The town of Warren‘s animal shelter was built in 1974 as a temporary holding facility, yet is still in use. It is overcrowded, lacks proper storage for the animal food and supplies and most importantly the shelter sits in a flood zone.
Recently, to keep these animals safe pending the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, the animal control officer and a few dedicated volunteers spent seven or more hours relocating all the animals, plus all the supplies needed to care for these animals, from the shelter to Liberty Street School. The Animal Control Officer and a volunteer slept at the school for two nights with the animals. After the storm the shelter had to be cleaned before the animals and all those supplies could be moved back to the shelter. Liberty Street School also had to be cleaned after the move.
Relocation under these conditions puts the animals under a great deal of stress and also the people involved. This was not the first time that this had to be done. Last year, the same problem occurred when tropical storm Irene came to visit.
These animals are being taken care of as best as possible under the present conditions, but these conditions really need to change. Some people seem to think that this is acceptable because they are only animals, but we are obliged to take care of these poor creatures.
A nonprofit all volunteer organization called Residents United For Furry Friends (RUFF) has been formed to work toward raising funds for a new shelter. This will be a long and difficult task. If you would like to assist in this cause, you can send a donation to Residents United For Furry Friends at P.O. Box 568 Warren, RI 02885 or write if you wish to volunteer. Please pass the word about our cause.
Anna M Palmieri
Still Broke
11:44 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Before going ahead with a new shelter, why not investigate a county-wide shelter with Barrington and Bristol? We all know Bristol wants to build one and Barrington has also recently mentioned their need for one. http://www.eastbayri.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/towns-should-have-regional-animal-shelter/
We already share our transfer station with Barrington and our schools with Bristol. Why not an animal shelter???
Still Broke
11:45 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Here's the article I meant to link to: http://www.eastbayri.com/news/barrington-town-manager-says-hes-interested-in-discussing-a-regional-shelter/
no regr allia b
12:43 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Problem is Stiil. Bristol already has had the money voter appoved for $2million and it is in the design phase with building to begin I believe this coming year. As it turned out it has to be downsized since the original designer misquoted actual cost or something.
I agree a regional one should have been looked at but that time seems to have passed. Lets face it with all the complaints about the regional school system, I would bet this would turn into a political football sadly.
But it could not hurt to have the politicians get together in the tri-town area and see if a deal can be reached with bristol to provide more funds from warren and barrington to build the original plan for bristols which was quite large and state of the art.
Pessimistic about that happening, but it would be nice to see if funds can be found without affecting taxes.
no regr allia b
12:49 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
On another note, it does not matter where it is located but Warren would be center for the tri-town area so that seems to me to be the place if they have an area of land for it that will not have DEM problems. Bristol has a problem with their area if I remember right that has increased the cost. So another location may help in cost also benefiting a project like this. These people in warren and Bristol do a lot of good things with the animals and this is needed very badly in the area and is long overdue in my opinion. I assume Barrington shelter does as well though I have never dealt with them.
Anna Palmieri
6:15 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Barrington dose not even have a shelter, plus the present design that Bristol has is what they want for their own town and it probably would not be big enough for the three towns.
no regr allia b
6:26 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
The original design was quite huge Ann that I saw at town hall. I know there are problems right now with the cost and having to downsize it and such also. I merely say that it may not be a bad idea to look into a regional solution before construction of our Bristol shelter which is pretty much turning into a nightmare and not what we originally wanted. There has also been problems with the landsite I think.
Maybe we should look at a pooling of resources to get this done and come up with a great shelter instead of somethging we may be complaining about in a few years to have upgrades and expansion. Just a thought ;-}
Anna Palmieri
7:50 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Any thoughts or suggestions are helpful because something dose have to be done.