Groundbreaking expected this spring for Ross County Humane Society new shelter
CHILLICOTHE — The Ross County Humane Society recently held its annual meeting to discuss 2023 and notify community members about plans for 2024.
See last year: Ross County Humane Society holds annual review meeting
One of the main topics for the year was the plans for the new shelter. Executive Director Jenn Thomas said a contractor has been selected for the project and the timeline estimates that the groundbreaking will take place in late March with completion in the fall of this year.
"We, hopefully, will be in a new building next year," said Thomas.
This new facility will have a surgery suite that Thomas said is much needed as it will help offer low-cost vaccines and spay and neuter treatments to the shelter and the public.
The current construction cost for the new shelter is $2.5 million with the shelter having raised $1.8 million. Thomas is continuing to work on grants and accept donations to cover the gap.
Other goals for 2024 included making adopting easier, this includes reopening for walk-ins and changing the adoption process to make it more conversational and less filled with paperwork. The goal is to be able to say yes to more people looking for dogs and working with them to find one that suits their lifestyle.
Thomas also aims to help community members keep their pets by offering education and access to resources that will help increase the animal's quality of life. Part of this includes telling people why they should get their animals fixed, a cause she is passionate about.
More animal news: Why it is important to spay and neuter your animals
During the meeting, Thomas also presented data from 2023. The shelter had a total operating expense of $503,947.51 with a total income of $486,751.89. The majority of funds came from donations and county contributions. Each dog brought in cost the shelter around $437 to care for. This is the first time in five years the shelter has been in the red when looking at yearly costs.
The shelter and the dog warden took in over 980 dogs, adopted out 461 of them, returned 218 to owners and transferred 251 to other rescues. Sadly, the shelter had 28 dogs returned by an adopter and had to euthanize around 200 dogs that were deemed unsafe to be sent back out to houses. Thomas said this number also includes animals from the dog warden and pets that the owner requests to be put down instead of returned.
"2023 was a pretty difficult year for us," said Thomas.
In terms of giving, the shelter had over 290 individual volunteers give over 350 hours of their time, around 30 homes housed over 120 foster dogs and 1,034 donors gave a total of $133,086.01. The shelter also saw a great turnout for the Bark at the Park fundraising event which had 145 registered cars.
You can learn more about the Ross County Humane Society and donate online.
Shelby Reeves is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. You can email her at SReeves@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @Shelby_Reeves_
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Ross County Humane Society sets goals for 2024, includes new shelter
