The Geary County Sheriff’s Office and the Geary County Attorneys Office teamed up to purchase a new vehicle for the Junction City-Geary County Animal Shelter.

The new vehicle is a 2012 Ford Econoline Van with approximately 50,000 miles on it. The Sheriff’s Office and Attorney’s Office split the $18,000 cost using drug forfeiture money.

Florence Whitebread, Geary County Commissioner and Chair of the Animal Shelter’s Board of Directors, explained that the new vehicle was desperately needed.

“That is the best news in a long time. We’ve been driving an old truck that we had from Geary County Public Works that hardly has any breaks. They’ve gotten stranded several times because it quit running on them, so this is just a safety factor to have something good and solid to drive,” Whitebread said.

The Animal Shelter will use the vehicle to pick up and transfer animals to things such as veterinary appointments.