FORKS — The Clallam County Humane Society will extend animal control one day a week into the county’s West End starting April 1.

Society board members voted Monday to accept a contract with the county that adds $25,000 a year to the society’s agreement to control, shelter and license animals.

The county also will provide a second truck equipped for capturing and transporting animals.

The $100,000 total contract lasts through December 2007. County commissioners expect to ratify it Tuesday.

Response to a request

The extension is commissioners’ response to the Friends of Forks Animals, who requested that the county police stray dogs and feral cats west of Lake Crescent. The lake had been the western limit for animal control.

Three women from the animal-advocacy group — Juanita Weissenfels, Patty Doyle and Pam Winney –were the only citizens to ask for aid of any kind at the county budget hearings held last November.

The service will start after the society’s newly hired part-time officer, Jessica Strauss, completes two weeks of animal-control training and receives her commission from Clallam County Superior Court.

In the meantime, Humane Society President John Miles and County Commissioner Mike Doherty will visit Friends of Forks Animals to explain the one-day-a-week service Strauss will provide if needed.

Friends of Forks Animals have volunteered to pen stray animals until Strauss can retrieve them and take them to the society’s shelter at 2105 W. U.S. Highway 101, Doherty told the society board.

No service inside city limit

Strauss will not perform animal control within the city limit of Forks, which pays for neither animal control nor animal sheltering.

Nor will Strauss or Greg Glassock, the full-time animal control officer, patrol inside Port Angeles or Sequim, which pay only for sheltering and licensing.

“What’s fair about the county paying and the cities getting the service without paying a penny?” Miles asked.