Poestenkill, Sand Lake building dog shelter
Officials believe new structure will open at beginning of summer
POESTENKILL — Poestenkill and Sand Lake town supervisors are converting a building on Route 66 into a dog shelter with 10 kennels that they believe will be opened at the beginning of the summer to serve Rensselaer County communities outside Troy.
Poestenkill Supervisor Keith Hammond and Sand Lake Supervisor Scott Gallerie stood inside the building at the Waste Management transfer station location at routes 66 and 351 Friday afternoon outlining how the facility will be rebuilt for an estimated $50,000 to take in stray dogs until their owners can be found.
Hammond and Gallerie said towns are sending dogs to areas outside the county or town dog control officers are keeping them at home due to a lack of kennels in the county. The county municipalities outside of Troy lost the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands as their shelter when the private organization was overwhelmed with demands for use of its 86 kennels.
“We’re leasing a building for countywide use. It will be a county dog shelter,” Hammond said before discussing the plans at the future shelter site.
Gallerie and Hammond said they are negotiating a final monthly rental fee with Waste Management to use the building, which has been used previously for auto repairs and by a small local garbage hauling company.
“We’re starting small,” Hammond said.
The new shelter will have six kennels for dogs and an additional four kennels for quarantine purposes. There also will be an indoor exercise area as well as space outside the building, which will be remodeled.
The two supervisors said the state Department of Agriculture and Markets has inspected the location and provided advice. In addition, they said, Richard Crist, the county director of operations, has visited the location to discuss what support the county may be able to provide.
“Rensselaer County has been discussing participation and involvement in a community dog shelter to help our towns and villages,” said Crist, who praised Hammond and Gallerie for their work on the project.
“There are now fewer and fewer opportunities to safely care for dogs that are lost or abandoned in the area,” Crist said.
Gallerie said the towns will start with the dog shelter. Eventually, they may be able to expand to have a full-service animal shelter that could take in cats and other animals. The push for the legislators to take action found a sympathetic audience as Republican and Democratic legislators said the issue has to be studied and a plan developed for dealing with animals in a humane way.
Gallerie said Sand Lake handled about 12 stray dogs that needed to be sheltered in the past year. Poestenkill had about four dogs that required placement in a shelter, Hammond said.
The Rensselaer County Legislature leadership said it would explore establishing a full-service animal shelter and its financing after hearing residents speak earlier this month about the growing need in the county to house dogs, cats and other animals.