Big changes at Henry-Trimble County Animal Shelter

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- They've gone from shooting and killing dogs to control the pet population to vowing 90 percent of their animals will be saved. But that's not the biggest change at the Henry-Trimble County Animal Shelter.

Candace Abner plays with a beagle that she's affectionately named Sally. "Come here baby, come here!" She's what you might call a repeat guest at the Henry-Trimble County Animal Shelter.

"They couldn't keep her," she says, "and she was jumping on her tables and it was too much for them to deal with every day."

Soon Sally and the 28 others dogs there will have a new home. The counties' animal service director walked WDRB's Gilbert Corsey through a new shelter Tuesday afternoon.

Director Dan Flinkfelt explains, "We have 14 kennels on the inside and we're going to have 14 on the outside for indoor-outdoor kennels." The facility also has, "vet tech rooms, kitten cat rooms, puppy rooms, separate large animal room...The shelter is growing hugely, which is unbelievable."

The new shelter sits off Sulpher Road in Sulpher, Ky. From the outside it appears to be a 1200 square foot cement box, but it is much more than the current facility.

The shelter in Eminence was once a home, and is so crowded that dog cages surround the outside of the building. Flinkfelt says, "Everything is moving in the right direction, where it should be."

This shelter wants to move away from its past. In 2002, dog catchers were shooting dogs rather than euthanizing them. "People were untrained and unqualified," Flinkfelt says.

The counties just took back control from the Kentucky Humane Society last summer and now boasts a 90 percent save rate with the 800 plus animals it brings in each year.

Abner says, "I just feel like I'm helping, it just makes me feel good."

Which is the goal -- to get Sally and her friends a "forever home."

The new shelter cost $250,000 and was funded through a grant. After an inspection this Thursday, leaders hope to move into the new facility this weekend.