(Danville) — Some major upgrades are coming to the local animal shelter.
The City and the Danville Area Humane Society Tuesday announced plans to expand the isolation area for incoming puppies and kittens at the shelter. “We already had two isolation areas. However, we needed a room strictly for puppies and kittens that come in without their mother,” said Humane Society Executive Director Paulette Dean. “That’s because their immune systems are the most fragile and they need a quiet place.”
Dean says only litters who come without their nursing mothers will use the new area. Litters who come in with their mothers will be held in the already-existing quiet room. “We need a place to hold them until they become our property, and then we hope that more people will sign up to be foster homes for us,” Dean added. “Then they can go straight from the quarantine area to the foster homes…and then to a new home.”
The expansion will provide a safe and healthy environment for incoming puppies and kittens, protecting them and other residents from potential illnesses. “At an animal shelter you never know what an incoming animal has been exposed to. This will help address the unknowns.”
Also Tuesday, the Humane Society committed an extra $25,000 to expand their efforts to sterilize cats. “This will help people who have cats on their property whom they’re taking care of, but they don’t want any new kittens,” Dean said. “So call us! We’re going to take care of that problem for you!”
The spay/neuter assistance program started in 1993 through the E. Stuart James Grant Charitable Trust. Since then some 50,000 animals in Danville and Pittsylvania County have been sterilized.