Esteban Parra

The News Journal

Four months after the Delaware SPCA closed its flagship Stanton shelter due to mounting debt, the board's president announced on Saturday the facility will reopen.

The reopening will occur in phases starting with monthly vaccine clinics later in October, followed by wellness visits next year, as well as spay and neuter services.

The announcement was made by Delaware SPCA Board President Diane Ferry in front of more than 30 people volunteering to clean the facility's pet cemetery. Many of the volunteers clapped and cheered as Ferry made her announcement Saturday morning.

"I'm ecstatic about the reopening of the Stanton facility," said Kathie Herel, who launched a Facebook campaign to reopen the location. "I have been a volunteer with the SPCA for about five years and was truly devastated when I heard the news of it closing."

"So to hear today that we will be reopening is fantastic," she said. "The services are needed and the community has really shown that they chose to support this facility and to obviously restore the cemetery."

Although several feral cats could be seen living and eating at the Stanton property Saturday, there are no plans to reopen the location's shelter, Ferry said. The Georgetown location will remain Delaware SPCA's shelter.

Ferry also announced that Delaware SPCA had hired a veterinarian for the Georgetown location last month, making it a full-service animal shelter. "The only one in Sussex County," she said.

The announcement comes after months of uncertainty of what would happen to the facility, located at 455 Stanton Christiana Road.

After the organization's then-executive director, Andrea Perlak, announced the shelter's closing, she then said she was resigning from the organization at the end of the month. Her announcement came after the SPCA spent more than $500,000 to build new dog kennels and cat crates the previous summer.

Proceeds from selling the Stanton shelter, which Perlak said was on the market for $9.95 million, would go toward a restricted fund used solely to support the Georgetown shelter.

Other than to say they needed time to think, Ferry did not give details as to why the board reversed course after voting to close the Stanton location.

"We needed some time to think about where we were going, what we were going to do, how to organize ourselves so that ultimately we can be a self-sustaining facility," she said, adding that one way to do that is offer services for a fee.

"It took us some time to get our ducks in a row and get the financial pathway," she said. "The main reason for opening this and trying to open it as quickly as we can is that we see an opportunity to be self-sustaining in part for service fees."

STORY: Delaware SPCA to close Stanton shelter

STORY: SPCA admits it has human remains in pet cemetery

Shortly after the location's June 17 closing, allegations were raised there were human remains on the property's pet cemetery.

The News Journal learned through interviews and document reviews that the ashes of a human, nationally recognized sculptor Maurine Ligon, were buried on-site. Delaware SPCA leaders initially said they were unaware of any human remains, but in August the SPCA notified the state its Stanton pet cemetery, indeed, contains human remains.

And last month volunteers brushing dirt away from a marker for a pet named Dazy found an accompanying headstone for Frances S. Paruszewski, who died in July 1990 at age 82.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.