A call for help by Warren County Animal Control and Adoption Center received a quick response, but more is needed.

Animal Control director Sherri Bradley said Tuesday that residents have donated approximately 4,000 pounds of food and $500 in monetary donations to help with vet bills.

The call for assistance went out after staff picked up 25 dogs, four cats and one rabbit from a Centertown residence last week. They were voluntarily surrendered after the rising number of animals left the owner feeling overwhelmed. Animal Control staff spent two days transporting the animals to the center and erecting additional kennels to house them.

“The community has been wonderful,” said Bradley “We asked for help and they responded. We’ve had a lot of people interested in fostering and that’s a plus. Additional volunteers would be wonderful. The cleaning takes forever. You have to relocate the animals in order to clean their areas. We try to clean each kennel twice a day.”

For anyone interested in adoption, the facility is offering a discounted rate in order to reduce its numbers.

“We’ve lower it to $50, just because it will help. That amount will cover their shots, spay or neuter, and microchip. Not a bad deal,” said Bradley.

Without the discount, the cost to adopt is $97. 

A rescue out of Coffee County has offered to take 14 dogs, and the rabbit has found a good home. 

On Monday of this week, a Facebook post stated the facility had an additional 27 dogs that were surrendered to them. However, that might have been an overstatement based on misinformation from social media.

“Someone posted that he had 27 dogs and needed help,” said Bradley. “We reached out to him. He said he has seven dogs and didn’t wish to surrender any of them. We took him some food and looked at the dogs. They aren’t underweight or anything. He might change his mind. We’ll keep in contact with him.” 

The facility did receive eight kittens on Monday. 

Needed at this time is flea and tick medication for dogs. When asked if the facility preferred chewables or topical, Bradley stated “Either is fine. We do need it to be for larger dogs though. We have plenty of flea and tick medication for dogs 5 to 10 pounds. What we need is flea and tick medication for dogs 25 pounds and over.”

This hoarding incident shined a spotlight on a much larger need. 

“What we really need is a larger center,” said Bradley. “We are not equipped to handle situations like this. We are doing the best we can with what we have, but a larger center is what we really need. You can’t keep the animals separated. There’s no way to quarantine new arrivals to make sure they are healthy before putting them in with other animals.”

Donations can be dropped off at Warren County Animal Control and Adoption Center, 169 Paws Trail. Ross & Company, owned by Warren County Commissioner Christy Ross, is a donation site at 120 E. Main Street.