Hill County Paw Pals Celebrates 4th Anniversary—Appeals for County Animal
Shelter
Hill County Paw Pals commemorates its fourth anniversary this month.
Paw Pals formed as a group of 38 citizens concerned about the worsening pet
overpopulation problem in Hill County and the effect this has on the general living
standards for our residents. They united
with the core purpose of facilitating the building of an animal shelter for county
use and an aim to correct pet overpopulation in order to make this a better place
to live for all our citizens. The group
has now swollen to 1300 individual supporters and 60 businesses from every area
of the county. In celebrating our successes
over the past four years, it would be beneficial to take a look at how we got to
where we are now.
In early January 2004, the early founders of Paw Pals met with City of Hillsboro
officials and were given a green light to raise funds for an animal shelter that
would evolve into one for county use.
On May 16, 2006 the city of Hillsboro concluded that active involvement of the Commissioner’s
Court was prudent and an offer was extended to the county.
July 11, 2006 saw the adoption of a resolution by the Commissioner’s Court
to enter into a feasibility study for a county wide animal shelter.
This study was completed one year ago and included a proposed operating budget
and a concept of operations plan. Paw
Pals has prepared to invest all designated building funds toward the construction
of an animal shelter.
Hill County Paw Pals is proud to claim many noteworthy accomplishments over the
past four years: a low cost spay/neuter and vaccination clinic that has sterilized
well over 1500 pets and given 5,000.rabies vaccinations; the institution of a foster
and adoption program that has saved the lives of many pets facing a death sentence;
an outreach program to local schools to teach children how to care for their pets;
and an ongoing fund raising program that has accumulated $350,000.
Now that we look at where we have been, we need to be prepared for where we are
going. Paw Pals stands ready to invest
all funds designated toward the building of an animal shelter and have investigated
several building designs. Paw Pals
has a network of volunteers ready to be trained to work at the shelter to offset
shelter operating costs. Hopefully,
the future will see an expansion of the spay/neuter program and the educational
outreach and more adoptions and growth of foster families.
It is truly amazing what a group of concerned citizens can accomplish with the support
of a caring community. Hill County
is home to many hard-working people who live here for a variety of reasons. Hill County Paw Pals is determined to
give us one more big reason to be proud to call this home—that we show compassion
to our companion animals and that we can unite to build an animal shelter for county
citizens. To make the animal shelter
a reality, the ball rests in the hands of our elected officials and their ability
to prioritize the operating expenses into the existing budget so as to not raise
taxes.
Paw Pals has initiated a “Public Awareness of Pet Overpopulation Campaign” and will
begin forming committees at the next public meeting on Thursday, June 5 from 6:30-7:30pm
in the Bullock Room of Hill College cafeteria in Hillsboro.
For more information about Paw Pals, please email
hcpawpals@yahoo.com, or call 254-580-0679.