Ready to raise

Donations are now being accepted for construction of a new animal shelter.

Jay County Humane Society is launching its fundraising campaign Monday. Its goal: to raise $675,000 for a new facility.

“This is like the first major step to getting this going,” said Mindy Weaver, co-chair of the campaign and treasurer of Jay County Humane Society.

Brochures with donation forms will be available at various businesses, including the humane society, Medler’s Furniture, Redkey Veterinary Clinic and WPGW radio. Donors are able to provide gifts over a two-year period.

Plans are currently in the works to offer room sponsorships, which will vary depending on the size. There will also be a memorial-type inclusion for donors to give gifts in honor of deceased pets.

The organization has been providing animal control services to the county in conjunction with Midwest Pet Refuge since Jan. 1. Both groups took over the work after former animal control officers Bill and Kathy Fields announced their retirement in November 2020.

County officials have committed $275,000 in economic development income tax (EDIT) funds into the project estimated at a minimum of $949,500. Once completed, plans are to make it into a countywide animal control facility.

Standing at 1,008 square feet with 576 square feet of exterior kennel space, the humane society’s current building houses 12 dogs and about 20 cats. As visitors enter, they walk past the dog kennels, leading to the south end occupied by cat cages, appliances, equipment and storage. An office, which also holds a handful of cages, branches to the west.

Weaver said the building has been at capacity, making it difficult to find space for new animals. Its one-lane entrance along the canines’ kennels is also daunting for anyone looking to adopt, she added.

“Right now, you walk in the shelter, and you have to walk by all of our dogs, and they’re very kennel-aggressive,” Weaver explained, noting that some animals act differently in one-on-one environments. “We’ve got a few dogs, they just don’t show well, because there’s no place to put all of them.”

At 45 years old, the current shelter at 1313 Shadeland Ave., Portland, also fails to meet minimum standards and guidelines in the pet care industry, according to research from Jay County Animal Control Task Force’s report presented at several municipal meetings last year. (The task force began reviewing the county’s animal control services in 2018 and recommended an updated plan to county officials last year.) This includes health concerns, such as quarantining sick or contagious animals, as well as flooding, heating and cooling issues.

“With the limited space, they’re doing the best they can with what they have,” said campaign co-chair and task force chair Julie Forcum. “If they could accommodate everything for the whole county now, we wouldn’t need a new facility.”

The proposed building of approximately 4,000 square feet would house 26 dogs and 120 cats. It would also offer more enclosed areas for a variety of stages, including rooms for intake, medical needs and adoption visits. (In the current space, felines are confined to small cages. The new facility would include cat colony rooms for free roaming.)

Weaver said she’s confident, with an updated and larger area, the shelter will attract more visitors and, as a result, have more adoptions. It will also have more space to hold extra animals if it reaches capacity.

Local officials balked at its initial price tag of at least $1.14 million, which has since shrunk to a minimum of about $949,500. That estimate projected by Taylor Architects of Muncie does not include the cost to acquire new land. (The humane society has been asked to find a new location so the adjacent Portland wastewater treatment plant has the ability to expand.)

Currently, there is no chosen site for the new shelter. Jay County Humane Society is looking for a location that is along a main highway or road, easily visible, connected to city water and sewage but not directly next to residential housing.

“In all of our study, the location is critical to the success,” Weaver said. “And so, we don’t want to take that lightly, and so far we haven’t found the spot that will be successful.”

Once the campaign starts, she added, someone could potentially offer land or cut a deal on their land as a contribution to the project.

Forcum mentioned past construction projects for Jay County Public Library, IU Health Jay, West Jay Community Center, Jay Community Center and the Jay County Campus of Arts Place.

All of those, she said, were done right.

“We want to do this right,” Forcum said. “This is just going to be another amenity and … another service to the community.”

Starting next week, those interested in contributing can make checks payable to Jay County Humane Society, P.O. Box 101, Portland, IN 47471, or visit jaycohumane.org to donate.

For those interested in speaking one-on-one, call Weaver at (260) 726-0581 or Forcum at (765) 348-1989 or (765) 499-7254.