It’s every shelter’s goal to be able to provide top notch care and do everything they can for the animals awaiting their forever homes in their facilities.
It’s every shelter’s goal to be able to provide top notch care and do everything they can for the animals awaiting their forever homes in their facilities.
But funding is so often a barrier which keeps many shelters from being able to do as much as they want for their facility. And wouldn’t it be better to have a little extra dough to be able to do that? One local shelter is hoping to get that extra money with Animal Planet’s Pet Nation Shelter Renovation contest.
Ashland dog shelter Bandit’s Adoption and Rescue of K-9’s (B.A.R.K.) has been chosen as one of five finalists in Animal Planet’s contest which will give one shelter in the nation $180,000 to renovate their facility.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Claire Tetrick, board member, secretary and volunteer for B.A.R.K.
B.A.R.K. is an all volunteer organization on Farrington Road in Ashland that rescues over 300 dogs around the Richmond area every year for over 15 years. The shelter has about 120 to 150 dogs available for adoption at any given time.
Tetrick said a fellow B.A.R.K. saw the contest and they submitted their three minute video introducing the shelter and why they needed the renovations to Animal Planet earlier this month.
Check it out below:
“The main reason we submitted, we are just an all volunteer organization, we don’t have any government support in terms of funding, everything we do is done through donations,” Tetrick said. “Most of the money we get, goes directly toward the care we’ve never had any extra to do any improvements to the kennels.”
She added the building itself hasn’t been upgraded in 25 years.
If they win, B.A.R.K. plans to upgrade the shelter’s play pen areas, install central air and heat for the animals, add a new bridge to access the property, install a dedicated quarantine area and an indoor restroom for volunteers.
“You can imagine heating a 6,000 square foot space in the winter with space heaters just doesn’t cut it, Tetrick said. “We just use fans during the summer so that’s the biggest expense.”
B.A.R.K. also would like to upgrade their kennels inside as well as the outside fenced in areas where the dogs get exercise.
“We’ve got between 75 and 85 dog in the kennels at any given point, they take a beating everyday,” she said. “The kennels outside themselves are a bit of a disaster, we’ve got some major drainage issues. “They are also very old, we sort of patch them as we go so the play pens could use some major renvonations.”
To access the farm-like property, is a bridge that is falling apart which Tetrick said is in desperate need of repair. B.A.R.K. also is hoping to win to install indoor bathrooms for the 100 regular volunteers they have at the shelter.
“Since I’ve been there, we’ve had a Port-a-Potty,” she said.
The contest is open for public voting from March 21-April 4 and you can cast your vote here for B.A.R.K. There’s no limit to the number of times you can vote so vote early and vote often!
Animal Planet will announce the winner in mid-April.
