Humane shelter welcomes public to grand re-opening

Monday, April 6, 2009
Austin Carter played with Zane his favorite dog at the Putnam County Humane Shelter on Saturday. Austin's family is a foster family for animals at the facility. Zane has been at the shelter the longest of any of the animals. He is a Pointer/Boxer mix and looking for a home.

Residents at the Putnam County Humane Shelter welcomed visitors Saturday during the facility's grand re-opening party. Among the many pets waiting to welcome visitors was "Zane," a pointer/boxer mix that is the facility's longest resident.

Also there wagging his tail was "Lex," the newest dog at the Shelter who arrived Friday. His family was unable to continue to take care of him and brought him in hoping someone would adopt the loveable collie/husky mix.

Golden retriever "Buddy" sat quietly in his cage looking with soulful eyes at everyone who stopped to give him a pat. He is a favorite of Board Director Lynn Bohmer.

"Fred" who is being fostered by Bette Bertram made the trip back hoping to find the perfect family, preferably one with no other pets. He was found tied to a fencepost and had lost most of his hair. Today, after much love, he has a beautiful black coat and just needs a family to adopt him.

Even Maggie, the shelter's resident cat who, along with Frances Washburn, visits three nursing homes every week, was on hand to show off all the changes at the shelter.

Plenty of visitors dropped in to tour the shelter and walk a dog or two as well as having a piece of cake.

After months of being closed, the shelter has re-opened much to the delight of Putnam County residents. One of the biggest changes is the new shelter director, sheriff's deputy and Putnam County Animal Control Officer Clint Cooper.

Cooper has five years of experience under his belt with the Putnam County Sheriff's Department. He also has a lot of experience with dogs, cats and livestock.

He is pleased to be the animal control officer as well as the director for the shelter. Under his direction, trustees from the jail have been trained to work at the facility to feed and walk animals, as well as clean and help with maintenance. Only four full-time employees will work at the re-organized facility

Renovation for the shelter cost less than $20,000 thanks to volunteer labor. Individuals donated their skills to paint, rip up floors and do whatever was needed. A local licensed electrician gave free labor on Saturdays, and contractor Barry Grimes offered his help. Many local businesses offered heavy discounts for supplies as well.

The facility has been cleaned and new areas have been created, including a quarantine room for cats, a better quarantine area for dogs and a separate area for wild creatures or stray animals brought in by police.

One of the highlights is a new windowed room for little dogs that also have a small play area surrounded by a picket fence. There is an improved medical care room and there are plans to add on to the back of the facility.

Animals will be accepted for surrender beginning Tuesday.

"If someone has an animal to surrender, they need to call us to make sure we have room before bringing it out here," said Bohmer. "We don't want to go over capacity. We do have a good foster program but we need to plan for any animals."

For information about the humane shelter or adoptions, call 765-653-9251 or email hspcanimals@yahoo.com

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