not have a lot of space in this building because we aren’t going to be able to afford a huge building. It’s not a Taj MaHal. It’s exactly what we need,” she said.
There will also be dedicated adoption counseling and surrendering area, along with meet-and-greet rooms. Currently, adopters meet dogs outside, no matter the weather.
One room will be available for nonprofits or other community organizations to use. Training, fundraising and teaching children about animal welfare also can happen in that room.
“Ample” parking is planned for the new facility, Werling said. “I don’t know if you’ve been there when there has been eight people there, but beyond eight people, you probably can’t get your car in,” she said about the current shelter.
The plan is to keep the current shelter for additional storage, with the hope of being able to rent a room out of it, Werling said.
Currently, all supplies are kept at board members’ houses. Vans are also kept off-site due to vandalism, but at the new facility, they will be able to remain there.
The building was designed by an architect in Texas who has done more than 750 shelter projects and helped the society complete a needs assessment.
“We really built a building that is suitable for us and for our community,” Werling said.
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Over the last 10 years, the Brown County Humane Society has achieved a “save” rate of 95 percent or more of the animals that come into the shelter.
In 2018, the humane society took in 382 pets and strays that were brought in by Brown County Animal Control. Those pets were also vaccinated and dewormed. Of those 382, around 200 also received microchips to help identify them in the future if needed.
In almost 10 years, the humane society has done 6,290 spay or neuter surgeries on community pets through its S.P.O.T program. That number does not include shelter pets. The total cost of those surgeries was $283,050. That effort has reduced incoming animals into the shelter by 53 percent in almost 10 years.
S.P.O.T. also provides food support for pet owners. In nearly 10 years, S.P.O.T. has provided more than 120,000 pounds of food to owners who need help feeding their pets.
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