WARREN — A number of chained dogs found freezing outside in various locations in Trumbull County with no food or access to nonfrozen water over the past two weeks were reported to the Healthy Hearts and Paws Project for rescue.

Jason Cooke, founder of Healthy Hearts and Paws Project, argues that pet owners need to take responsibility for the care of their animals. The all-volunteer organization has 79 dogs in a facility designed to house 57 animals.

“There appears to be no end in sight,” Cook said. “We are 20 over our capacity to house dogs.”

Healthy Hearts and Paws Project picks up strays, dogs that are outside in extremely cold weather with no food and have frozen water, and dogs that people no longer are able to care for because of various circumstances.

The organization opened a new facility at 909 Martin Luther King Blvd. SW in Warren last year. It was almost filled to capacity shortly after its opening.

“There’s not a day that goes by where we have an open kennel for a cat or a dog,” Cooke said. “I don’t know if we will ever solve the capacity problem. People have to be trained to better care for their pets.”

The Healthy Hearts and Paws Project recently built a new building for cats, called Bootsie’s Bungalow. Donations and private foundation money helped cover costs for the new cat building.

Cooke said owners with outside dogs should — especially in the recent frigid weather — put them inside whenever possible, and otherwise make sure dog houses are solid wood, with floors that are off the ground. They also should have floors that are covered with straw, not hay.

“Owners should make constant checks to make sure their pets have adequate food and their water is not frozen. They would not want to be left outside in these conditions and should not leave their pets outside without protection,” Cooke said. “No one, to my knowledge, forces anyone to become pet owners. Your pets should be cared for.”

Healthy Hearts and Paws has approximately 57 volunteers. On average, there are seven to eight volunteers working a week.

“On good weeks, we have up to 12 volunteers,” he said.

Healthy Hearts & Paws in 2023 operated with a $300,000 budget. Cooke has not calculated the organization’s final 2024 budget, but he expects it to surpass 2023’s.

“Everything is more expensive,” he said. “The cost of food, medicine, being able to pick up animals and transport them to veterinarian care. All of our costs have increased.”

Warren is looking to address the fact it no longer has a dog warden to address concerns about the care of dogs in the city within the next month, Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert recently said.

Colbert said he has met with various union members about addressing the dog warden vacancy.

“We’ve been without a dog warden for a couple months,” he said.

He hopes to present a proposal to city council within the next several weeks.

“Right now, we have police officers answering animal calls,” Colbert said.

TRUMBULL COUNTY POUND

Michelle Goss, director of Trumbull County’s Dog Pound, admits her department has not been overwhelmed with the number of dogs in its 14 indoor kennels.

Just over half of the county’s indoor kennels have been filled over the last two weeks, she said.

Goss noted that the Animal Welfare League generally has had the responsibility to pick up stray and abandoned animals

Trumbull County over the past several years has been debating where to place a proposed new dog pound.

The pound, 7501 Anderson Ave., is an old garage that has been converted for its current use. It has one office where the public meets with pound officials, a small private office for Goss and other employees. and an area with 14 kennels where the dogs are kept.

The number of dogs that go through the pound has increased each year since 2021. There were 412 in 2021 and 542 in 2022.

Commissioners in 2023 agreed to accept property owned by the Animal Welfare League across from its headquarters, 812 Youngstown Kingsville Rd SE in Vienna. The county will provide the necessary water and sewer infrastructure and help to maintain roads leading up to the properties.

The cost of the new dog pound has not been finalized.

An early rendering of the new dog pound was displayed to the public last year, but that proposal is expected to be revised.

ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE CONCERNS

Commissioner Denny Malloy last week expressed concern about the future of the AWL and the proposed dog pound. Malloy is concerned about the county building a new dog pound next to an AWL building that may be forced to shut down because of its own financial concerns.

AWL is a non-profit organization. In 2023, AWL officials received $250,000 from the county’s more than $38 million in American Rescue Plan funds.

AWL attorney Daniel Letson last week told the commissioners that the league has experienced a 150% increase in the number of animals the agency takes in and has experienced an 84% increase in the cost of food and other items for the animals they take in and for personnel costs.

Malloy said he would like the AWL to provide the commissioners a two-to-five year forecast for its operations.

“I don’t know where they are financially this year,” Malloy said. “Hopefully, they are financially stable. My biggest worry is when we start to build our property. We put up a $2.8 million facility and then they say they are broke and now we have their couple million dollar building vacant next to us.”

The AWL of Trumbull County is the largest organization for humane concerns in the area, focusing on animal cruelty and neglect.