An influx of more than $140,000 in donations will enable the Santa Cruz Humane Society to postpone its shutdown date until the end of the year.
The nonprofit Humane Society, which operates a no-kill shelter for dogs and cats at 232 E. Patagonia Highway in Nogales, announced in early July that it would be forced to shut its doors in the fall due to dwindling contributions. The shelter’s annual expenses are estimated at about $384,000.
Since the announcement, members of the community have stepped up with enough donations to extend the organization’s closure timeline, but not its ultimate fate. Its goal is to remain open until all the remaining animals at the shelter are adopted or rehomed at other rescue organizations.
“We will stay open as long as there are funds out there,” said Sue Rogers, president and executive director of the Humane Society board of directors. “I’m so grateful to the people who want us to stay open and help the animals, and I know they want to try to save the shelter, but the funds aren’t there continuously. Right now we can’t take in any dogs or cats because I’ve got these dogs and cats adopted or sent out to rescues before we can do anything.”
Rogers said Wednesday there are still “28 dogs and some cats” in need of homes.
Santa Cruz County also operates a shelter for dogs and cats at 1368 N. Hohokam Drive, but it has a smaller capacity than the Humane Society, is often full and is inadequate to meet the needs of the animals housed at and turned into the Humane Society.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the County Board of Supervisors, county manager Jesus Valdez said he had met with Pima County deputy manager Steve Holmes to discuss possible collaboration between the counties on animal control and management efficiencies in the near-term.
The county has studied constructing a modern, larger facility, and preliminary plans for such a facility came in with an estimated cost of $10 million, according to deputy county manager and finance director Mauricio Chavez. Construction of a new facility is one of several capital projects suggested as a possibility if voters approve an increase in the county’s annual spending limitation on the November ballot.
The ballot measure was approved at a July 8 meeting of the county Board of Supervisors. Numerous speakers at the meeting expressed support for a new shelter, though the cost estimate met some resistance. It was suggested that a less ambitious project would be more affordable and readily achieved.
“Why not a $1 million, $2 million facility,” asked Robin Lucky of Rio Rico. “We have got to move on this now.”