Pike County Humane Society is facing closure

MILFORD - Fundraisers have not come up winners this year and expenses keep going up to the point where officials at the Pike County Humane Society say the facility will have to close unless additional funding can be found. “This is the first time in the seven years of our operating the shelter that we have reached such a critical point,” shelter officials stated in fundraising appeal. The shelter, located on Lee Road in Shohola, carries the county name but is not a county facility. While the county and Dingman, Lehman, Milford townships and Milford Borough contribute $9,200 annually, the society’s biggest sponsor is the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which chips in $10,000. Still, $19,200 does not cover major expenses which exceed $48,000 annually and private fundraising has to make up the difference. Searing heat cut short a summer, benefit car wash and this year’s Tricky Tray, the shelter’s major fundraiser, was “a major disappointment,” officials said. Without the shelter, services including assists to police in animal abuse cases, collection and treatment of stray animals, transportation of companion animals belonging to the elderly and handicapped for veterinarian treatment and assistance in investigations of animals suspected of having rabies contact, will end. Shelters directors say that lacking funding to make up the current deficit, “we will be forced to permanently close the shelter.” For more information or to help, contact the Pike County Humane Society at Box 255, Milford, PA, or call 570-296-7654.