December 30, 2008

Township Manager Joseph Hartnett issued a statement today saying the Township will be taking over the responsibility for animal sheltering in the community effective January 1, 2009. Since the PAWS organization has decided to forgo providing animal sheltering services effective December 31, 2008, the building located at 77 North Willow Street, which had been operated in the past by PAWS as a shelter, will revert back to Township occupancy effective January 1.

Extensive clean-up, repair, and other preparation work has to be performed before the building can be reopened as an animal shelter.

“We intend to operate a first-class animal shelter at 77 North Willow,” the Manager said, “and when we do so it will be a clean, safe, and healthy facility that the community can be proud of. But in the meantime, there is a lot of work to be done with the building,” he said.

PAWS informed the Township that there will be no animals left in the facility after December 31, with the exception of four dogs, which cannot be permanently placed in homes because they are involved in pending court cases. The Township has arranged for one of these dogs to be held in a nearby shelter until custody determination by the court; the other three dogs will be kept in foster homes.

Hartnett said he expects it will take two months to get the facility ready to re-open as a shelter. During that period the Township Health Department has made arrangements to house animals as necessary in shelters in nearby communities.

“This is not something new,” said the Manager, “since we’ve had to do it before for extended periods of time. There have been times this year and last year when PAWS did not accept animals from the Township for several months and we were able to function without any disruption. We will do the same for the first two months of 2009,” he said.

The Township also signed an agreement with the Township of Verona to provide animal control services to that community beginning January 1, in addition to continuing providing services to Nutley and Glen Ridge.

“We are also in negotiations with a number of other communities and expect to sign up one or more partners, with the intent that such arrangements can offset any of the additional costs of operating the facility at 77 North Willow,” said the Manager.

When negotiations are completed, the Township will be able to release a projected budget for the shelter for 2009.

For more information regarding animal control or animal sheltering in Montclair, please contact the Township Health Department at 973-509-4970.