FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Marion County Humane Society (MCHS) is currently in the process of beginning its “slow move” to a new location after its original building had to be demolished.
The new facility is located along Locust Ave in Fairmont and is the same location where the original building once stood.
The MCHS received approval from the Marion County Fire Marshal to move in on Sept. 1, but have been unable to move in yet due to an outbreak of ringworm in some cats at the facility, which the shelter director said they’ve been battling for the past five weeks.
As a result, the current building is being used as a quarantine space for the sick cats until they get better. However, all of the healthy cats and dogs have already been moved over to the new facility.
“Hopefully, in the next week or so, we’ll be doing adoptions out of the new building,” said Jonna Spatafore, Shelter Director for the Marion County Humane Society. She described the new building as “1,000 times better than what we had.”
“It’s such a nice facility for the animals: there’s more room, everything’s new,” she continued. Spatafore told 12 News that in this facility, cats will have free roaming rooms, there will be quarantine rooms for sick animals and that it’s just easier to clean in general.
The former MCHS building was torn down due to it being built nearly 50 years ago and was no longer up to current pet safety standards. As a result, everything in the facility was moved to a temporary location in March 2022 with the demolition finally taking place in June 2022.
“It was insane moving all the cages and the kennel, and everything else,” Spatafore said. When the MCHS had to relocate, Spatafore said that there was a concern that the shelter may have had to shut down because it didn’t have another space lined up when it was expected to move out.
However, the facility has finally been rebuilt and was ready for move-in by March 1 of this year. Despite the fact that the new building was ready, the shelter had to hold off on moving in due to some issues with the sprinkler system.
Other than that, there were no other complications throughout the process and it is the shelter’s plan to be completely moved into its new location by Oct. 1.
The MCHS has been working on getting its new facility ready for the past five to seven years, going through the process of drawing up plans and getting everything paid for. A loan was used to complete construction, so the shelter is currently fundraising to help repay some of that money.
Some of the fundraising events that the Humane Society of Marion County is having this year are an Elimination Dinner on Sept. 30, as well as a Designer Purse Bingo on Dec. 3. They also have an Amazon Wishlist for those who wish to donate items that the shelter still needs.
