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The Hutchinson News cgreen@hutchnews.comLindsey BAumaN/The Hutchinson NewsOscar Perez and Gilbert Rocha continue work on the new animal shelter being built at 1501 South Severance. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-November.Upcoming fundraisersTwo upcoming fundraisers will help support the Hutchinson/Reno County Animal Shelter, which is being built on Severance.The Second Annual Cruis’n for Critters Poker Run begins at noon Sept. 24, starting at Central Kansas Veterinary Services, 515 West Blanchard, South Hutchinson. Participants pay $10 a hand, which includes five cards. At each of five stops, they will pick up their cards and have a chance to win door prizes. The pokerrun will take riders through Halstead, Little River and Arlington and conclude in Hutchinson.Also, a garage sale is being planned for Oct. 1 from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 811 East 10th, Hutchinson. Those interested in donating should call (620) 694-7168.Both fundraising activities will help the shelter raise the $48,000 needed for additional kennels. The Salty Dawg Festival on Sept. 6 brought in $645.95 to help pay for the extra kennels.The future shelter for Hutchinson’s stray or unwanted animals is starting to look more like a home.The exterior of the $687,000 building, 1501 South Severance, is substantially completed, Hutchinson Building Official Bob Fairbanks said this week.Interior work on the building is continuing as well, with the building nearly 50 percent complete, Fairbanks said.“It’s coming right along,” Fairbanks said. “It’s amazing - it’s looking like something now.”That’s good news for members of the Hutchinson Animal Care Advisory Board. They’re among the city officials who want to make sure shelter is ready to house animals by the end of the year.City Manager John Deardoff said officials expect construction of the shelter to be finished my mid-November.The city’s contract with the Hutchinson Humane Welfare Association-run shelter at 3501 Stewart, which has housed animals brought in by the city for years, expires Dec. 31.“I’m very pleased with the progress,” board member Jane Lee said. “It’s looking very likely that we are going to be ready on or before Dec. 31.”The privately run shelter has come under fire in recent years for its management practices, including having a high-kill, low-adop-tion rate for animals brought into its care.Officials learned earlier this summer that a portion of $26,000 in funds being given to shelter operators to keep the building open for 2005 wasn’t going where city officials thought it would.Shelter operators Loyd and Sally Shropshire spent more than $1,000 of shelter money on legal fees in a trust fund case it essentially won against the city.The new shelter, which will berun by the city for at least its first year of operation, will have 24 dog runs that can hold a maximum of two dogs each.The building will also contain an unfinished shell, which would provide an additional 16 cages to house animals upon its completion.Lee said animal care advocates have started a campaign to securethe nearly $50,000 in donations to finish the entire shelter.The Animal Care Advisory Board has set a Nov. 1 fundraising deadline, Lee said. Deardoff said the shell would likely be completed sometime next year, once the funds are raised.The city is also searching a shelter director, which it hopes to hire by Nov. 1, Deardoff said.Exterior of Hutchinson s new animal shelter nearly finishedBy Chris Green
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Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Kansas, US
Sat, Sep 17, 2005
Page 5
Full Page
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Hutchinson P.
KS, USA 17 Jan 2023
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