The Humane Society is starting the planning process for its new second chance shelter.

At its November meeting, the group is deciding how many cats and dogs the shelter can hold.

“In this facility that we envision, how many dogs and puppies can we hold and also cats?” Herbert Morton, Humane Society President, asked the group. “We’re a small county with limited funds so we’re going to have a relativity small shelter.”

Morton said when planning the building, the group needs to think in square feet and how much room can be dedicated for cats versus dogs.

Kimberly Matthews said she would like to see the cats play freely at the shelter.

“I’d like to see the cats in a glassed in area similar to the Greenville Shelter, and they can all play together instead of being crammed into little square boxes,” Matthews said. “They can be in a play area.”

After figuring out how many animals will be allowed at the shelter, the next step for the group is to figure out how much fencing is needed in the outside area.

“Once we decide on what this thing is supposed to be like, we can go to someone who is an investor who would be happy to build that for us and rent or lease it to us so we can afford a monthly amount as opposed to owe a huge sum of money for a big building,” Morton said. “We have to have our desires and needs known.”

As well as hammering out the needs of the new building, Morton stressed the importance of the annual pet calendars that the group produces.

“You will see the great same stories and pictures,” Morton said. “They will still be $10 apiece.”

The Society will be ordering 800 calendars this year as opposed to the 750 last year.

“The cost wise is something on the order of $4,000 so we have to sell 400 calendars to make a profit,” Morton said. “We know getting the calendars out before Thanksgiving is very important. Fingers crossed they’ll be in Greenville before then.”

In other business:

Old Time Farm Day went well for the group. The group was able to adopt out three kittens, but none of the puppies were adopted.

In October, the Society paid for five no-cost spay/neuters for $550, nine shelter adoption spay/neuters for $845, and second chance items such as medicines, treatments, spay/neuter for  $526. For the low cost spay/neuter at the AAA in Montgomery, the group paid $1,878 in October.

The Society is planning to start looking for students at the local high schools who might be interested in volunteering either at the Humane Society or the Greenville Animal Shelter.