Commissioners Open to Partnering with Animal Shelter Society for Dog Pound Fix

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Muskingum Co. Commissioner Mollie Crooks says she is open to collaborating with the Animal Shelter Society to rent space for the county Dog Pound.

“One idea that we had that we wanted to float to the animal shelter board, and we have floated to their director, is ‘could we lease kennels and have the dogs in a better environment?’ Also, when you have more dogs, there’s more for people to see, so the opportunity to have more adoptions because they see more dogs in better facilities would be better for all concerned,” Crooks tells WHIZ News.

“Our first and primary goal in all of this was, ‘how do we take the best care of the dogs we are responsible for?’ There are multiple things going on, all simultaneously. We have not given up on building a new facility. We are just looking at the interim, how we can best care for the dogs. We’ve gotten more and more dogs coming in over the last few months, thanks to the outstanding efforts of our volunteers and our wardens,” she adds.

Crooks says the current dog pound is in terrible shape for the dogs and staff, and adds community members are sometimes seen turning around and leaving the building.

Commissioner Cindy Cameron approached Lisa Burkett, President of the Animal Shelter Society, regarding the issue. Burkett, in a statement, says “[W]e are so wrapped up in all the new, exciting things we have going on that our hands are full. Our focus continues to be the well-being of the homeless animals of Muskingum County.”

“There is a fund that our volunteers have set up through the Community Foundation as a building fund,” Crooks said. “We also have a fund set up through the county that people who have wanted to donate to the facility can utilize that, but I would encourage using the Community Foundation fund because it is a tax write-off for them to do so.”