VALPARAISO | A worker from the LaPorte County animal shelter fielded a phone call this week from a woman in tears because the Porter County animal shelter refused to take a mother cat and kittens.

The director of the facility said the shelter has received several phone calls over the past week from other Porter County residents in similar situations.

"It's a combination of strays and personally owned animals," director Jane Bernard said.

Bernard said that although she would like to help, the LaPorte facility is set up for and funded by LaPorte County taxpayers. Because of its space capacity, it is unable to take out-of-county animals.

"No-kill is a great concept, but when you're operating animal control, you can't turn people away and you have to accept the strays," Bernard said.

Karen Edwards, manager of the Michiana Humane Society in Michigan City, said her facility also has been receiving phone calls from Porter County residents.

"They say they've called their county shelter, and the shelter won't take them," Edwards said.

The director of the Porter County Animal Shelter said it is not refusing to take in strays, but it is requesting owners to keep their animals until space becomes available at the facility.

"They're not being denied," director Judy Bonaventura said. "We're asking people to hold them until there is room, but they want to bring their animals immediately. If they want to switch to a no-kill for adoptable animals, people have to understand it's going to take us time to move the animals out."

When the county commissioners overhauled the shelter last month and urged a lower euthanization rate, they assured residents that animals would not be denied entrance to the facility.

Commissioner Bob Harper echoed Bonaventura's sentiments and said the process will take time.

Earlier this week, the shelter found 31 cats in an abandoned Valparaiso house.

Bonaventura said the owner of the cats had called the shelter and said she had six cats she wanted to turn in. Bonaventura agreed to take in three cats per week, but the woman left town without bringing any in. When animal control officials found the cats in the West Chicago Street house, four cats were found dead, three of which were kittens.

Animal control officials are seeking to press abandonment charges against the woman and were waiting to hear back from the county prosecutor's office, Bonaventura said.

The LaPorte shelter director cautioned the county on turning away animals.

"What they don't understand is that when they turn people away, they're forcing them to abandon their animals or go to a shelter where they do euthanize," Bernard said. "They are playing a role in it, just not at their own facility."