With the Top of Ohio Pet Shelter now closed and local stray dogs being taken to the Union County shelter, a group of local animal advocates turned their attention Wednesday toward starting a new organization.
While many of the 40 in attendance at the meeting were at some time in the past affiliated with the Humane Society Serving Logan County — the local organization established in 1971 to address animal welfare issues — they made it clear they wanted to be separate from the organization that made the decision to close the pet shelter.
No immediate steps were made to start an organization Wednesday, but Jan Cooper, one of the primary organizers of the meeting, said she intends to start a Facebook page called Friends of Logan County Animals to solicit membership and input on the new organization’s direction.
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Chris DeWitt, a former president of the board of directors of the Humane Society Serving Logan County, talks during a Wednesday evening meeting to start a new animal welfare agency in Logan County. While many of the nearly 40 in attendance were affiliated with the local humane society at some point in the past, they intend to distance themselves from the organization that closed the Top of Ohio Pet Shelter within the past month. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES) |
The Humane Society Serving Logan County announced on May 9 it was giving a required 30-day notice to cancel its contract with the Logan County Commissioners to accept strays and would close the Top of Ohio Pet Shelter on June 9. The commissioners are now ironing out a deal with the Union County Humane Society, but began taking local dogs there a week ago.
The agreement runs through the end of this year and commissioners hope to extend it at least an additional year if the situation is mutually beneficial, Logan County Commissioner Dustin Wickersham said last week. They will pay $6,250 a month to the Union County shelter compared to 90 percent of dog tag fees, or roughly $7,000 a month, they paid to the Top of Ohio Pet Shelter.
Those in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting said they would like to see the new organization they are organizing open a local shelter and possibly compete for the county contract in the near future.
“I hope we can do something before (commissioners) extend (the contract),” Ms. Cooper, a former Humane Society president, said. “Because if they do extend it, it will most likely be for a year.”
Read complete story in Thursday’s Examiner.
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