Animal welfare group selects site for shelter

The agency will rely partly on donations to fund its efforts.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- An animal welfare group is interested in a south-side property on which it hopes to begin constructing a shelter later this year.
"We have the land picked out," Pete Johnson, Salem Humane Society Inc. president, said recently.
The property is within the city limits on the south side and would have access to city water and sewer, Johnson said.
Another strong point is that there are no residences close by whose occupants might be disturbed by barking dogs, he added.
The parcel consists of about six acres.
Johnson declined to provide more details on the property because the group has yet to make a formal offer on it.
If the agency gets the land, "we want to put a brand new state-of-the-art shelter on it," Johnson said.
Should all go well, construction on the facility could begin this summer, he added.
Funds: Estimated cost of the undertaking is about $250,000.
Money to pay for it would come from donations and a trust fund the society receives that was created in the 1950s to benefit animals, Johnson said.
Humane society officials predict it will take a budget of nearly $109,000 annually to run the shelter and the animal welfare programs to be associated with it.
Money will come from the trust fund and donations, Johnson said. Plans already are being laid for various fund-raising efforts, he added.
The annual budget also includes a salary for a director. The humane society is holding off on hiring a director until a shelter is built.
Plans: Shelter plans are still being formulated, but it's likely the facility will house dogs and cats.
The humane society will emphasize running a shelter in which animals are adopted out as quickly as possible to avoid confining them.
Should a deal for the land south of Salem not materialize, the agency has other sites in mind, Johnson said.
A new shelter would replace a facility closed in December, partly as a result of repeated complaints from neighbors about animal noise.
That shelter, located on U.S. Route 62 in Perry Township, was run by a different but similarly named group, the Salem Area Humane Society.
The group's president, Mary Lou Popa, says the organization still exists, and they hope to build a shelter in the area.