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By JOYANNA LOVE
Senior Staff Writer
The Humane Society of Chilton County saw a decrease in the number of sick animals euthanized in the month of July.
July’s numbers show only 25 cats and zero dogs were euthanized due to sickness, according to a report given at the Aug. 22 Human Society board meeting.
This is a great decrease from June when the shelter had to close temporarily to address a parvo outbreak and euthanized 97 sick animals.
The shelter only ever euthanizes for sickness.
Adoptions in July were less than in June. In June, 20 animals had been adopted. In July, there were 17 — eight dogs and nine cats.
During July, 199 animals were brought to the animal shelter. There were 98 animals that went to rescue organizations. Nine animals died in the shelter.
The shelter currently has 108 animals.
Adoption applications are available on the animal shelter website, chiltoncountyhumanesociety.org.
The animal shelter is located at 139 Shade Tree Drive in Clanton and open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and the first and third Saturday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Also during the board meeting, ways to decrease costs to the shelter, such as scheduling so that overtime was not required for any employees, was discussed.
Treasurer Kristy Johnson submitted the July financial statement for review and also updated the board on how things stood thus far in August.
“We are running on such a tight budget,” Johnson said.
The organization has $4,178 in the checking account with an additional $1,000 in its PayPal account.
Johnson mentioned several bills that needed to be paid, totaling $9,895. Johnson said she had made sure the organization was going to be able to pay employees when prioritizing what to pay.
“We don’t have enough to go pay all of this when payroll comes out,” Johnson said.
The board discussed the request for Maplesville government to contribute monetary finds to the shelter since it does except animals from there. A charge per animal has been discussed. Humane Society member Renee Helms said someone with the Maplesville government had called back wanting to know an amount. Johnson will be getting back to them to see what they are able/willing to pay.
Maintenance concerns have been an ongoing issue for the organization. Recently, an electrician came out to inspect the building due to safety concerns by some board members and said the wiring was not a fire hazard. He recommended that the house wiring at the shelter (because the structure was originally a house) be replaced with commercial wiring.
Because of recent donations and offers from volunteers to pressure wash and paint the exterior, shelter director Jennifer Fesmire has requested that the shelter close for a week to be able to organize everything.
Board Secretary Amy Nicholas recommended late October or early November might be a good time. Exact dates were not set.