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,” he noted. “We can’t keep up.”

Commissioners have been considering building a dog pound on 3 acres on Youngstown Kingsville Road (state Route 193), which was donated to the county by the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County.

The planned 7,000-square-foot dog pound would be located near the AWL facility. The proposed dog pound is expected to have between 45 and 50 kennels.

The county has spent $250,000 on architectural renderings of the facility.

The cost of the county’s dog pound will range between $2.5 million and $5 million, depending on its size and amenities.

Cooke questioned the county’s commitment to building a new dog pound that has been discussed for more than two years.

Commissioner Denny Malloy suggested the delay in making the final decision has been a combination of two new members of the three-member board taking seats this year and the county having a tight 2025 budget.

Malloy told his fellow board members that he met with a local bank and others about a public-private partnership effort to obtain funding for the pound.

“We want business-minded people on the task force that can help us raise money,” Malloy said.

The commissioner emphasized abandoned dogs are not only a county problem but one that Warren and other communities experience.per month to pick up stray dogs and care for them at his facility.

“About 70% of the dogs at Healthy Hearts are from the city,” Cooke said. “Before we took this contract, it was about 50%.”

Healthy Hearts and Paws will continue to help, regardless of the direction the county decides to take, Cooke said.

“Something needs to be done and done soon,” he said. “I’ve offered to help fundraise to get your building started. I believe wherever you decide to build it and get it started, people will support it.”

“I don’t know what Trumbull County would do if Healthy Hearts and Paws did not exist, providing this free service,” Cooke said.

“We are getting 20 to 30 calls a day from people wanting to surrender their dogs to us. When we tell them we do not have room, an hour later, we find the dogs on the streets because the owners abandoned them.”

The Healthy Hearts and Paws Project complex is located on Cooke’s private property.

Commissioner Rick Hernandez described the conditions at the current county pound as deplorable and agreed something must be done.

“We do need to move forward and get a new pound built,” Hernandez said. “Our grant writing team is working to find funds that can be used.”

“Irregardless, whether we obtain grants or not, it is time to move,” Hernandez said. “These animals don’t deserve this. We need to move forward.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard emphasized the dog pound has been a problem for more than 50 years, but questioned if the county has $2.5 million available to construct a new one.

“I think we need a plan to address this,” he said. “We need to know the direction we want to know. This task force will help.”

The first task force meeting will be 11 a.m. Wednesday in the commissioners’ fifth-floor meeting room at the Trumbull County Administration Building downtown.