BUCYRUS — Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Humane Society Serving Crawford County has lost one of its largest sources of revenue temporarily.
Director Victoria Caldwell said the agency will be without the funding generated from weekly bingo games at Pickwick Place on Wednesday evenings for at least six to 10 weeks.
“The shelter has temporarily lost revenue capabilities due to the state of emergency and subsequent restrictions, imposed by Gov. Mike DeWine, to slow the onslaught of COVID-19,” Caldwell said. “For over 25 years, we have funded daily operations by conducting a weekly bingo game as our major funding source.”
The Humane Society Serving Crawford County cares for stray, neglected, abused and unwanted pets from the community and beyond, as well as providing programs to the community to help with their pet care needs.
“We are expecting an influx of pets that can’t be cared for due to lost income,” Caldwell said. “We have a limited amount of aid available to help our community keep their pets during this time, but ultimately we will be the organization that is taxed with taking in pets when owners make the heartbreaking choice to relinquish them.”
She said the humane society also is the agency that provides the contracted housing facility for the Crawford County Dog Warden’s office.
“All strays confiscated by the dog warden will be brought to us for care in addition to the community surrenders,” Caldwell said. “We have reunification procedures in place to keep pets from staying in the shelter during this time. As our community struggles with job loss, the number of surrendered pets will rise, further taxing our resources.”
She said the shelter has been on reduced hours, thus cutting the revenue from adoptions, reclaims and rescue pulls.
“We are anticipating being able to resume normal shelter hours and our regular bingo game schedule by the first of May. There are many variables to this optimistic outcome. We are in need of emergency monetary donations to help us stay on our feet for the next four to six months,” Caldwell said. “As a private non-profit, we have always prided ourselves in being able to fund our organization and its programs through fundraisers, bingo and shelter operations. We believe that with help now, we’ll weather through this unprecedented time, be able to stay a viable resource to our community and be able to recover.”
She said it is so very important for the organization to be able to continue to serve the community as it has for almost 50 years.
For people interested in helping the Humane Society, visit the website at www.crawfordhumane.com to schedule a monthly donation through PayPal or send by mail to: The Humane Society Serving Crawford County, 3590 Ohio 98 Bucyrus, OH 44820.