The plight of the Freeborn County Humane Society should be alarming to anybody who cares about animals. With a shortage of leadership and no place to put homeless animals except a couple of foster homes, the situation is bad.

The organization’s biggest needs are to get organized and to get a permanent building where animals can be kept. The former requires volunteer labor, and the latter requires money.

The first step is awareness. The word about these problems is getting out, and the next step is for concerned residents to respond and get involved.

The financial problems are more daunting. The organization has cash in hand that can be used for a new building, but it comes with strings attached. It can’t be used for any other purpose. And the organization will need to pay for

operation of a building once it’s erected.

If it was unlikely that local governments would help out before, it’s even less likely now that the state is likely to cut funding to cities and counties, and local taxpayers are already howling about increased costs because of the courthouse, school referendum and climbing city water bills. Counting on the city or county may only bring disappointment.

In this situation, anybody who wants to see the humane society’s efforts succeed would be wise to put the organization on their list of charities to help out with monetary donations. If enough people care and are willing to help, perhaps the problems can be resolved.

Tribune editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s management and editorial staff.