Sally Wetherbee Adoption Center for pets opens on Dawson Road

ALBANY — Dianne Barlow sat in a small chair at the Sally Wetherbee Adoption Center with a towel draped across her lap and a black and white dog named “Daisy” perched upon both. The human and the dog seemed happy.

Daisy was happy to still be alive and Barlow was happy that the Albany Humane Society’s new no-kill shelter is the reason why.

Barlow is the President of the Albany Humane Society and the Sally Wetherbee Adoption Center, which opened last week at 2223 Dawson Road. It’s the first no-kill shelter in Dougherty County. It is located in the former Albany police building across from Porterfield Methodist Church.”

“Sally Wetherbee, a sweet, sweet person who loved animals better than anything, is the reason this facility exists,” Barlow said. “She donated most of her estate to the Albany Humane Society to build a no-kill shelter.”

The center currently houses eight dogs and 20 cats.

“Next week we will be adding more animals. We have a capacity of 25 dogs and about 40 cats,” Barlow said. “We do not accept any animals here. The animals in this adoption center come from the shelter, which quarantines them, give them their shots, they have their little chip put in them, they are spayed or neutered, and watched for their health until we come and get them.

“So any animal who comes here has already been checked out and found healthy.”

Barlow said the animals who enter the facility leave one of three ways — adoption, natural death or health reasons. at a year and a half, a shepherd mixed breed named Gus has been in the shelter/center for the longest amount of time.

“Gus was among a group of five puppies we took in. He’s the only one of the five who has not been adopted,” Barlow said. “He’s really such a sweet dog and we want him to be adopted. Gus could be with us for the rest of his life, but I don’t think so because he will be adopted.”

Because the animals in the center have already been vetted at the shelter, Barlow said it helps speed up the adoption process. But don’t expect to just walk into the center and leave with a cat or dog.

“First you have to fill out an application (Which can be printed at http://albanyhumanesociety.com/images/documents/AHSAdoptionapplication.pdf). We ask a lot of questions, we want to make sure you can take care of this animal, that you are going to love this animal,” Barlow said. “Fill out the application and you do not take the animal with you then, it’s probably the next day before you can get the animal.

“The fee to adopt an animal is $120, and that really doesn’t cover the costs.”

The adoption center itself has individual living areas for dogs and two rooms called “colonies” for cats.

“I want people to know this building is a state-of-the-art facility,” Barlow said. “We tore the inside out, basically gutted the building to the floors up. We have drains that slope so it’s easy to clean, we have epoxy floors so water doesn’t penetrate or any kind of germs. The air-conditioning system puts out hydrogen peroxide periodically to kill the germs and the odor.

“We are just really proud of this facility because it is the nicest one you will find anywhere in south Georgia.”

Barlow then made a plea for the center.

“Please, we need a refrigerator, we need a microwave, we need towels, and we need squeegees,” she said. “Those are our biggest needs right now. Of course we’ll take dog toys, cat toys and whatever. Once we get the building completely finished, we’ll be running on donations.”