From sister station WVLT:

A new animal shelter is still empty more than two months since it opened.

It took a village to build the Claiborne County facility, the first of its kind in the area. It's intended to be a solution to the abandoned pets problem.

Now, the mostly-vacant 5,800 square foot facility faces a problem of its own, money.

Claiborne County Animal Shelter
"There is worry. What's gonna happen, what's the future? It seems it came up so fast, but now it's stopped and it's taken a while to become fully operational," said Michael Tuten, the Claiborne County Animal Shelter Treasurer.

Animal-lover and board member Michael Barrett took in Krissy from a nearby animal rescue shelter.

He was hoping people could do the same by now for Claiborne County.

"It's gonna be open. It will be open. Now, when, is hard to say," said Barrett.

The operating room is functioning, and on a few weekends, a local veterinarian has spayed and neutered dozens of pets

Barrett says every dollar raised from it's spaying and neutering clinics will go toward the operating cost of the facility.

"We push everyday to try and get it open, we just need operating funds now, if we can get the funding we can open this facility by the first of the year, no problem," said Barrett.

But Tuten says they are well short of the needed $150,000 to operate the clinic for a whole year

"It's just something that's gonna take time and awareness that here it is, it's available and now that it's built, don't stop. The animals still need your donations," said Tuten.

They'd planned to be fully functional as the new year started. Now, there's no timetable but still hope.