After an animal shelter in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, announced last week it was closing because of finances, the managerlaunched a GoFundMe campaign to try to save it — and now plans to start a new nonprofit shelter.
Noelle Howland, 22, who has managed the Eleanor Sonsini Animal Sheltersince mid-June, has raised more than $37,000 so far.
"I'm trying to allow the public to realize that the animals in that shelter are not easy dogs, and most of them come from hard pasts," Howland said. "And you have to put yourself in their shoes and realize that they are so much more than what you see in that building."
Despite Howland's fundraising, the shelter's board members still plan to close the facility to the public by the end of August. They said they support Howland in starting a new shelter.
Board member Sharon Lynch, a veterinarian from Washington, Massachusetts, said it was a difficult decision to close the facility, but the donations to run it covered only about a half to a third of the expenses.
"We've been going back and forth over it for months because it was just fiscally irresponsible to keep running. We were losing money every month," she said.
Howland, who graduated from Unity College in May with a degree in animal behavior and a concentration in business, said she hopes to raise $150,000 before launching the new nonprofit.
"I'm just trying to keep raising funds to get help, and hopefully we'll get there," she said.
Lynch said the board met with Howland and her mother this week—and supports Howland's plan.
"We will transfer anything we have left, including all of the cages and all of that kind of stuff to her with our blessing," Lynch said. "We are so happy that she stepped up."
Howland said this is what she has always wanted to do.
"I'm pretty excited," she said. "It's definitely going to be hard, but I'm definitely determined to be able to do it."
Howland said she wants to continue with the mission of running a non-kill shelter.
Lynch said the Sonsini shelter does not condone euthanasia as a means of animal population control.
"However, in extreme cases of an incurably sick animal, one who is suffering and one whose quality of life is poor, or one who is vicious with little chance of rehabilitation, it may be the only recourse," Lynch said. "We promote the idea that adopting a homeless cat or animal is a great act of kindness. It's a gift of life itself."
Lynch said the board plans to find homes for the seven dogs and twelve cats who are currently in the shelter, along with three "mama cats" who are in foster homes.
She said four dogs and about half the cats have adoptions pending.
Lynch said if the shelter can't find new homes for the animals, "We're not going to leave them behind. We're actively looking for different rescues to take them."
