The electricity is almost in. Now what’s left are creating the cages that will give the stray cats picked up by the county dog warden a good, if temporary, place to live.

“They will be pretty big cages,” Melissa Nicely, volunteer at the Lawrence County Animal Shelter, said. “They will be condos compared to what we have now.”

Nicely has been spearheading a campaign to create a separate shelter for cats, keeping them separate from the dogs that the shelter takes in before finding homes for as many of them as can be.

Each cage will be 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep and will be handmade by volunteers at the shelter.

Recently a concerned community member donated the down payment for the cat shelter expected to cost $4,000. That was followed by donations of between $100 and $200 each. Still the shelter is looking for individuals who can make a monthly pledge toward the project.

“We have enough donated so far for one cage,” Nicely said. “I will do that as a demo and then be able to get a more exact figure on what it will cost us. Our budget went into getting insulation (for the building) and that cost quite a lot. We still need a few more people to pledge for the monthly payments.”

Right now, there are 60 dogs and 14 cats at the shelter.

“I have a rescue coming in so I don’t know how many they will take,” Nicely said. “But they will take some cats and dogs.”

Anyone wishing to help can contact Nicely at the shelter at 740-533-1736 or send a donation via paypal account at folcrescue@gmail.com or drop off a check at the shelter at 1302 Adams Lane.