09192015 - News Article - Steps taken to begin new animal shelter project

Steps taken to begin new animal shelter project
Post-Tribune
September 19, 2015 - 4:05 PM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-animal-shelter-st-0920-20150917-story.html

The Porter County Board of Commissioners has taken two steps forward in building a new animal shelter.

They gave the go-ahead to hire the architectural and engineering firm DLZ to write a request for proposals for the design and build of a new shelter, and they appropriated seed money to start a trap-neuter-release program through the shelter to help control the feral cat population.

County officials have long discussed the need for a new shelter to replace the one at 2056 Heavilin Road, which they agree is outdated and too small to handle the number of animals that come through it.

While they have discussed an assortment of possibilities, most recently a proposal to build a new shelter on Indiana 49 just north of the Porter County Expo Center, no solid plans have come forward.

Commissioners will ask Mike Jabo of DLZ to get figures on the size and cost of a new shelter, Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said Tuesday. An anonymous donor has offered $1 million toward the project and that offer still stands; earlier estimates for a new building put the cost at around $2.5 million.

"This has not been without roadblocks and hurdles, and there are still more to be cleared," Blaney said, "but the one thing everyone agrees on is that it needs to be done."

One of the unknowns in the size of the shelter is whether the city of Portage, which takes its animals to the Hobart Humane Society, will begin bringing its animals to the county facility once a new one is built.

The facility's cost would depend on its size, the final site for the building, the availability of utilities, and the construction market, Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said.

"It is a much-guided and much-guarded process, but I think it's the right way to go," he said.

Commissioners also appropriated $5,000 in unallocated county economic development income tax funds to start the trap-neuter-release program for feral cats.

Through the initiative, feral cats would be trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies, and returned to their colony with a notch in one ear to identify that they'd been through the program, interim shelter Director Toni Bianchi said.

Returning the feral cats, which cannot be tamed as house pets, would prevent different cats from moving into an area, she said, adding spaying and neutering the cats will drastically cut their numbers as well as stop destructive behavior.

"If we don't do this, we really do create a significant challenge to animal control in our community," she said. "The best opportunity here is to start a trap-neuter-release program."

Similar efforts have paid off in other communities, she said, and the shelter is flooded with kittens in the spring and fall. "This kind of program is going to reduce that," she said.

The program will realize savings for animal control and the shelter over time, Bianchi said, adding the effort will be volunteer-led and could ultimately be funded with donations.

"I think this is going to save us money in the long run heading into a new shelter," Blaney said.