New addition to Taney County Animal Shelter soon to open

TANEY COUNTY - With the new addition and a little help from their friends, dogs will be much safer and healthier at the Taney County Animal Shelter - giving them a better chance of being adopted.

Mickey Gilley visited the new addition Tuesday that he, in part, made possible with his four benefit shows in the last two years. Guest at the four shows were asked to bring a bag of dog food or a blanket - something useful for the dogs and admission was free.

"I don't know how much we raised all together," Gilley said. "I've got three other shows in there, Les Brown and Michael Walker and Joey Riley. We left all the money on the table for them - we do our part and God will take care of the rest. If we can make their lives a little easier, at least we can raise money for food."

The addition will be ready for occupancy in about five weeks, according to Taney County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Pennel. The $75,000 project will allow the shelter to make some very positive changes in its operation. The new building will add 27 new pens for a total capacity of 60.

The shelter doesn't ordinarily take in cats unless the Branson or Forsyth police departments bring them. On Tuesday, there were about 10 cats and kittens. One white kitten in particular caught Gilley's eye. He said several times he wished he could take it home. When asked, he acknowledged he was a "cat person."

"It breaks my heart to see an animal without a home," he said. "We have a bunch of cats. I'm from Texas, but I have no horses or cows - just cats."

Pennel greeted Gilley with a home-made cream pie to take with him and gave Gilley the tour of the new kennels named for the entertainer.

"The new part is a completely separate building and it will reduce the number of animals we now have to turn away," Pennel said. "We'll also be able to hold them longer, which give us a better chance of finding them homes. We won't have to take them to Springfield - they only have a 50-50 chance of being adopted there. They also charge $30 for each, so it will save county money. The most important aspect is we'll be able to use this for dogs coming in from the public as place to quarantine dogs until we know whether they are healthy."

According to concrete construction supervisor Charlie Stiffler, Pennel designed most of the new addition in response to the problems he and others identified with the limited space they had. The pens in the new kennel have drains in the back of each pen and they are offset to prevent cross contamination from the splash back during cleaning.

A very unique design for the pens allows the animal to retreat through a sliding door to a clean pen while the washing is in progress without the technician handling the animals - further ensuring that contamination will not be carried from one pen to the next.

A freight door entrance will allow Animal Control Officer Rick Lunt to bring his truck into the facility to place animals in pens. Site Supervisor Susan McGuire, who has been on the job for a little over a month, got a new assistant in training this week.

"I'm very excited about the new pens.," she said. "I can't wait to start using them. It'll be great. We're full nearly all the time," McGuire said.

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This article appeared in the "Branson Daily News" on July 5, 2007.