Tina Nichols, Director of Operations for the Lakeshore Humane Society says that the shelter is in trouble, but tells people not to panic. “We’re not going to be closing our doors tomorrow,” she explained. “But we want to make sure that we are going to sustain, so we want to take action now.”
Manitowoc County’s only animal shelter held its annual Board Meeting earlier this week where it was discussed that if something isn’t done soon to help them financially, they could possibly cease operations within two years.
Nichols told SeehaferNews.com, that the fundraising they do each year simply isn’t enough to cover the expenses they have. “Our expenses are about $450,000 [per year]. Running the shelter, taking care of all the animals…and with the increase in numbers of animals every year, and the increase in cost, that’s where we are struggling.”
Nichols spoke at length on a recent Facebook post by a “concerned citizen” stating:
“Lakeshore Humane Society held their annual meeting tonight. The shelter will run out of money in 2 years as it stands right now. This is incredibly sad.
The shelter is paid for services they provide to the City of Manitowoc and Two Rivers, but the cities only pay for the care a total of 7 days for a dog, (no matter if that dog is there for 365 days)and only 4 days for a cat. The ASPCA nor the Humane Society of the United States support community shelters. Dog and cat licensing fees that our cities collect are not given to the shelter.”
Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels responded that the statement about LHS receiving no support from the city is absolutely not true. “The city of Manitowoc provides the Humane Society $30,000 in financial support. The city of Two Rivers also financially contributes to the shelter and the dog and cat licenses that we collect help fund this.”
We asked Nichols if these statements made by the Mayor are true, and she said his statements are true. “We do have a contract with Manitowoc and Two Rivers,” she said. “We are very blessed that they work with us.” She also said that the author of the original Facebook post did not intend to be negative towards the cities, but rather to raise awareness of the issues the Humane Society is facing.
The biggest misconception that Nichols wants to address is that the Humane Society operates as a 501c3 non-profit organization and they are not a fully-funded government entity. This means that they do not receive any state funding and that the community is the main source of funding. To put it simply, she said: “We rely on donations.”
The Lakeshore Humane Society is always open to ideas on any fundraising efforts and encourages citizens and or businesses to contact them and partner with them to find animals a loving, caring home. They are located at 1551 North Eighth Street, and you can contact them by calling 684-5401, e-mailing tina@lakeshorehumane.org or by sending them a message on their Facebook page.