By SHAWN STREET
The new Russell County Animal Shelter at the former Copper Creek Elementary School should be operational by November.
That was the estimate given by Russell County Administrator Lonzo Lester during the June meeting of the board of supervisors.
Tara Dye, who represents District 3, asked Lester for an update on the project.
“Right now we’re trying to come in with the most engineered containers that we got,” he said. He said after purchasing needed equipment and preparing offices, “I’m hoping to be in by November. It will be operational by November.”
County officials have been discussing the need for a new animal shelter for years. Recently, the current facility was found to have two repeat non-critical violations. Those violations centered on dampness in areas of the shelter.
Lester said the Virginia Department of Animal Control is aware that efforts are underway to construct a new facility. “VDAC knows we’re moving forward on this,” Lester said. “That’s why they didn’t hit us with a fine.”
He added that despite the violations, the animals at the shelter are well taken care of. “We’ve received awards for these things,” he said.
Last year the shelter was honored by The Best Friends Network, “…in recognition of maintaining or achieving no-kill statues during calendar year 2024 by exceeding a 90 percent save rate.”
The current shelter averages housing 20-30 dogs. Although the current facility does not house cats, the new shelter plans to do so.
Lester said only domestic cats can be housed, per state codes. Thus feral cats, which have several colonies in the Town of Lebanon, could not be taken to the facility.
When officials first announced that Copper Creek Elementary would be the home of the new shelter, Lester said it would be in partnership with Lincoln Memorial University of Harrogate, Tennessee.
“Now this school would not only be an animal shelter…it will also be a medical treatment facility for those animals. That will reduce our costs. On the other side of the facility, in part of the programs, we will have large animals. Now the large animals, per the veterinarian working in conjunction with LMU, would include cattle, horses, sheep, goats and believe it or not alpaca,” Lester said at the time.
However, Stacy Anderson, Executive Dean of the Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine at LMU, said there are no plans for the university to be involved with the Copper Creek facility.
“While the Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine at Lincoln Memorial University engages with the Russell County Animal Shelter through its Shelter Outreach in the Appalachian Region program, that collaboration is limited to providing spay and neuter services to shelter animals at the LMU’s DeBusk Veterinary Teaching Center in Lee County,” Anderson said. “The university does not have a physical presence or planned facility in Russell County, including at the former Copper Creek Elementary School.”
During the June meeting, Lester stated, “I know there were issues that came up with LMU. We’re still trying to work with them.”
Lester added, “We’ve got a meeting set up with Southwest Virginia Community College because they have a vet tech and they can do their internship there.”
The Lebanon News reached out to SWCC regarding the college’s veterinarian tech program. Robin Foy, of the SWCC Admissions Office, stated, “We do not offer veterinarian classes and I have not heard of any plans to offer any classes in the near future.”