PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter in Pittsfield announced in a Facebook post they'll be closing at the end of August.

Noelle Howland is the manager and she said their goal now is to find homes for more than 20 animals by the end of the month.

“We have seven dogs right now and then cats, we have 11 cats inside and eight in foster care right now," Howland said. "We want to get all the animals out by August 31. And then once, if they're not out by August 31, we can still keep them here. And the biggest stress is just get them out as fast as we can so we can just close everything down and start fresh and get a new place going… we can find people for these animals. It’s just finding the right ones.”

Howland said a week ago the board members who control the financial decisions for the nonprofit told her they’d be shutting the shelter down at the end of August.

“Since it got announced that we are, they were closing, and then now we'll be starting fresh, but ever since the closing day, everyone's been coming in like crazy to adopt," Howland said. "And it's been so helpful to get the support, to get these animals out of here.”

Howland said she’s since seen an outpouring of volunteer support, adoption applications, and donations totaling more than $39,000 as of Friday morning. Now, she said the board is open to essentially giving her the shelter and all its assets.

“So, when they had sat down and talked with me, they had told me that they wanted to be done just because it’s been a lot and they will offer me to take over to continue the Eleanor Sonsini mission," Howland said. "If that was something I wanted to do.”

Howland said at first she was unsure about taking on the tall task of continuing the shelter’s mission where she’s only been working for about a year, but she’s confident they’ll be able to make things work.

“This has been a learning experience for sure," Howland said. "I worked at a dog daycare before this, and then I worked at a vet for like a month because it just it wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to do more of rescue side of it. So, now when I started working here, I love it. Like this has been my favorite job by far. And you learn like other jobs those are people's pets and these are animals that don't have anything. All they have is you.”

Howland said she’s working on potentially relocating the shelter to North Adams where it would re-open under a new name.

She emphasized first things first is finding homes for the animals currently at the Pittsfield shelter, hopefully before the closing date of Aug. 31.