Animal shelter in danger of closing gets short-term help

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA - One day after Barry Heim, director of the Pike County Humane Society, appeared before the Pike County Commissioners with word that the animal shelter was in danger of closing, his appeal appeared on Channel 13 and people and municipalities began to respond with funds and animal food.

That morning, Lehman Township supervisor John Sivick had called and offered to give the shelter the $4,000, which is its annual contribution.

“John’s offer to give it to us right away, and not contribute it piecemeal, is an enormous help,” Heim said.

That night, he went before the Matamoras Borough Council and they contributed $400.

“We really welcome any help we can get, but it’s just not enough over the long haul,” Heim said. “What we need is a steady source of funding that is enough to keep our shelter open and our services in place.”

On that Thursday morning, February 7, the shelter had only $7,000 left.

“It takes $21,000 a month to operate,” Heim said.

Heim said that he was especially astonished that the county only contributes $4,000 a year to the society.

“We have many financial restraints at this time,” said Rich Caridi, commissioners chair. “What you have to do is go to the media.”

“When I asked them to give me the annual contribution all at once so that we can survive this crisis, they turned me down,” Heim said.

The total amount raised from the county and its townships last year was $11,850, he said. The rest of the operating funding comes from individual contributions.

Besides taking animals into its shelter, the society serves the community in several other ways. In 2006, Heim was installed as a certified agent of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which gives him the power to arrest, prosecute and obtain search warrants in conducting investigations of animal abuse and neglect. This function takes a lot of his time away from the shelter. To cover, the society has four employees. “They don’t have any benefits because we can’t afford them,” he said. The rest of the work is done by 20 volunteers.

Assisting the PA State Police and municipal police, Heim is called to rescue dogs from car accidents and responds to accidents involving livestock, as well as farm animal escapes?like a horse loose on a busy highway.

“I would like to charge for our services but I don’t think that’s legal,” he said.

In 2007, the society handled 1,500 unwanted pets and permanently placed 626 dogs and cats in good homes, he said. “Our adoption rate for dogs is 87.3 percent,” Heim said. The national average is less than 33 percent.

The shelter has an open-door policy, which means that no animal is turned away, he said.

“We do an enormously important service to the county, townships and people of Pike County but we don’t get anything near the support we need from them,” Heim said.