New Humane Society building is now open

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

After many months of planning, fundraising, waiting and construction, it’s finally open for business.

The Van Wert County Humane Society’s new Fox Road facility quietly opened earlier this week and is now housing cats and dogs that are waiting for their “furever” home.

“I think it’s something that we never really thought would ever happen,” Humane Society Board President Deb Sealscott said. “We talked about renovating the (Bonnewitz Ave.) facility. We had contractors come in and for whatever reason it was going to be much more difficult to add a little wing on. It just wasn’t that simple.

Sealscott said 2019 was when the board had multiple discussions with Garmann-Miller architects and others about building a new facility.

“We had our plans put together and that fall we started our soft fundraising campaign for some seed money,” she said. “March of 2020 was when we were ready to go to the public. We had all of our brochures, letters and everything ready to go then on March 13 the world changed due to COVID. Some of the board members wanted to stop while others wanted to continue, so the campaign committee decided to forge ahead after several months.”

The board campaigned during COVID with a goal of $600,000, but $800,000 was raised for construction of the new facility. As it turned out, all of it was needed because of cost increases. Actual construction by local contractor Alexander and Bebout began last fall with a goal of getting the building undercover by winter, a goal that was accomplished.

The new shelter is about 3,600 square feet, or approximately 800 square feet larger than the previous facility.

“The biggest difference between the two facilities is on Bonnewitz we just had one large room that housed everybody – that was our cat quarantine, dog quarantine, healthy cats, healthy dogs and that really posed a risk because we do get animals coming in with illnesses or they’ll develop an illness and you need to be able to quarantine those animals,” Sealscott said. “We now have dog and cat quarantine areas and because we work closely with the county and the dog warden, he has his own little area where those dogs are brought in, so it’s an entry point for the strays that come in.”

“We have additional room for cats and the cats are separate from the dogs. We have free roam cat room for the kitties that get along, and we have a meet and greet room which we did not have before, so if you’re interested in a pet you can bring your family and your other dog in and everybody can get together to see how they get along.”

Two open houses are planned – one is scheduled by invitation for 4-6:30 p.m. Thursday, August 11 for donors, VIPs and volunteers, followed by a general open house for the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, August 13.

The Humane Society’s current hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays; 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The facility is closed on Sundays and Mondays.