When the door to the Five Acres Animal Shelter is opened, an uproar of barking can be heard from the back room. The woman at the desk is benevolently helping a family adopt a new puppy with a smile. A man can be seen grinning as he runs around with a dog outside.

“I found out about the shelter from my mom and she volunteered there for work sometimes,” Madison Battles, a volunteer at Five Acres and FHN sophomore, said.

Five Acres is the only no-kill animal shelter in St. Charles County. All of the animals stay at the shelter until they find a safe home to stay. There are separate areas for all of the animals such as: a dog house, cat house and a special area for animals that are hurt when brought in. The shelter even has a space dedicated to cats with the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a virus similar to HIV that only spreads through cats by biting and is sometimes spread from a mother to her kittens by the mother’s milk, though it is not fatal. Five Acres is the only shelter in the region that holds a place for cats with FIV and they receive donations to their special needs fund to help take care of them.

“It is always nice to help dogs out and find them a home,” Tim Brazzle, another member of the canine staff, said. “Though I hate when hurt or abused dogs come in.”

The shelter also has a few things for others to do if they want to help but do not want to adopt, such as a serving as a foster parent, volunteering and donating. Anyone can help by donating to the shelter, and not even just money. The shelter has a “wish list” of things that could help out, such as dog and cat supplies, cleaning supplies and office supplies.

“It [working at the animal shelter] is tons of fun, but it can be challenging,” Casey Hahn, who is a part of the canine staff, said. “Sometimes it is sad, but usually you feel good by the end of the day.”