Montrose - Daily Press

Katharhynn Heidelberg

Daily Press News Editor

MONTROSE — George is waiting.

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The gray, short-hair cat, found with a collar, but no identification, was lounging in a cage at the Montrose Animal Shelter Nov. 23, in hopes that his owners would claim him. In a room across the facility, a black and white dog taken from its owners waited in an isolation cage, so that shelter staff could be sure he was disease-free and adoptable.

The shelter works hard to find homes for the abandoned, surrendered and stray animals that come through its doors; still, as of last week, the number of animals it’d been forced to euthanize so far this year stood at 925. Despite its population base, and the committed volunteers who compose the Montrose Animal Protection Agency, Montrose doesn’t have the funding for a Humane Society no-kill shelter — and that’s impacting the neighboring counties that do in different ways.

Willing, but not always able

“People (from Montrose) are just calling us all the time now,” said Kim Caldwell, shelter supervisor at the Second Chance Humane Society, which serves Ouray and San Miguel counties. “They say, ‘You’re no-kill.’ But we’re so full.”

Delta County also has a Humane Society, operating a foster-care network. It is unable to accept homeless animals from anywhere other than Delta County (with the exception of making itself available for animals displaced by this year’s hurricanes); however, it will accept photos of available animals for a Web site listing and is a member of petfinder.com, an animal adoption site.

Delta County Humane Society President Jackie Schoonover said it’s the Second Chance shelter, located in Ridgway, that receives most of Montrose’s overflow. “We don’t see too much of an impact,” she said. The DCHS, which to date has successfully placed 96 animals for 2005, logs two or three calls a month from Montrose.

Second Chance operates on a space-available basis, giving preference to abandoned or stray animals over pets surrendered by their owners, who must pay a fee.

“First, our mission is to take care of abandoned and stray animals in Ouray and San Miguel counties,” said Caldwell. “If we have extra room, we’ll take in surrendered animals. Then I’ll go to Montrose.”

Just last year, Caldwell rescued three litters of kittens from Montrose and also a few dogs. As of last week, Second Chance had three cats and a dog from Montrose on its waiting list. Even though Second Chance isn’t able to take on all cats and dogs in need of shelter, Caldwell takes notes on every animal someone calls about and tries to match them with people who call looking for a pet. “I try to help as much as I can,” she said. “If we have an available spot, I’ll just call the people in Montrose. We’re not big enough to take all the ones I get calls for. If you could get a Humane Society, it would be unbelievable.”

A money issue

Shelters, especially no-kill ones, are expensive to operate. It’s not just a matter of finding a spot for one; construction and continued operating costs are the issue, said Connie Pittenger of MAPA. “We don’t have that kind of funding. As small of an organization as we are, we’re not going there.”

Instead, MAPA works with the shelter to mitigate the problem of animal homelessness, and focuses on education and spay/neuter vouchers to reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs.

“We try to make the animal shelter as no-kill as possible, but there’s no way they can go completely no-kill,” Pittenger said. Though MAPA raised thousands in cash and in-kind contributions that allowed the shelter to expand from 1,800 to 5,500 square feet in one phase, sometimes, there are simply more animals than space. “We just have to do our best right now,” Pittenger said.

“On occasion, we do have to euthanize because of space,” said Montrose Senior Animal Control Officer Kim Scott. The majority of cats put down are feral, she said, while the majority of doomed dogs are aggressive or sick.

Surrendered cats and dogs undergo a “safer test,” which gauges their temperament and suitability for adoption. If they pass, they are offered for adoption, Scott explained. Kittens and puppies less than 6 months old are vaccinated and stay in a holding area for 10 days before being offered for adoption. Strays picked up in the city must be held for five days, to allow owners time to claim them, then the above process applies.

Why doesn’t Montrose have a Humane Society? “We’ve asked that question ourselves,” Scott said.”It takes a facility, funds and interest.”

Pittenger said an individual did offer MAPA land for a no-kill shelter, but it’s hard to obtain funding for “brick and mortar.”

“There’s just no way we can actually handle animals,” she said. “We don’t have the person power, or the financial support.” A shelter takes time and energy, she added. “A lot of people these days don’t want to give time and energy. If a lot of people joined and wanted to spearhead efforts, MAPA could work with them.”

Pittenger said in the 21 years she’s been in Montrose, she hasn’t heard anyone pushing for a Humane Society. “I consider us to be the local Humane Society, except we don’t deal with animals. That’s why we try to work in conjunction with the animal shelter.”

Helping in any way possible

Because the community funded the city shelter’s expansion, there’s more space for everything from food storage, to office duties — and of course, more room for more animals.

“Because we don’t have a Humane Society here, the community truly did us a service by giving us this facility out here,” Scott said.

“People have this perception of animal shelters, especially public or no-kill, that animals are expendable, that we don’t attach ourselves to them. That’s not true.”

The shelter also maintains a “lost and found” pet book; people missing a pet should visit the shelter and provide a detailed description of their cat or dog, plus contact information. Anyone missing a pet — such as George — should also call the shelter regularly to see if it’s turned up there.

“We do the best we possibly can to service the community,” said Scott. “The primary goal for the people who work here is to get that animal adopted (into a good home). ... It’s not just to get them out of here.”

Second Chance Humane Society also tries to keep track of homeless pets, both through the waiting list and by posting pictures of them on the Pet Finders Web site. Caldwell also refers people to Glenwood Spring’s Colorado Animal Rescue and Roice Hurst Humane Society in Grand Junction, where openings are constant — and constantly being filled.

“We spend a lot of time working the phones,” Caldwell said. “We don’t just say ‘no’ and hang up. There are other no-kill shelters, but they’re overrun as well. To have one closer to Montrose would be fantastic.”

Important Information:

The Montrose City Animal Shelter: Located at 3383 N. Townsend. Facility phone- 240-1487. Dispatch phone- 249-6609.

The Second Chance Humane Society: 970-626-2273.

Comments

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marqthompson
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Kaitlyn Heichel wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:01 PM:

" My dad was Robert Heichel and i just wanted to thank again everyone that helped looked for him. It was over 3 years ago that he died, but i will never forget him. I think about him still every single day and life without him is so hard. Thank you everyone who spent time looking for him. I wish this could have been a happy ending but life isn't fair. My dad died when i was 12 and i am now almost 16. Thank you again for everything you guys have done. Your amazing. "




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Sarah Bond wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:31 PM:

" It really makes me sick that people lie about certain events to make themselves look better than they really are... Just to set the record straight, one of those stories is extremely false. Email me if you want the real story from the person who was actually there. "




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