CENTRE HALL - A local non-profit will take over the Centre Hall SPCA shelter starting Jan. 1, 2012. The shelter is located along U.S. 322, midway between Potters Mills and Boalsburg.
Pets Come First has been working with the SPCA for many years now and has transformed the shelter into a "no-kill" facility where every adoptable pet is given a fair chance to find a new home.
"I have always been an animal lover, I have always done some type of rescue," President of Pets Come First Deb Warner said.
Warner said PCF also works very closely with the Hundred Cat Foundation, which resides in the adjacent property to the SPCA shelter.
Warner said that at one point the euthanasia rate at the SPCA shelter was around 87 percent.
"We are going to make this a more efficient shelter, spay, neuter and adopt," Warner said of PCF's goal.
Warner said the Centre Hall shelter is where pets from Mifflin and Juniata counties end up, and roughly 75 to 80 percent of the animals at the shelter come from the Juniata Valley.
Samantha Elliott Krepps with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said a well-run shelter plays an important role.
Krepps said dog wardens utilize these facilities regularly to handle stray animals.
Warner said she is looking forward to taking over the lease at the SPCA shelter, although there are still some minor hurdles to overcome.
"We are going to make a lot of changes, we want to make it more cost efficient," Warner said.
Warner said it will be easier to change things at the shelter because the decisions will all be made at the local level, as opposed to in the past when decisions were handed down from the regional office of the SPCA.
Warner said the shelter is presently open seven days a week but that will have to change when PCF takes over the lease.
Warner said her workforce is currently comprised of volunteers but she anticipates having a paid staff in place in the future.
"We want to have adoption counselors," Warner said of the importance of matching the right pet with the right owner.
Warner said fundraising will be crucial to the success of PCF and its estimated yearly budget will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000.
In the past, PCF has managed to raise some money through its annual 5k Dog Jog in the spring, an event they hope to continue in the future.
