LEBANON — The Humane Association of Warren County has begun a fund-raising campaign to double the size of its animal shelter by 2004.

        The extra space will allow the shelter to keep more dogs and cats longer, but that's not the most critical feature, Executive Director Mari Lee Schwarzwalder says.

        The most beneficial part is that it will have a classroom and more space for spaying and neutering — features that officials hope will slow the growth of Warren's stray pet population.

        Field trips to the shelter would help impress upon children that a pet is “not an object like a toy that you can take back if you get tired of it in two days,” Ms. Schwarzwalder says.

        “It's 15 years of your life that you're committing to.”

        The shelter took in 5,800 dogs and cats in 2000 — a 6.3 percent over 1999, according to the humane association. Of those, more than 3,700, or 64 percent, had to be put to sleep.

        The expansion will add 11,150 square feet to the 9,500-square-foot shelter on Cook Road in Lebanon.

        Unlike in most other counties, the shelter is privately run with some operating money from county commissioners.

        Therefore, the humane association must come up with the expected $2.8 million cost of the project.

        The “quiet” phase of the fund-raising campaign, in which large gifts are solicited from likely individuals and organizations, so far has raised more than $700,000, officials say.

        They hope to raise the rest of the money in the next six months, with a target of breaking ground in spring 2003.

        Donors include Etta and Therman Bennett of Lebanon and their company, True Edge Inc., whose contributions total $20,000.

        The shelter does a great job of caring for abandoned cats and dogs, Mrs. Bennett said. But she's eager for it to expand so that fewer animals have to be euthanized.

        Education about the importance of spaying also will help in the long run, she said.

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