Ladies and gentlemen of the Dawson County government, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to bring you good news. I am here to tell you that Dawson County's first animal shelter is under construction. After 5 years of hard work, the men and women of the Dawson County Humane Society have made this dream a reality. Eric Bott of Summit Development is our general contractor. He was our lowest bidder while expressing strong interest in both the project and mission of the Humane Society.

We have been blessed from the beginning by people with a strong desire to see this project succeed. Obviously we have had a number of citizens step forward in support of the Humane Society, some willing to commit significant time as Board members and active volunteers. Thankfully we have had people in local government and business actively pushing this project along. A perfect example of that is the property we have leased thanks to Dawson County and EWSA. I only have to look to nearby counties to realize that such widespread community support is not a given.

Significant business support has come for construction, and we anticipate adding to this list. Peter Hill and HDA Architects deeply discounted services for the shelter design and for overseeing construction. Dan Centofanti and Millcreek Environmental Services did the same for their engineering services. Chip Pearson and Paramont Grading is donating all of the site preparation work. Vulcan is donating all the gravel and rock. Ernst is donating all the concrete. Smith Concrete Supplies is donating all the concrete pipes. Wallace Landscaping is donating all of the landscaping. This list is not complete, but it demonstrates the type of support we are receiving from the business community.

The project has taken longer than I originally projected, and I have announced enough delays in the project that people have wondered if it would ever happen. You see before you a veterinarian that never imagined having a responsibility like this project. Probably each one of my fellow Directors on the Board would say something similar. This was an all-American, grassroots effort to solve a community problem. A group of concerned animal-lovers banded together on behalf of our less fortunate furry friends. Schedules and deadlines are tough to carry out in an all-volunteer environment.

Now that Eric and Summit Development are on the job, schedules and deadlines are the name of the game. The shelter will be ready within the next 6 months. That will be none too soon. Animal Control reports taking over 100 animals per month to Hall County. The officers are perpetually behind schedule. I anticipate 150 plus animals per month, just from the officers, once we open only a short drive from their collection points. I anticipate 100 plus animals per month from private citizens. I know that sounds high, but we get so many calls at my office alone from people looking for a place to take their unwanted or found animals. Many of these people express apprehension at calling Animal Control for fear the animals will end up dead. If the Dawson County Humane Society can live up to our pledge to adopt the adoptable, then we will be "victims" of our own success and be inundated with pets turned into us. Right now, our small foster/adoption effort has placed nearly 350 animals, all spayed and neutered, in new homes. That is over about a 2 year period while Animal Control takes that many to Hall County in only about 4 months.

In consideration of the numbers of pets that will likely grace the doors of the new shelter, I want to leave you with 'food for thought'. Having a place to put our unwanted and stray pets is not an answer to the real problem of pet overpopulation. The Humane Society already spays and neuters all pets prior to adoption and has a financial assistance spay/neuter program in place for pet owners in need. Generally, county and municipal governments spend all of their animal control monies on classic dog-catching. Most of the animals thus collected die, or a few get adopted usually without being spayed or neutered. With this approach to animal control, growing communities watch their animal control budgets growing right along with the human population. Some parts of the country have been able to reverse that trend by devoting some of their animal control budget to spay/neuter programs. Dollars spent on spay/neuter initiatives have been a better investment, the only investment that has worked to reduce both the number of stray animals and wasted tax dollars.

Our animal shelter is on the way. If you think of it as the solution to our county's stray animal problem, then I guarantee the problem will never go away. Help us go beyond simply warehousing the unfortunate stray pets of Dawson County. We continue to have substantial financial needs. October 11th, a Thursday, we are throwing a party and calling it a "Fur Ball". We are celebrating the coming animal shelter and reaching out for substantial financial support from the pet-loving community. Thank you, the leaders of our local government, for participating in a dream-come-true for the pet-lovers of Dawson County. Partner with us in seeking better answers to our community's stray animal problem.

-- Doc Mills

DCHS Board member Kurt Krattinger (right) added his remarks and thanked a "short list" of people and companies who had made major contributions to the Dawson County Humane Society's shelter project.  Thanks to the generosity of our community, the list was not too short after all!