Thursday, January 4, 2007

Shelter reaches first year anniversary

by Sara Peterson-Davis

If experience is the best teacher, the staff and volunteers at the Jefferson County Humane Society just finished a crash course as they guided the shelter through its first year of operation.

“You have a general knowledge of what to expect and then the animals come and, wow,” said Dianna Welsh, manager of the society’s shelter at 15295 K-4 Highway outside of Valley Falls. “The number of animals was a surprise.”

The shelter took in 638 animals in 2006. Of those animals, 327 were dogs, 210 were cats and one cockatiel.

“We didn’t do a lot of estimating,” said Jolie Kearns, the society’s board president. “It was hard to find a demographic similar to ours – a county that is 50 percent rural with few animal control laws.

“We just opened the doors and started counting.”

The shelter opened its doors Jan. 2. Within the first week, the first animal was dropped off – a cat named Gracie. After that, the shelter experienced a steady flow of cats and dogs. Some were strays; others surrendered by their owners.

Located in a former veterinary clinic, the Jefferson County Humane Society has a staff of one full-time and three part-time employees. The shelter can hold about 125 animals.

The society strives to operate a low-kill shelter. Which means the staff usually only euthanizes animals because of behavioral and health issues. In the past year, Welsh said there were a few instances when animals had to be put down because of space issues. Those that were euthanized were chosen based on their possible adoptability.

“You want to give those animals that are adoptable the best chance,” she said.

The shelter operated its first year on a $100,000 budget, half of which came from one-time monies supplied by Jefferson County, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and seven of the county’s eight cities. In return for the public support, the shelter didn’t charge the cities, county or local citizens intake fees for animals brought to the shelter.

That changed in 2007. At the New Year, the humane society began charging $25 for any animal brought into the shelter. The money will go to cover operating expenses. While Welsh and Kearns expect to hear some complaints from area citizens, at this point the fees are necessary.

“The bottom line is it costs us to do this (operate the shelter),” Welsh said. “The money has to come from somewhere.”

In addition to the intake fees, the humane society hopes to make its 2007 budget of $100,000 by increasing memberships, fundraising and the number of adoptions. Last year, memberships covered 30 percent of the shelter’s budget and adoptions about 15 percent. Sales of pet supplies, as well as boarding and micro chipping fees covered the balance.

The shelter charges $125 to adopt a dog and $80 for cats. Each adopted animal is fully immunized, spayed or neutered and micro chipped for easy identification.

While that seems expensive to many people when they can get a cat or dog for free, Welsh said it is actually a bargain. Many pet owners could spend an extra $50 or more for the same services at a local vet clinic.

“That’s the hardest thing to make people understand,” Welsh said. “We do what any responsible pet owner should be doing. They take home a pet (from the shelter) that is done. They don’t have to do anything for another year.”

The humane society has received two grants to help area residents pay for low-cost spaying/neutering their pets. The group received $5,000 from the DJ&T Foundation for dogs and another $500 grant from the Petco Foundation for cats. The humane society has also received another $500 from Petco and $1,500 from the Baker Trust for general expenses, as well as a $2,000 grant from the Ahimsa Foundation to go toward the purchase of a van.

With its shelter up and running, the humane society plans to increase public awareness of the shelter, as well as promote responsible pet ownership in the coming year.

During 2006, Welsh was able to do some community outreach. She talked with children at area libraries about being safe around dogs and visited area nursing homes. Welsh also had a chance to talk with a few civic groups. For her efforts, members of an area PEO Chapter donated dozens of toys and supplies to the shelter and the Valley Falls Rotary Club fenced in a corral on the shelter’s property to create a dog play area.

The humane society also partnered with local dog trainer Karen Erskine to offer dog-training classes at the shelter.

The Jefferson County Humane Society saw its membership boom in 2006. When the shelter opened the society had 30 members. It ended the year with 150 members.

“Some members we’ve never seen,” Kearns said. “We have one man who sends us $100 each month and no one knows who he is.”

Kearns and Welsh said getting the shelter through its first year of operation was made much easier by the help and advice they received from other humane societies in the area.

“It’s not just one shelter out for themselves,” Welsh said.

Along with their fellow shelters, the humane society has also received help from various breed rescue organizations who have helped the humane society place many of the purebred and purebred mixed dogs and cats that come to the shelter.

“There’s this myth that we just have Heinz 57 mixed-breed dogs,” Welsh said. “We’ve had 35 different purebreds and multiples of those.”

The humane society has had every breed from English Mastiffs to Rag doll cats brought into the shelter. The rescue organizations have helped them find foster homes and permanent homes for the animals across the country.

A couple drove from Colorado to Valley Falls to adopt a Weimaraner-mix that they heard about from a rescue organization. Another blue tick coonhound at the shelter caught a ride to its new owner’s home in New York with a Brittany spaniel rescue group transporting shelter dogs across country.

The humane society is always looking for adult volunteers. While the shelter has plenty of youth volunteers, Welsh said the shelter could use adults. Along with washing and grooming, volunteers are needed to run errands, raise funds and prepare mailings.

The shelter also welcomes donations of all sorts, especially paper towels, laundry and dish detergents, bleach, old towels and non-clumping cat litter.

While Welsh and Kearns know that the humane society’s shelter isn’t popular with everyone, they want people to understand that they are looking out for the welfare of some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.

“We’re not trying to work against anyone here,” Welsh said. “We’re just trying to promote responsible pet ownership.”