FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – The New River Humane Society is having to relocate its facility.
After negotiations with the Fayette County Commission, the entity that funds the shelter fell through, the humane society was given 60 days to vacate its current location.
“Our fear is that we will leave and that there won’t be another agency, another group to come in and take care of the animals,” a board member with the New River Humane Society, Sherry McDaniel says.
While the humane society originally had plans to leave its location on Shelter Road earlier, they agreed to a 30-day extra extension period during last week’s county commission meeting.
This comes after the humane society could not comply with the terms the commission laid out for them to follow in a Memorandum of Understanding a couple of months back. The board members at the shelter didn’t see the understanding as feasible for a number of reasons.
A major one was the increased animal intake. The commission was asking them to bring Feral cats into the shelter, but the board thought that would put their staff at risk.
Another was livestock intake, as they felt they were not equipped to house livestock, and that there are not enough local farmers willing to foster them.
Now, the board fears how the county’s stray animal influx will be controlled during this breakdown period.
“Unfortunately, we have an overpopulation of dogs and cats here in Fayette County, and without very strict spay and neuter laws and regulations existing, let alone getting enforced, the population gets out of control quickly. And you know, someone needs to be able to manage that,” McDaniel says. “We are proud that we’re able to manage that without euthanizing animals.”
“We don’t know what the county commission’s plan is to manage that when we’re gone, we still want to have a location where we can continue with our mission,” she says.
The board is now in search of a new place for the humane society in Fayette County but they also fear that they will not be able to operate at the same capacity they have been.
The humane society now plans to officially relocate sometime in early November.
