NATCHEZ — Three sets of bright blue eyes peered out of a wired-shut cage. Mildew covered nearly every wall. A small, sad whine accompanied the gaze. But hopefully this sad picture will change.

The Natchez-Adams County Humane Society is kicking-off a fundraising campaign for its new facility.

The board is hoping to raise the $750,000 necessary to build the new facility, building committee chairman Vidal Davis said.

“(Thirty years ago) animal shelters as a rule were built very utilitarian,” Davis said. “They were just meat and potatoes, a way to feed them, a way to house them. Now it’s much more than that.”

Animal shelters are about adoption, education and allowing people to volunteer.

“You’ve got to have an upscale, an uplifting atmosphere for people to work in and for the animals,” he said.

The building fund has already accumulated $168,000 and has existing real estate worth around $50,000. The building committee, made up of Davis, Becky Morris, James Browning, Sue Stedman, Nan Garrison and Gail Healy, will now try to bring in the remaining balance.

“This is starting in earnest,” Davis said. “We have a list of people who have historically been members of the humane society and have given generously and they are certainly on our A-list.”

The committee plans on calling on their regular donors first, and then widening the campaign and having public fundraising events.

“That’s down the road,” Davis said. “Initially we’re just going to call on people to try to meet our goal.”

And while the Humane Society has never asked for this much money, board member Nan Garrison she thinks they can reach their goal.

“We’ve been raising money, but not officially raising money,” Garrison said. “We are now officially beginning our fundraising drive where we’ll be going out and calling on people.”

And the funds for a new building are not a want, Garrison said, they are a desperate need.

“The plumbing is old and decrepit, the electrical is old and decrepit. I mean, it’s just falling down around our ears,” she said. “All you have to do is go out there and see what 30 years of high water use does to a concrete building.”

One of the worst things the water does is cause major mold and bug problems. And because the building houses between 150 and 200 dogs and cats, they cannot use much bug spray, Garrison said.

“We just have to piece stuff together,” she said.

The building fund is separate from the regular Humane Society fund, which pays for its day-to-day operation.