HARTFORD--There's a motion moving through theCapitol to shutdown the state's only animal rescue shelter, which has had far reaching influences on not just the animals in bad shape, but also the people who care for them.
An amendment to House Bill 6047 calls on the Department Of Agriculture to shutdown Second Chance Ranch by July 1.
The facility is on York Prison grounds in Niantic, where inmates rehab abused and neglected animals as a way to rehabilitate themselves. The animals are brought there by the Agriculture Department, usually seized from farms.
State Rep. Noreen Kokoruda (R-Madison) said an explosion in costs to care for the animals, already more than $350,000 this year, is a major reason why she co-authored the amendment.
However, Kokoruda claimed the intent was not to shut the ranch down, even though that's how the amendment was written. "Maybe it was a little overreach on our part, I'll take ownership of that," Kokoruda said. "As you know the process here, we start a conversation, and we do make changes all the time."
The spike in operation costs at Second Chance Ranch is largely due to the fact that it's currently housing a herd of goats that has grown to more than 90.
Last January the state seized the goats, which were starving, dying and diseased, from a barn in Cornwall.