County task force to speak for the dogs

WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are forming a task force to address building a new county dog pound and the rising problem of abandoned dogs.

Jason Cooke, CEO of The Healthy Hearts and Paws Project and director of animal control for the city of Warren, described his volunteer shelter as housing approximately 120 abandoned dogs and has been averaging 100 dogs per month this year.

Healthy Hearts and Paws, which opened its new building in March, was designed to hold 53 dogs.

“This county is in a crisis with regard to dogs,” he said. “Nowhere is it more apparent than at our shelter.”

Healthy Hearts and Paws has 105 volunteers.

“Last year we broke ground on a 4,200-square-foot building that’s currently under construction, and we are breaking ground on a 6,000-square-foot building,”