We had a shelter that took in "twice" as many animals. Doug drained the half million from their endowment and left Hancock County w/o a shelter for several years while he skimmed $65,000 annually to hold cocktail fundraisers.

Too bad about the puppies that went to the incinerator during that period. Oh well......

This shelter is a "kill" shelter too. Beware!

I am not really familar with this shelter since I am in the Bangor area, but out of the three comments so far, which are all negative, I am concerned. How does someone like this get to be in charge of these animals, and why are they a kill shelter? How do we get rid of this guy and have someone who is concerned about the animals in there?

noreasternelly- I am sorry about the loss of your Rottie. I too had a Rottie, and we loved him sooo, he got cancer at 10 and we too had to put him down. We went through the "we will never have another dog" phase, for about 5 months. I was on petfinder one day "just looking" and I found this abandoned puppy and there was something about his eyes...Well I drove to the PAWS shelter in Calais and now the goob is 2, he is a shephard pit mix, they thought he was shephard/rottie, either way he had some really major anxiety issues as a pup, and after trying everything our vet and the shelter suggested getting another dog to keep him company, so we found a shephard/rottie pup. My shelter dog is the best behaved dog I have ever had, so I am a firm believer in shelters, when they are run correctly. I think the animals deserve a chance and a safe play to stay until they find there forever people, especially now with so many people having to give up their beloved friends due to finances. For someone to tell you that you haven't grieved enough is wrong, you would know when you are ready, just as I knew. I am so glad I didn't stick to my "no more dogs" thing, or I would have missed out on having these two goobs, that are the best company I could ask for.

I've known 3 different families that have attempted to adopt animals from the SPCA in Trenton. All were declined for one reason or another, which all amounted to a bunch of BS. On top of that, their fees are excessive.

Pretty negative stuff posted so far. I'll check back later to see if anyone posts something positive about this place.

noreasternelly wrote: "only to have doug tell us we cant have him we havent grieved enough for our rottie"

Every shelter has to exercise good judgement when adopting out a pet. But......

I know 3 people now with stories similiar to yours. They all owned their own home and are perfectly capable of having a dog. For one reason or another, Doug didn't think so. Another had two dogs and one died of cancer. She and her family went up and found a dog they wanted to adopt.

Not so FAST! Doug required them to bring their other dog up several times (for hours) to make friends with the dog at the shelter. They found a dog at the Bangor shelter instead.

Unwanted pets are just a way for Doug to carve out a very comfortable salary for himself.

He's adept at PR. I fully expect 20 people to chime in with lavish praise and accolades today.

I wonder how many of you would have the courage to make these allegations if your name was attached to them. Just sayin'.

Since everyone has a handle, we just made the stories up.

i dont know of anyone, whose had a good experience at trenton, but the ark in harrington is awsome!!! dont let one bad spca deter anyone from adopting a pet from a shelter, they all need a kind loving home!!! isnt that rightttttttt doug.

I know that pretty much every single person that wrote a comment on here will disagree. But I wanted to at least share the positive side of this shelter. For one I know for a FACT that this is a complete NO KILL facility. Whereas BHS is a LOW KILL. I think the staff and volunteers are great people who do there best to help animals. It is the cleanest and nicest shelter I have been to. The animals are all loved and cared for better than some other owned animals are. I also think that BHS and the Ark ARE great places. I think every shelter is doing their best to help. I think that sometimes people just have bad experiences and some have good, its all a matter of opinion but I hope that no one takes my word for it or anyone else's word for it. I think people should decide for themselves whether any shelter is right for them, and whether they agree with their policies and protocols.

A lot of comments here....some postive, many negative concerning this shelter. I am not familiar with it but have heard a lot of good things about the Ark shelter. I hope that the person who wrote good things about this shelter in Trenton is correct!

penguingurly,

It should be clean. The place is brand spanking new!

The animals are so loved there doesn't seem to be any homes that are good enough to adopt them to.

I have never been to this shelter and from the sounds of it I am glad! The ARK in Cherryfield is a NO KILL and you can help them raise money by using goodsearch as a search engine, it helps raise money for them by donating 1 cent for every search you do on there search engine, believe it or not it really does add up and you are helping b doing somenting you were going to do anyway, check it out!!

Also I have adopted all 3 of my kitties from Waterville H.S. and they are AWESOME, they actually gave me free of charge my last cat because he was considered "unadoptable" becaause he froze in fear and would hiss, well you probably would to if someone had thrown you into a closed dumpster, and God only knows what else they did to him before that. He was only 6 weeks old and just fur and bones when I went in to "look" and I saw him just sitting there scared and they knew me from past adoptions and asked if I would foster him for 2 weeks and I quickly agreed, but the 2 weeks turned into 2 months as they had a distemper/parvo outbreak and did not want to expose him to this so I kept him safe at my house. When the time came for me to return him I was upset because even though he had not gotten to attached to me I had grown to love him and did not have the $65 to adopt him, she saw how upset I was about this and said to me "if you give him the great home I know you will I will waive the fee, and have him microchipped, shots, and give you the spay/neuter voucher (this was 4 years ago before they did it before you adopt them)" she also told me that he probably would have been put down due to being "unadoptable" (because his lack of trust and fear though no fault of his own, it was who ever had treated him so cruely).

Sorry I hit the wrong key and it posted before I could finish. There is a very happy ending to this story, he is now 4 1/2 and actually is sitting right here in my lap while I am typing this, he loves to snuggle and get his daily loves and of course his treats. So had he not have been given this chance I would not ever have found out what a GREAT cat he really is!!! Adopt from a good shelter that truely cares about the well being of the animals and aslo spay/neuter so they don't end up in the shelters in the first place!!!!!

About time of grieving a loss of a pet: I had a dog for 13 years, good years for both of us. When he died my mother said why dont you go a while without a dog so you wont be tied down. I went for 6 months. It was the loneliest 6 months of my life but during that time I figured out that God gives us about 15 years with our dogs and cats so if we live to be 80 then we can fit in what? about 5 or more of them in a lifetime. I went out and got my next dog and havent been without one since. I now have a shephard/rottie mix and I'd say he's the best dog I have ever had but they all have been the best dog I have ever had from my first one as a kid, the beagle/springer spaniel mix all the way up. Loved them all but the fact remains you only get about 13 or so years with them.....kind of like what spouses should be. LOL.

I am surprised at all the judgment being passed here. I can't see how any establishment set up to help animals can be a bad thing. These shelters are not run on money and directors alone, they are run on volunteers. That means people who truly love animals take time out of their lives to care for abandoned animals. And lets face it, the animals at shelters are not there because the shelters are breeders; they are there because of people. Sometimes it's people who fall on hard times, or lost their pet. Then there are the people who can't deal with barking, scratching, jumping or "mistakes" in the house. There are also animals that the state takes away from people. All these animals end up in our state's shelters. All these animals have been though the ringer, I would hope that each shelter would take the time to make sure these animals would be adopted out to homes that can love them, but more importantly take care of them financially so they do not end up at a shelter again. There seems to be some discrepancies here with pricing. I have looked up various shelters through petfinder.com and here are my findings.

Bangor Humane Society, dogs 7+ are $50 -- small dogs over 7 are $125 -- puppies and small dogs are $180.00 -- dogs 7m-6yrs are 100-125. All have been spayed/neutered and had shots. The cat link is not opening.

SPCA dogs are $150.00 Cats 6m and older are $60.00 -- kittens are $90. All have been spayed/neutered and have shots

ARK cats are $65 dogs are $75. There is a $14 rabies vaccine.

Camden Rockport Animal Rescue League cats over 1 year are $60 -- kittens are $100. dogs are $150 -- puppies are $250 they are spay/neuter and have shots.

Kennebec Valley Humane Society cats over 6m are $75.00 -- kittens are $100.00 Dogs over 6m are $125 -- puppies are $150.00. spay/neuter and have shots.

So it looks like these all have similar pricing. And as so kill/no kill shelters, only 2 addressed this online. The ark says "We are a no-kill shelter (unless a behavior problem exists that can't be worked out or major health problems)." And the Camden Rockland says they are a no kill shelter.

All these shelters do the best they can to help these animals. It does seem if people could start doing the best they can for their own animals then there may not be so many animals in all the shelters. And just think, what would happen to the animals if there were no shelters at all. So instead of passing judgment on shelters, why don’t you praise them for being proactive and get involved at your local shelter.

Lobster- I fully agree 100% with you! I am a strong supporter of any shelter but I have had EXCELLENT luck and GREAT service and support from Waterville Humane Society, they truely care about the animals, and I do all I can to help them out either by taking in food, litter, towels, blankets, bleach (they all have lists of things they need so please visit a site of a shelter near youand take something in to help out). I also am a Very strong supporter of the ARK they are wonderful there also although I have never adopted from them personally, I have heard great things! Again I am going to put out there that you can help for free by using www.goodsearch.com and for every search you do they donate 1 cent and if you buy anyhting from one of the retailers that support the site (HOme Depot, Lowes, Target, ETC....) they also donate a percentage from the sale. What an easy way to help the helpless animals that by no fault of their own have ended up in the shelters!!!!! Also Shaws Supermarket has a program where you enter your rewards card # and enter a organization # (I know for a fact that Waterville H.S. is part of this program) and everytime you grocery shop and use your rewards card they will donate 1% of your total sale to the organization you choose! These are just 2 free ways to help out by doing things that you do everyday anyway!!!!

Thanks Lobster ;) i think you put it best! And I "double-checked" and I believe the SPCA in Trenton is no-kill unless the animal is a danger to humans and all other options (i.e. rescues, trainers etc.) have been attempted. I guess it depends on people's view of what no-kill is, just wanted to clarify my statement. BUut I agree, shelters are there to try to help and I think anyone who participates with that is doing a great thign for their community.

tysmom: Great to hear about your experience with the shelter in Waterville and the happy outcome with your great cat! Just wish more people would get their cats spayed and neutered so has to cut down on all the kittens that need homes. There just are not enough homes for all the many kittens and cats that need them.

buckshot: Most people who have loved their past dogs and cats usually do not go very long before getting another one. It is fortunate as so many dogs and cats could use a loving home. Sounds like you have had some great dogs and that they have been lucky to find a good home with you.

Chersully- I totally agree with you on the spay/neuter, nothing makes me more angry than when I read uncle henrys or any paper and there is a list of free kittens in there, and then they say that if they can not give all of them away they will "GIVE" them to a shelter/Humane Society like it is some gift. I have a sticker on my car that says "Prevent a Litter, Fix your Critter" and I hope people read it and do just that, but it all comes down to ignorance and being uneducated these type of people should not be allowed to own animals. I also think it is great that all shelters spay/neuter before adoption now. All 3 of mine are neutered and it has made them such better pets, my oldest one was an awful kitten he was just crazy, I got him fixed and he is the most loveable, snuggable and friendly cat now! I hear people say they can not afford it, and this is bullsh#t because half the state is on state aid and they have a program called"fix me now" and it offers low cost spay/neuter to low income people on state assistance I think it is only $10 to fix a male cat/dog and $20 or $30 for a female, so the I can't affford sh*t I am not buying

ok kids , we.re not talking about spcas as a whole, we.re talking about trentons, and doug the director, if you havent had the chance to meet him if you havent gone and applied for an animal, and been turned down for no good reason, than your comments, arent directed to this story. there directed to spcas as a whole. no one loves animals more than us, we live on 22 acers, 11/2 miles off from the main road. our first animals came from the ark, a lab symba, and a cat muffin, than we had nala lou, a rottie bought in town hill, she had babies, so we end up with mufassa, muffin was lonely so we end up with wienerman, baby boo, omally, each one of theses animals, was loved and cared for just like our kids, who turned into ( marines, theres 3.) they died of old age. nala was the last to go at 14, she had cancer, and we knew for 6 months she was dying, when she died, a few days after, our than 86 year old gram, said you guys need a new baby, go to trenton spca and get one, so we did go to spca, found a yellow lab, fell in love, filled out paper work, told them all about our animals we had over the years, gave them our vets number, and said call him and see what kind of pet owners we are, doug didnt call, doug didnt care, he said flatly, no you cant have him, you HAVENT GRIEVED ENOUGH FOR YOUR ROTTIE!!! wellllllll first of all we had cried for 6 months, was the hardest thing ever to loose her, but we excepted it. we werent about to be told how long we have to grieve for an animal we,ve loved and lost for 14 years. you just dont walk into this spca and get to take a baby home that day, it,s not like bangor, or the ark, theses people are playing god, and i,m sure passed up alot of chances to place their animals in a home in hancock. just like they passed up that yellow lab pup for us, we went the next week and got vern louis a black lab out of classifieds, and than 2 years later, did the same thing with harley davidson another black lab. our vet has even told us, best looking labs he,s ever sceen, their fixed, all the animals were fixed, we're responsible pet owners, and we had many people offer to write letters to doug on our behalf. and i did sent doug pictures of the boys, just to show him hey, see what that yellow lab could of had? our dogs have never been on a chain, or lived in a dog house outside, they live with us, as a part of our family, sleep on a couch of their own, and eat 3 times a day with numeroues treats. they have a great life. to the spca in trenton...... i,ll never give you one red handed cent!!!, i,ll surport the ark!!! those people care about the animals, NOT THE MONEY!!! and they DONT PLAY GOD!! PS..... ever single animal we ever owned is in a flower garden under a maple tree, known as pet cemetary, there with us always!!!

When you post a comment you should see a red sentence above the box that say's "Post a comment about this story" The story is that an SPCA is expanding to make room for more surrendered, abandoned, and stray animals.

Congratualtions SPCA on expanding, and Thank You for caring for our communities animals when they are in need.