More than 100 dogs and nearly 70 cats could soon be left without a home.
Young County Humane Society Executive Director Stacey Allen said they have about three weeks of operating funds left. If they have to shut down, any animals that can’t be adopted or taken to other rescue shelters, in a worst case scenario, would have to be euthanized.
The shelter is packed wall to wall, with more than a hundred dogs and nearly 70 cats looking for a forever home. “We’re not sleeping at night if that tells you that the situation is pretty grave,” shelter supervisor Jennifer Ertl said. “There’s a lot of animals here that we’re attached to. We want to see them have happy endings, happy homes, happy tails. We’ve tried and tried everything we can think of and we’re kind of at our end.”
The shelter receives no funding from the county or city. Humane Society Executive Director Stacey Allen said they are 100% privately funded, surviving completely on donations and grants. “With the economy in Graham, with it being an oil economy, it’s low right now,” Allen said.
Allen said it costs about $600 per day to keep the shelter running, and right now, the funds at the shelter are at an all-time low. Not only is their bank account shrinking, the need for shelters in general is expanding. “The need is just growing,” Allen said. “With the economy, people can’t afford to keep all their pets.”
Allen said the community has been great about donating things like food and blankets, but they still need to pay the bills. “They don’t deserve to be here, so to see them not get their forever home because we failed is just not acceptable,” Ertl said. “We are their hope, we’re all they have.”
On top of worrying about the lives of these animals, the shelter also employs 10 people in the area, whose hours have already been cut to save money. Allen said they would all be left jobless, and heartbroken. Both Allen and Ertl said all donations (and of course, volunteers) are welcome, but they especially need cat litter, as far as physical donations go.
If you’d like to donate to help keep their doors open, visit their website and click “donate.” You can also mail in donations or stop by the shelter to drop it off.
For fundraising events, which Allen said they have almost every weekend, visit their Facebook page.
– texomashomepage.com
