BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — The turnout for Monday’s “Christmas at the Pound” event in Boone County was much bigger than last year as dogs were walked and given Christmas meals and gifts by volunteers and law enforcement.
Volunteers with the Boone Animal Rescue Coalition (BARC) are hoping soon they could hold the event at a new location.
“We just appreciate the support we get here and maybe one day we can relocate this pound and make it bigger and better and every body can be involved,” BARC volunteer Ashley McNeely said.
Right now, the pound is at an old holding center off of Route 3 outside of Seth. For a pound that stays at or over capacity, the volunteers feel a location central to towns such as Madison and Danville would help with adoptions and volunteers.
“They deserve every day interaction, and it’s just something we can’t give them. We work,” McNeely said. “It takes us sometimes an hour to get here, so I would like a huge change for next year. We’ll see what happens.”
The Boone County Commission discussed in June the potential for moving the pound. Commissioner Jeff Petry said on Monday they have have been looking at sites for the pound to relocate, but the ideal location would have to be both away from residential homes and also out of floodplains, which is difficult to find.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office recently took over operations of the pound more than a year ago once they created a humane officer position. Deputies have established a partnership with BARC to bring in volunteers and utilize rescue partners. Sheriff Chad Barker said having a centralized location would likely improve volunteer turnout and would be closer to their office.
“The idea behind that is to get them in a more centralized location,” Barker said. “Get the pound more centralized closer to Madison or Danville where people could stop in more often. You’re not going to have the turnout like you did today every day, but there are people who say they would volunteer more if the pound was in a different location, but you have to look at finding the right spot.”
Volunteers are hopeful that can be done as BARC has played a major role with the sheriff’s department in turning the pound into more of a rescue and adoption hub.
“We really appreciate our volunteers. We wouldn’t be able to do anything close to what we do now if it weren’t for them and today is a good example,” Barker said. “You look at the outpouring of love you have here today and the care for the animals is really special. We really appreciate those folks.”
For information on how to adopt an animal, make a donation or volunteer your time, click here.
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