Local shelter enters 100 K challenge Tricia McCann

In order to win the Humane Society of St Joseph County must be able to get enough votes; entering them in the top 50 out of nearly 100 shelters competing.

After placing flyers around the local area the shelter decided to maintain a voting station for employees and customers.

The shelter is home to over 100 dogs and puppies. In entering the challenge the shelter hosted a “Name your own Adoption Price” event where the customer decided the adoption fee on certain canines.

With the event the shelter has been able to show more signs such as these; hosting dogs who had a harder time with being adopted before.

The shelter is also called home to nearly 300 cats and kittens. Unlike the dogs, all cats are considered for the “Name your own Adoption Price” event.

It is the shelter’s hope to build more outside play areas for the cats similar to the ones seen here. It will enable the nearly 200 cats who do not fit in adoption to be moved out of their small cages.

This area is home to only a few of the shelter’s feline companions waiting to be adopted.

As the shelter spays and neuters all of their adoption animals, winning the challenge would allow them to purchase better and more surgical equipment. This would help them meet the demand of animals finding their new home

One of the main issues the shelter must constantly face is how to feed all 600 of their animals. With the 100,000 dollars they would be able to fill their supply and focus on the animals themselves.

The money would also help the shelter pay to repair or replace broken items.

Programs such as “Paws for Pages” which teaches children how to read and the Junior Humane Camp would be able to have more activities, books and members.

Many of the items in the gift-shop are purchased by the shelter. They hope to be able to buy better quality items and have a larger variety.

Although the shelter is run off of donations, many people can no longer afford to donate. Forcing the shelter to cut back on employee’s hours and inhibits improvement.

The main reason for the shelter’s interest in winning the contest lies behind the unfinished building. With more animals than before the shelter is running out of room. With the 100,000 dollars the shelter will be able to finish building and create a better place for the animals.