From Mary Jo Hansen, President

SERVICES

• By State law, counties and municipalities must pick up and care for stray dogs for five days. Kanawha County, South Charleston, Dunbar, Nitro. St. Albans and several towns in the Upper Kanawha Valley have Humane Officers who investigate animal cruelty, enforce various state or local pet laws and rescue stray dogs. The county and cities contract with KCHA to provide shelter for the dogs. Humane Officers also bring pets to KCHA whose owners have been charged with abuse, have been arrested, have been evicted, have been hospitalized, or have died.

  The City of Charleston Police Dept will handle all calls within city limits.

• KCHA also accepts dogs, cats, kittens and puppies turned in by the public. Some are strays; some are turned in by their owners.
• KCHA adopts out suitable animals to the public. It holds stray dogs for five days before they are available for adoption.
• KCHA supervises the two Kanawha County Humane Officers, Johnny Brotherton and Richard Coll; South Charleston, Dunbar, St. Albans, Nitro and the towns which form the Upper Kanawha Valley supervise and dispatch their own Humane Officers.
• KCHA sponsors community events, such as the Howl-O-Ween Pet Parade, Spay/Neuter Day raffle, the Fur Ball, the yard sale, Adopt-A-Thon, Candlelight Vigil and the Christmas puppy/kitten display at local banks, makes presentations on pet care to schools and staffs information booths at civic events.

FUNDING

• KCHA is funded through various sources. It relies primarily on membership dues, public donations, bequests, dog license fees and payments by the county and municipalities, The adoption fees and fees for reclaiming pets do not even cover the actual costs incurred. It takes approximately $700,000 to operate the shelter annually.

ORGANIZATION

• KCHA has a Board of Directors which meets generally on the last Thursday of every month except June, when it holds its annual meeting on the last Thursday, and December, when it does not meet. The public is invited to attend all meetings to provide suggestions and input.

Board of Directors:

• Mary Jo Hansen - President
• Roger Wolfe - Vice President
• Sue Collias - Secretary
• Sylvia Shafer - Treasurer
• Laura Beard
• Debra Graham
• Dr. Paul Gunnoe
• Kim Hutton
• Jack Kane
• Barry Kemerer
• Deborah Linz
• Kay Michael
• Neil Ring
• Connie Simpson
• Nicky Walters

 

Employees:

• DONNA CLARK

  KCHA's daily operations are overseen by its Executive Director, Donna Clark. Other shelter employees are:

  • Teresa Harrison, Manager
  • Johnny Brotheron, Co. Humane Officer
  • Richard (Dick) Coll, Humane Officer
  • Karen Proctor, Secretary
  • Kim Thorsleinson, Secretary
  • Stephanie Gomez, Secretary
  • Kennel Attendants:
  • Stephanie Gomez
  • B. J. Mollohan
  • Sean Pickens
  • Joe Smith
  • John Buckley
  • Brian Workman