SALEM Deadline looms for placing dogs, cats

The Salem Area Humane Society has about 36 animals in its soon-to-be vacated shelter.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- With just a few more days left until a court-ordered deadline to vacate an animal shelter, officials at the facility are putting out an urgent plea for the public's help.
The Salem Area Humane Society is asking people to either adopt or agree to house animals at the shelter until permanent homes can be found for them.
"We're trying to get good homes for these animals," said Mary Lou Popa, humane society president. "We will not leave an animal at the shelter."
The shelter, located along U.S. Route 62, just west of Salem, has about a dozen cats and nearly two dozen dogs for which it must find homes by Thursday.
Anyone interested may call the shelter at (330) 337-8211.
Compounding the problem is that people are still dropping dogs and cats off at the shelter after hours, which is prohibited.
Ruling: Earlier this week, Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, ordered the humane society to be out of the shelter by Thursday or face eviction.
Popa said her group will seek a stay of the judge's decision, but it must still be prepared to be out by the deadline in case a stay isn't granted.
Judge Pike also has ordered that the shelter, the subject of noise complaints from neighbors, be sold.
The humane society intends to appeal Judge Pike's decision involving the shelter and other matters.
The judge ruled in a longstanding court battle pitting the Salem Area Humane Society against the similarly named Salem Humane Society Inc.
The legal dispute stemmed from each side wanting control of a trust fund established in 1959 and now worth more than $1 million.
The Salem Area Humane Society has run the shelter for decades using money from the trust, established to benefit animals.
Suspended payments: But Judge Pike suspended payments to the group in October 1999 after some members complained the agency was being fiscally mismanaged and that animals at the shelter were receiving substandard care.
In November 2000, Salem Humane Society Inc. was formed, consisting of some members from the older group.
Judge Pike determined that the new group is well-organized and financially stable, and he decided it should receive the trust money.
The new group does not operate a shelter, but it does run some animal welfare programs.
A spokesman for the new group said after the judge's decision that it would create a new animal shelter in the county as soon as possible.