Last week, the SPCA of Northeast North Carolina launched a capital campaign to raise funds for the renovation of a new building to replace the current animal shelter in Elizabeth City. For anyone in Pasquotank and Camden counties with a few extra dollars to spare, contributing to this effort should be automatic.

You don’t have to like cats and dogs to understand the importance of an animal shelter. The quality of life we provide for all creatures great and small speaks to our values and to who we are as a community.

Countless philosophers and theologians have expressed this relationship in eloquent terms.

“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” — Immanual Kant

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated...” — Gandhi

“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” — St. Francis of Assisi

The local animal shelter stands as a symbol of the relationship between people and animals. It’s where the unwanted, injured, abused and abandoned animals end up. The quality of care they receive is commensurate to our commitment to their well-being, our level of caring.

So, ask yourself, what does the condition of your local shelter say about you and your community?

In Pasquotank and Camden counties, the current shelter is an aging, cramped facility that has remained virtually unchanged for more than 30 years.

Obviously, the population served by this shelter has grown over those three decades. More people mean more pets. Unfortunately, some of them will be discarded, or will produce unwanted offspring. The recession has only exacerbated the situation as owners who can’t afford to care for their pets bring them to the shelter.

At full capacity, the current 3,360-square-foot shelter can hold 155 cats and dogs. It’s not uncommon for the staff to share “office space” with a crate of kittens.

As animals come in daily, others must go. Last year, 1,272 cats and 352 dogs were euthanized, a rate of 135 animals per month.

Try to imagine the emotional toll this takes on the staff and volunteers. Having to work in a decrepit building and squalid environment adds insult to injury.

It also makes adoption more difficult as prospective owners are less likely to want to visit an uninviting shelter. It’s the same for securing volunteers.

The SPCA of Northeast North Carolina took over operating the shelter from Pasquotank County in 1989, staffing it seven days a week. The duties of the staff and volunteers go far beyond the care and feeding of the dogs and cats.

The SPCA shelter receives some of its funding from Pasquotank and Camden counties. In turn, the facility must accept the strays and aggressive animals brought in by those counties’ animal control officers. The latter remain at the shelter until court cases are resolved.

Perhaps more importantly, as an organization, the SPCA of Northeast North Carolina takes a proactive approach to reducing the population of unwanted animals through a spay/neuter program. Last year, 730 animals were neutered. It also sponsors rabies clinics with low cost vaccinations, a public health and safety concern, and provides educational materials to teach children about pet care and how to be a responsible owner.

All of these efforts improve the quality of life for not only the four-legged residents but the two-legged ones as well.

With a new, more spacious and modern facility, the SPCA can expand and improve on all of their services. Their vision is to create a community center that everyone will want to visit.

The SPCA was able to purchase a 6,000-square-foot building and several acres of property on Enterprise Drive with funds from generous benefactors. Now they need to raise the money to transform the building and grounds into a shelter that shows we are the kind and caring community we know ourselves to be.

Details about how to give to the capital campaign, naming opportunities, and in-kind donations can be found at the SPCA website www.spcaofnenc.org.

Every dollar counts. Make a pledge today.

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That’s the essence of inhumanity.”

— George Bernard Shaw