DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) — As the Humane Society of Delaware County (HDSC) works on finding forever homes for animals in its care, the non-profit is also looking for a new home for itself. The HSDC has operated out of its current facility off Route 36 just north of Alum Creek Lake for about four decades.

“We know as exponentially as the county grows the needs and pressure that is going to put on an animal shelter and a nonprofit is going to go up with it as well,” said Jana Cassidy, executive director of HSDC.

The team at HSDC takes in more than 2,000 animals annually. Cassidy said additional services including low-cost spay and neuter bring in another 1,000 animals. “That number is not going down. What we find is the public is just screaming for help for low-cost spay neuter,” Cassiday said.

Over the years there’s been some additions to the current building. It’s about 10,000 square feet. There’s room for about 122 animals between cats and dogs, according to Cassidy. But she said the space is not big enough.

“One of the big things about our building is we are just simply out of space. Everything you look at, every place you go, we’ve got stuff shoved everywhere,” she said. Cassidy said in recent years the number of humane cases they’ve dealt with has increased. In 2024, the HSDC took in a total of 394 animals from those cases, according to Cassidy.

“What we find is over time we just keep needing to do more for our community and they keep asking for that but we just do not have the space to be able to do that,” she said. The size of the facility also limits how many volunteers can be working with dogs at once.

Debra Leckrone, volunteer coordinator and community outreach manager, said only two volunteers can be working with dogs at any given time.

“So not only the animals are impacted but the volunteers wanting to help those animals are impacted,” she said.

Cassidy said the growth of Delaware County is also a large factor in the move to a new space being necessary. HSDC has started raising money for what it is calling an Animal Resource Facility. Plans call for it to be more than double the space of the current facility and offer more services. HSDC is not taxpayer funded.

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to keep up with that need of the community without more space. And unfortunately where we’re at, where we’re located there’s not enough room here to be able to grow the way we need to grow,” Cassidy said.