Cat paradise: Animal shelter adopts out all dogs
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POLSON — Gone are the yaps and barks of Huckleberry and Lady Belle. There will be no more wet kisses from Karen and Neko. Their cages sit empty in the back room of the Mission Valley Animal Shelter, and operations manager Brenda Jones couldn’t be happier, or sadder.
“It’s every shelter worker’s dream to see all the cages empty,” Jones said, her eyes glistening with tears. “On the other hand, you do something five days a week and now it’s like, ‘Now what do we do?’”
At approximately 1:42 p.m. on April 4 all six of the shelter’s dogs, and eight cats found new homes to rest their paws, thanks to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Mega Match-a-thon hosted by the Humane Society of Western Montana.
Jones said it was hard to watch all the animals leave, especially Karen, because she had been at the shelter the longest. Karen lived at the shelter for seven months before a family in Missoula adopted her.
“We had a hard time letting her go,” Jones said. “We were like, ‘Let’s just take her home.’”
The Humane Society of Western Montana was one of 55 animal rescue organizations across the nation that received grant funding to participate in the Mega Match-a-thon held March 31-April 1 in Missoula.
Director of the Humane Society of Western Montana Lora O’Connor said the group received $8,000 to host and invite nine local shelters in Montana to the event.
“While we are a small community, anytime we hold a large adoption we have empty kennels,” O’Connor said.
The goal was to adopt 125 pets in the two days, and 132 found homes.
O’Connor said the turnout was tremendous, and it was the first time the shelter had ever been open on a Sunday since it was founded in 1963. Twelve pets were even adopted before the event started.
“We definitely surpassed our goal,” O’Connor said, adding that statistics show that only 20 percent of pets in homes are from animal shelters.
“We reached out to Mission Valley Animal Shelter, and they were gracious enough to bring down (animals),” O’Connor said.
And until the cages are filled once again, Jones will have to get used to the quiet and free time. The largest number of dogs the shelter has housed at one time is 27, and now for the first time in the shelter’s 25-year existence, it’s without any dogs. The shelter is now a cat’s paradise, with eight cats enjoying the extra time and attention, as Jones pays them a visit with catnip.
“Our ultimate goal is to never be needed,” Jones said.
