News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena County Sheriff Office Deputy Michelle Reid takes a moment out of her day to play with puppies at the Alpena County Animal Control shelter at the fairgrounds.

ALPENA — Alpena County Animal Control has received nearly $5,000 in funding from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Welfare Fund grant to purchase additional dog and cat carriers.

The shelter is among 24 registered animal shelters in the state to receive grant funding from the state.

Alpena County Sheriff Office Deputy Michelle Reid, also an animal control officer, said the grant will allow her to purchase 55 cat carriers and 25 dog carriers to assist in large scale animal neglect cases, sometimes called animal hoarding.

Reid could not say how many large scale animal neglect cases there were last year, but she said the cases are more common than one might expect. She said they have rescued up to 68 cats at one time as a result of one such case.

Reid said a large scale animal neglect case exists when a person has too many animals to care for them properly. In these circumstances she said these animals may not have access to veterinary care, shelter, or even food or water.

“When we bring in all of those animals, until all of those animals are adopted out, we can’t go address another large scale animal neglect case until those animals are gone because there’s nowhere to put those animals,” she said. “So it’s very important when animal control gets animals in, the quicker they get out, the quicker we can get back out into the field and rescue more animals.”

Reid said in the past, they have been limited by not having enough pet carriers, and have had to make multiple trips to and from the scene.

By purchasing these carriers, she hopes they will be able to remove those animals all at one time. She said it will also make the situation less stressful for the animals.

The Animal Welfare Fund is supported by generous Michiganders during tax season when they check the fund’s box on Form 4642, Voluntary Contributions Schedule on their tax return, a news release from MDARD said.

MDARD received 59 applications with more than $511,000 in total requests for this round of grants.