As Monroe shelter closes, homes needed for dozens of cats, dogs

Over 30 dogs and cats are looking for their forever homes as an animal shelter in Monroe is closing its doors after more than two decades in the community.

The SPCA Animal Shelter in Monroe, formerly known as Animal Adoption Network, will close in May due to a lack of funding despite best efforts to keep the no-kill shelter open. The property at 359 Spring Hill Rd. will go up for auction on May 6, leaving just over two months for the animals to find homes.

The cats up for adoption include a fluffy gray cat named Odie who was rescued from a hoarding situation and three cats known as “The Poets” — all black Byron and Percy and black and white senior cat Shelley who loves to cozy up with blankets. The three, being adopted separately, were abandoned at the shelter with a note saying their owner had died.

Among the dogs are Basil, a 3-year-old “gentle giant,” and Milo, a young cattle dog mix who “wears awesome polka dot socks every day” — meaning his spotted feet — and happily dons his jackets and sweaters when it's cold out and loves his toys.

Volunteers said the shelter is also home to two dogs who were rescued from a New York City dog fighting ring where they were used as bait, and a 13-year-old dog who has lived there since she was a puppy and has only ever known the shelter as her home.

“We are doing everything we can to find these deserving dogs and cats a home, but we desperately need help,” a spokesperson for the shelter said in a statement. “Many of these animals are in perfect health, are socialized and are highly adoptable. Some of them, while loving and affectionate, are older or have medical conditions.”

Kate Compton, who has been volunteering at the shelter for more than four years, broke down in tears talking about what she called a heartbreaking closure. Compton first started volunteering for the shelter by helping Girl Scouts in a troop she leads collect blankets for the animals.

Helping at the shelter has become a part of her family's routine — she volunteers, her husband goes to the shelter before work each morning to run with the dogs and her two daughters spend their summers helping with the animals.

“I love being able to help the dogs and animals in any way, it's very rewarding to see dogs that have been living in kennels go to fabulous homes,” she said. “A lot of our adopters do keep in touch and send emails and pictures during the dogs' time with them, it's a very rewarding experience and the thought of it closing is heartbreaking.”

Linda Lapine also said volunteering at the shelter become a group activity involving her husband and daughter.

“It just became a family effort,” said Lapine, who said the story of what the dogs and cats survived before arriving at the shelter made them bond with the animals even more.

“There are so many stories behind the animals, these poor animals come from a place where they have no home, they have no chance,” she said. “They become like a part of your family. You see the sides of them you wish other people could see to give them a chance.”

Both Compton and Lapine have adopted dogs from the shelter into their own families.

Lapine said their family's dog was rescued from Texas, then adopted and returned five times because “nobody would give him a chance.”

“You could tell that he was abused because everything scared him, he was just frightened and nobody gave him a chance,” she said.