Roodhouse offered land and building for dog pound – for $1

By Editor | February 3, 2026 |

By Carmen Ensinger

If the members of the Roodhouse City Council do not take advantage of the generous and once-in-a-lifetime offer being afforded them by their animal control officer and his wife to better the lives of the city’s stray dogs and cats – at virtually no cost to the city – well, then, the residents of Roodhouse need to be asking them why not.
Sherry Hopkin, wife of Roodhouse Animal Control Officer Tom Hopkin, spoke before the Roodhouse City Council at their Jan. 28 meeting with an offer too good for any town to refuse. Their plan would have them pay all of the utilities, electric, gas and water for the facility, which will be located on their property.
They want to lease them one-half of their property located just 10 feet from South Garage on Main Street on a three-year contract for $1 per year. There is an attractive building on this property that can be used as an office and as a new shelter for the animals.
They (Hopkin’s) would pay for the utilities (water and electric) and have cameras installed and someone would be on the property virtually 24/7. They would also maintain the property and do the landscaping. They would see that the property was fenced in so the dogs would have an exercise area.
Another facility on the property could be used for kitty intake. This would be a place for the cats to be held in between rescue, spay or neuter and permanent placement.
“We could work hand in hand with the “Crazy Cat Ladies” of Roodhouse (herself, Jennifer Day and Karen Waller, who have essentially taken over from the Bryant’s who oversaw the care of the cats of Roodhouse for many years),” Hopkin said. “In the last two years, the three of us have spay/neutered over 150 cats at our own expense, provided shelters and food to pets in need and found homes as far away as Alaska for many of these homeless felines.”
Tom Hopkin took over as Animal Control Officer in August of last year. At the time there were 8 dogs. Out of those original 8, 5 have been adopted.
The most that has ever been at the pound at one time has been 13 and that was due to a momma dog and her 5 pups, which is a tragic story, thankfully with a happy ending.
“A lady at Two Dogs called and said a dog came in the front door and was starving to death,” Hopkin said. “She said she looked like she was a momma and had pups somewhere. I asked if she would give her some food and she did.
“The next day the dog was at Chapman’s and Kyle (Police Chief Robison) called. I went up and took the dog around the Square trying to find out who she belonged to and where the pups were. I talked to some of the homeless people up there and someone piped up and said ‘that is Bubba’s dog and he had a meth overdose and left his dog. We went to the trailer and I crawled under the trailer and found 5 fat puppies.
“We retrieved them and got momma and her babies to the pound where she was taken care of and fattened up. All of the puppies and her have been adopted out and all have warm cozy homes now.”
Hopkin wanted to stress that it is not the animal’s fault that it is a stray or ends up in a dog pound – it is the humans.
“We need to start educating people and making them accountable or it will continue,” she said. “From August to January, 19 dogs have been spayed and neutered and either adopted out or moved to another shelter. Twelve dogs have been reunited with their owners and one person has been arrested for animal cruelty (Rebecca Newingham who killed the two-week-old puppy by putting it in the bag and slamming it on the concrete after the Hopkins offered to take the puppy and nurse it back to health)”.
Also, since the Hopkins took over, every dog has been provided a $400 heated dog house, heated water bowls and had nutrients added to their wet and dry food. They are fed twice a day and are provided cognitive toys to keep them from getting bored. All of this at no expense to the city.
“All of this has come from donations,” Hopkin said. “The $600 Tom earns each month from the city is going right back into that shelter so the animals can be taken care of. So, really, this is a labor of love on his, and my part.”
But the state of the facilities lacks much to be desired.
“The conditions at the pound are far from ideal,” she said. “It is located at the sewer plant and there are rats, we are not talking small rats, we are talking big rats, some of them the size of a small cat. They get into the dog pens and sometimes we will find where the dogs have, thankfully, killed them. That is not a good situation.”
But that is only part of it.
“There is no hot water and when it’s cold like this, there is no water at all and Tom has to haul the water himself,” she said. “There are no cameras and no roof over the kennels. We use tarps to keep the dogs sheltered. The wind, rain and snow destroy them daily.”
They have reached out to Jennifer Russell, who is with the Department of Agriculture, for information and to help in applying for and writing grants to benefit the shelter, as well as the city.
Hopkin said that Tom has also formed a good working relationship with Darren Feldcamp, a Department of Agriculture investigator.
Hopkin gave an example of a typical day in the life of the Roodhouse Animal Control officer.
In the morning, he drives out to the pound to feed and water the dogs, let them out to exercise and have some human bonding time.
Then it is time to do the cleaning. This includes, at the present time, shoveling snow, melting ice, scooping poop, and lots of it, unclogging drains, collecting rats out of the traps or the kennels that have been killed by the dogs, which is a horrible health risk for the animals, as well as washing dog bowls, when the water isn’t frozen. When the water is frozen, the water has to be hauled in.
This entire process is repeated in the evening. This is done seven days a week, twice a day, with no days off and no vacation.
“Then there are the extra visits made for meds or if we hear the dogs going crazy at our house,” Hopkin said. “Then there are the possible adoption visits, transport to rescues, emails, phone calls and all the time we brain storm on how to solve the animal issues in our community, so, in short, this has become a huge part of our world.”
Which brings them to why they are making such a generous offer. It is not just to make things easier on themselves.
“We want to make a change – we want our town to be known for progress and good things,” she said. “Most people have no idea we have a dog pound. Let’s become more visible and prouder of how we treat our furry friends who have been disposed of by their humans.”
Moving the facility can have many benefits to the youth in the area as well.
“We could partner with the schools and library to educate the kids about animal care with the hopes of making a difference in the future,” Hopkin said. “We could also partner with the high school for kids who might need community service hours. They could help around the shelters and perhaps one of the classes could help us with any construction that might need to be done. There are just so many opportunities for free manpower – let’s start utilizing it. We want to thrive – we don’t want to dry up and blow away. We want to be an example that overpopulation can be solved with grace.”
Plus, as an extra bonus, they are also offering a space for a community garden.
“Again, we will maintain the property,” Hopkin said. “The city, or someone, will have to till it because we don’t have a tiller.”
It will give those who want to have a garden, but perhaps don’t have the space to have one, the opportunity to do a little gardening.
But even those who don’t want to help with the garden will have the opportunity to benefit from it.
“We want to have a small stand on the highway offering the excess produce for free to anyone who needs it,” Hopkin said. “Again, we will be helping the community. We talked about it so let’s do it. We would ask the city to pay for the water because we all know how much water a garden takes.”