4PAWS seeking new leadership as long-time volunteers retire

    HARLAN – 4PAWS, a volunteer organization that helps care for and find rescues or homes for Harlan pound pets, is looking for new volunteers to take over leadership of their group.
    After six years in that leadership role and several years as volunteers before, George and Sue Petsche said they feel the time has come for them to “retire” from the pound.
    4PAWS was started by a group of individuals about 17 years ago.  In the early 1980s the Harlan facility impounded up to 350-400 animals per year, 75 percent of those were euthanized and euthanasia continued into the 2000s.  
    4PAWS organized, raised funds and worked together to form a successful program to care for and adopt out the pets.  The group wrote grants and facilitated improvement in the pound with a new roof, doors and windows.  Cages were redone and the building was painted inside.
    Since that time, with the assistance of Animal Control and the Harlan Police Department, enforced leash laws, and more people taking responsibility for the pets, the number of impounds has averaged 65-70 per year.  
    Those pets have been reclaimed, adopted or gone to rescue.  The pound is not a rescue – it is a city pound and thus does not have the status of a no-kill facility.  But euthanasia is rare.