The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘No kill’ shelter feeling pressure
Facility serving 3 towns needs matching funds to expand
WOODBRIDGE » Efforts to raise matching funds for the expansion and renovation of the Woodbridge Animal Control facility have gone into high gear, and the pressure to match grant funds is mounting, as the tiny building constructed in 1969 continues to far outgrow its space, officials said.
The shelter also serves Bethany and Seymour.
Animal Control Officer Karen Lombardi, who has led the regional shelter since 2010 but who also worked there when it was first built, said not only has the town growth far outpaced the space, but these days there is more public awareness and appreciation of shelters, and there’s been a shift to a “no-kill” shelter, meaning adoptable dogs are kept until they find “a forever home.”
She said the original building was “no-frills” but sufficient at the time, when the town was less developed and the policy was to euthanize dogs not claimed or adopted after seven days or more.
Incoming First Selectwoman Beth Heller, a longtime animal advocate and chairwoman of the shelter building committee, also calls the facility “dilapidated and outdated.”
The shelter is clean and the animals look happy, but space is tight inside the 1,462-square-foot building, where there is not even privacy to work on cases and meet with people.
Donated blankets used for dogs to sleep on in their kennel are piled high in the entrance way, as are signs promoting the nonprofit fundraising side, One Big Dog Animal Respite Fund, named in memory of a former Register reporter, the late Bridget Albert. An animal advocate, Albert especially loved big dogs, as reflected in her email address and license plate.
Tight space
At every turn in the facility, including in the laundry room, there are supplies that workers must negotiate around. The electricity is outdated, as are the heat and air conditioning, there are not enough kennels and because of a failed water filtration system that hasn’t worked from the outset, the animals get bottled water that is costly and creates extra work.
Heller said the existing exercise areas are insufficient and the facility also needs new doors, updated lighting and fencing for the security and safety of staff and animals.
A visitor’s observation is that the animals look happy. A colony of feral cats that keeps the mouse population under control eats out of dishes at a picnic table each morning and rolls in the dirt as if the cats haven’t a care in the world. Energetic chickens and guinea hens walk the property eating ticks, and the dogs spend the day in large outdoor kennels.
Animal Control Officer Ashley Sakelarakis even pays attention to details such as decorating the exterior of dogs’ kennels for holidays and recently taking Easter photos with them wearing hats.
But all the shortcomings create a lot of work for shelter personnel who are already stretched to the limit.
“The way it is impedes our functioning,” Lombardi said.
The construction project designed by architects Silver/Petrucelli + Associates, calls for work to be done in phases and the shelter to be 3,342 square feet once completed.
The town was awarded a $400,000 STEAP grant to improve the interior and exterior of the building and now must raise the funds to match that amount. Lombardi said the public has been supportive and she hopes they will continue through donations and supporting fundraiser. Supporters held a banquet-type event recently and are planning a touch-a-truck and car show for sometime in August and an old-fashioned country barbecue in September, as well as a fall event that will probably involve a dog costume contest. They will also sell memorial bricks.
Heller said she became involved with the cause as it became clear renovations were needed to “ensure the health and well-being of the animals housed there and needed for the benefit of the staff, volunteers and the public that visit the shelter each day.”
Heller is adamant that “no funds from the town of Woodbridge will be used for the shelter project.”
If the money cannot be raised – and she believes it can be – the later phases of the $1.4 million project will be deferred.
Part of the improvement plan includes a new 14-dog run and cat and dog quarantine rooms.
Lombardi said staffers they have often been at capacity for dogs and are only lucky they haven’t gone over because dogs must be kept separate from one another.
Lombardi said she’ll never run a kill shelter and that Woodbridge Animal Control has a “great adoption rate,” in part because they are so available to the public and because people come to the Woodbridge shelter from other towns expecting good things.
Anyone interested in donating to One Big Dog Animal Respite Fund can mail donations to the shelter, 135 Bradley Road, Woodbridge, 06525. Email Lombardi at klombardi@woodbridgect.org or call the shelter at 203-389-5991.