NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen has agreed to join forces with Responsible Pet Care cat shelter to take care of stray dogs in town.

The move follows the closure of the Allen Hill Animal Shelter in Oxford last month.

“It’s the best alternative we have now,” Town manager David Holt said. 

The board voted unanimously to enter into a municipal agreement that will bill the town $30 per day for each stray dog accepted at the Route 118 shelter prior to July 1 and a $1 per capita fee per year based on the 2010 population after July 1. That will amount to about $5,000. The fee does not cover costs for medical care or other issues.

Shirley Boyce, president of Responsible Pet Care, said they have an agreement with Kanine Kare Inc. in the Cornwall Shopping Plaza on Main Street in Paris to house stray dogs there.

The alternative shelter has been approved by the state, Boyce said.

The town was forced to find an alternative dog shelter after flood water damaged the Allen Hill shelter, which had been in business for decades. Norway was assessed $400 a year for the care of its stray dogs there.

“We were getting a good deal,” Selectman Warren Sessions.

On March 22, towns were given a 30-day notice of the Allen Hill animal shelter closure.

Holt said many towns have found alternative shelters in Bridgton and Auburn to send their stray dogs.

Boyce said she has similar agreements pending with Paris, Oxford, Buckfield, Sumner, Otisfield, Mechanic Falls, Harrison and Poland to take care of their stray dogs.

The board approved an animal control budget of $15,025 at a budget meeting earlier in the evening. It includes $6,325 for the alternative shelter related costs. That budget must now be approved as part of the overall proposed $2.7 million municipal budget at the annual town meeting in June.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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