The Romulus Animal Shelter recently received a portion of a $150,000 grant that will benefit the animals in its care.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has selected two Downriver shelters and a Dearborn facility as recipients of thousands of dollars in grant funding.
The Taylor Animal Shelter, Romulus Animal Control, and Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit, which has a facility in Dearborn, are three of 22 shelters across the state awarded a share of $150,000 through the Animal Welfare Fund.
The Taylor facility received $8,000; Friends for Animals $7,000; and the Romulus shelter $4,000.
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The Romulus Animal Shelter was recently awarded a grant for thousands of dollars that will help with care costs.
According to information provided by the department, communities across the state are struggling to find the money and resources their animal shelters need to provide medical care to the animals they rescue, offer public outreach, and fund educational opportunities for their staff.
Through the Animal Welfare Fund, MDARD provides financial grants to registered Michigan animal shelters for spay/neuter and care programs for shelter dogs and cats for adoption.
According to Matt Bonza, deputy director of the Taylor Department of Public Works, he wrote the grant specifically for spay/neuter costs.
This is actually the second grant Taylor has received.
Last year, the shelter was awarded a $5,000 grant and was able to spay/neuter 62 animals. This grant will go further.
“It’s one of our biggest expenses,” Bonza said. “It helped us a lot. It’s more money than last year.”
He hopes to cover the cost of spaying/neutering more than 100 animals.
To help Michigan’s pets thrive, MDARD believes every community needs high-quality animal shelters to provide essential services.
And, thanks to the Animal Welfare Fund, which Michigan taxpayers support through voluntary contributions on their state tax returns, the state’s registered animal shelters are receiving the support they need to help local animal
Grants also support many local anti-cruelty and animal welfare programs across the state, including animal cruelty investigations for animal control and investigators.
Shelters use these grants to help care for animals seized through animal cruelty and hoarding cases
Several Downriver communities have reported cases of hoarding within the past year.
