The city government in Meriden on Thursday gave the Meriden Humane Society until the end of February to leave its building, which a board member said is not nearly enough time to find a new home.
"A miracle could happen where somebody's got a vacant building and very deep pockets and could throw a renovation together in 120 days but we're talking about a miracle," Alexia Belperron said.
Potential adopters of dogs and cats from the Meriden Humane Society still need to apply for approval as workers try to place animals in good homes.
"We're doing the best we can to answer all the phone calls and respond to all the messages," Alysia Robinson said. "We're a little bit overwhelmed."
The Meriden Humane Society's lease expired in April of last year. The city government had provided the building and about $58,000 in cash payments, said the city manager, Guy Scaife, who thinks the Meriden Humane Society needs more support from other towns in the region it serves.
"Our relationship is just at the point where it would be better for both parties to part ways," he said.
Personal conflicts have developed between Meriden Animal Control officers on one side of the building and the Meriden Humane Society on the other, according to both sides. Both place animals for adoption but animal control puts them down eventually. The Meriden Humane Society doesn't.
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"I think they have moved into more of a sanctuary type when you look at the sheer volume of animals being kept," Scaife said.
Belperron said only 10 percent of the animals live in sanctuary. Over the last month, the Meriden Humane Society took in and placed 40 dogs, 50 adult cats and 32 kittens, she said. She said that adds up to 500 animals a year.
"Where are they all going to go? From now on we can't take anything. In addition to taking all those animals, we got 87 calls last week from people needing to surrender an animal," she said.
