NORWAY — United for Dogs, a group of concerned residents, held its initial meeting recently with Shirley Boyce, president of Responsible Pet Care, who gave a tour of the shelter and facilitated a meeting to determine how residents can help with the added responsibilities of housing stray dogs.
The Allen Hill Shelter in Oxford closed in April 2011. By law, towns must provide shelter for stray dogs, and RPC began accepting strays. Sheltering dogs at RPC resulted in a 40 percent increase in liability insurance and a need for funding from the 12 towns served.
Each town pays $1 per capita per year. The state pays $5 a day for six days for each stray. Each dog at the shelter can require about $250 to cover health check, vaccinations, flea evaluation and spay/neuter.
The addition of dogs has stressed an already crowded facility. RPC is primarily a cat shelter, housing 85 to 100 cats at all times. It turns away cats on a daily basis.
The group addressed repairing the facility or finding an alternate location. There is adjacent land at the current location, but it is wet and would be expensive to develop. The building needs repairs and is small.
Immediate concerns discussed were the safety of staff and volunteers, education opportunities for staff and volunteers, health and emotional needs of the dogs, walking the dogs after the shelter has closed for the day, and dog fostering.
KT O’Shea of Positive Canine Care in Scarborough addressed fostering issues, such as dog evaluation and training, fostering applications and house checks for those who want to foster dogs.
Heightening public awareness about RPC’s involvement with kenneling strays, along with scheduling volunteers to alleviate the workload, are primary short-term goals.
Long-term goals will include RPC’s location and establishing a dog park. Many residents are interested in having a place to take their own dogs for exercise and socialization, and shelter dogs would benefit from a park.
The group will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at the Norway Town Office. For more information, call Helen at 743-1193 or Jackie at 743-7152.
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- The Responsible Pet Care shelter is accepting stray dogs.
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