Pat Klimo paused in the living room of her Ringwood home, from which she has run a “no kill” animal shelter for more than 15 years, and shook her head over a judge’s order that all animals be out by Sunday.
“It’s not only hectic, it’s emotional,” Klimo, 69, said as she made arrangements for the remaining 25 cats and 10 dogs to be adopted by new owners or moved Saturday to temporary lodgings.
Klimo said there were no zoning restrictions when she and her husband, Rudy, started the Pets in Need shelter in their two-story home in a residential neighborhood in the 4500 block of South Ridgeway Road. But complaints from neighbors about noise, odor, and other problems triggered a lawsuit, which ended 13 months ago when a McHenry County judge ordered that all of the animals be removed by Sunday.
Klimo’s insurance paid $100,000 in damages to the neighbors.
“It’s kind of a relief for me,” said neighbor Michael Milas, 57. “Don’t get me wrong, I love animals.”
But Milas, who owns a cat and a Siberian husky, said the barking and odor from next door, as well as animals that would escape onto his property, got to be too much of a nuisance.
“It’s chaos,” he said. “It’s just total chaos.”
Pat Klimo estimates that Pets in Need has helped about 18,000 animals over the years by making them available for adoption, providing free food and litter to people who couldn’t afford them, and taking animals to low-cost spay and neutering sites. Her basement looks like a kennel, with cages and animal play areas in four rooms.
“This was going to be our dream home,” she said. “But the animals kept coming. You think you can say no because there’s too many. But every time you say no, you know that nine times out of 10, the animal is going to die.”
Some of those remaining at the home that can’t be placed, like Tyler, an elderly terrier mix, will have to be put down, Klimo said. “He can still get around, but I have to put him down,” she said. “He’s almost blind. It wouldn’t be fair to place him.”
Other animals have been mistreated in the past and might be difficult to place. “I don’t want [potential owners] to take an animal that they’re not going to be happy with,” she said.
A spokeswoman for McHenry County animal control said it’s uncertain whether the closing of Pets in Need would have an impact on other area shelters.
Klimo said her lawyers advised her not to keep fighting the neighbors because there was too much evidence that the shelter was a disturbance.
But she said she will continue trying to find homes for animals that need them. And the organization has begun raising money — $500,000 is the goal — to build a new shelter on property zoned for agricultural use.
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“People say I should retire,” Klimo said. “And be bored the rest of my life? I wouldn’t know what to do. I believe everyone has a calling in life. This is our calling.”
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