LAHARPE — It’s unfair to call Brittni Dilley’s job anything other than a labor of love.
As director of the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility, Dilley has helped find homes for thousands of dogs and cats.
Heck, she’s served as a foster owner for more than 100 such animals since she started working at the LaHarpe shelter over 11 years ago.
“There’s a lot of joy in this, and there’s also a lot of sadness,” Dilley said Monday. “You don’t know why there are so many great animals in here for as long as they are.”
With an overflowing animal population and an income stream that rarely, if ever, keeps up with expenses, the days are often stressful.
But now the situation is so dire, Dilley posted a plea for financial help on Facebook earlier this month, warning ACARF’s future is at risk.
“We only have a few months’ worth of money,” Dilley warned.
ACARF requires more than $20,000 of revenue a month just to break even.
“And that’s just us doing the bare minimum,” she noted. “We try to stretch every dollar we can.”
Money doesn’t go as far as she hoped for a shelter that’s beyond bursting at the seams.
ACARF has enough kennel space for 30 dogs and 20 cats. A balanced budget would limit those numbers even more.
“Financially, we should have probably 25 dogs and 15 cats,” Dilley said.
As of Monday afternoon, however, the shelter was housing 46 dogs and 36 cats.
That means some animals are doubled (and occasionally tripled together) in pens and kennels. A designated play room for cats and kittens now serves as the present home for several of those animals because there’s no space elsewhere.
“There are just more dogs and cats than there are homes for them,” Dilley said. “It’s rare for us to have fewer than 40 dogs here.”
That, in turn, means more money is needed for food, medication, cleaning supplies, etc.
