Butler County Animal Shelter begins repair

MORGANTOWN, Ky. – Over the Christmas weekend, Butler County Animal Shelter fell victim to the artic weather that blew threw south central Kentucky.

When the temperatures began to take a turn for the worse, the animal shelter’s HVAC unit failed to protect the inside through frigid weekend. Then on the morning of Christmas Eve, a pipe burst which led to an emergency foster incident.

Jeanie Locke of the Butler County Friends of Animals said in an interview with News 40 that there were about 12 animals that needed a place to stay over the weekend.

Locke said after the waterline broke, the shelter residents were in water up to 4 inches and prompted staff to hit the internet and look for some community help. One lady and her family took in five puppies over Christmas weekend, which ended up being a good holiday surprise.

Caitlyn Gay opened her home up to some animals in need that resulted in a welcomed distraction for the weekend. Incidentally, Gay’s children became ill with the flu earlier, so the family didn’t do any traveling for the weekend. Gay also told us that three out of the five were adopted today after returning to the shelter.

The county judge-executive also paid a visit this morning and let the county foot the rest of the bill after a previous plumber did not get to complete the job. Butler County judge-executive Tim Flener mentioned he was happy to see the community coming together to help the shelter.

Locke said toward the end of her interview that one plan is to use money raised by the nonprofit partner of the shelter to eventually build a new shelter as she acknowledged it is an old building and mostly of concrete.

Though the shelter does receive some money from the county, they still rely largely on donations and money from fundraisers to cover their bills and pay employees.