According to Liz Jones, executive director of the Sanctuary at Haafsville, for part of the last three years, parts of Lehigh County has not had a local humane police. That has changed.

Brittney Chukyo, of Northampton, was sworn in Dec. 11 as a humane police officer, working through The Sanctuary at Haafsville.

She completed her course work earlier this year.

Officer Chukyo will be handling the following municipalities in Lehigh County: Weisenberg, Washington, Heidelberg, Lynn, Lowhill, Coplay, Catasaqua, Emmaus, Lower Milford, North Whitehall, South Whitehall, Lower Macungie and Hanover.

If there is interest, she may also apply to be a humane police officer in Northampton County.

Officer Chukyo has been involved in animal welfare efforts more than 12 years.

If she has a weakness for any specific animal, it is for blind cats and kittens.

Many area shelters call her when they receive such felines.

She rescues them, provides necessary medical treatments, then looks for "furever" homes for them.

Officer Chukyo may be contacted at 610-415-8495.

The Sanctuary rescues, rehabs and rehomes stray, abandoned, unwanted and abused animals.

This year, the Sanctuary, which holds low-cost, humane animal control contracts with 13 municipalities, will save more than 1,000 dogs and cats.

Dogs and friendly stray cats are accepted and access to Trap, Neuter, Return for wild cats is provided.

In Pennsylvania, a humane police officer is a private police officer.

They are paid by the humane organization the officer is associated with, in this case, the Sanctuary at Haafsville.

The Sanctuary would appreciate any individuals, corporations or organizations that would like to donate toward salary and expenses associated with investigating alleged cruelty cases and, if necessary, going before the courts with those cases.

The Sanctuary's web page is thesanctuarypa.org; Facebook page, The Sanctuary at Haafsville.

Both sites have donation buttons or donations may be mailed to: The Sanctuary at Haafsville, P.O. Box 921, Fogelsville, PA 18051.