It’s almost winter here in Spokane. And you know what that means: harsh winds, frigid temperatures, sideways rain, piles of snow and getting dark at 4 p.m. again. While everyone is staying indoors and out of the cold, SpokAnimal Pet Rescue and Animal Shelter is working hard to help homeless dogs and cats throughout it all.
SpokAnimal is a shelter on Napa Street in downtown Spokane, which houses every age and breed of both cats and dogs. They travel around the United States rescuing dogs and adopt them out all over Eastern Washington. “For the holidays, adoption rates tend to go up, Christmas gifts. Then usually in January we tend to hit a little bit of a lull.” Lindsey Beaudion, a kennel Technician said. She went on to describe how adoption rates in the coldest part of the year can be rather unbalanced. On both ends of the spectrum, not just people coming into adopt but also for animals being brought in or rescued.
“Its harder for us, the winter time, sometimes we have to drive for rescues. Sometimes we just can’t.” Holly Cochran, a kennel technician said.
All this means that it’s hard for the shelter and the animals during winter. But there are ways everyone can help. Volunteering is a great way to do so. For students who don’t have the space or time to adopt, volunteering at your local shelter is very helpful.
“Absolutely. You have to be 15 or older and you can sign up online or fill out a volunteer application. You just go ahead and plug your info in, then next you get a call from our coordinator, then there’s like two orientations, over the course of, like, a month or so, which we provide. After all that, you buy a T-shirt for $15 then you’re able to come by anytime to volunteer as little or as much as you want. We appreciate every minute of it,” Beaudion said.
“We have a lot of students volunteer. We have a lot of Gonzaga kids that come in. We wouldn’t be able to stay alive if we didn’t have our volunteers.” Cochran said. “But with all of our volunteers, donations are always welcomed. We always need food, blankets, dog beds and towels are great.”
Of course, if volunteering isn’t what you want to do, and you would like to take the next step in helping an animal in need, adopting is an amazing thing to do. You save a life and make a best friend in the process. Beaudion explains that she has adopted all of her animals and couldn’t love them any more. SpokAnimal works to makes\ the adoption process an easy one.
Before an animal is adopted out, “We have a vet clinic right next door, so before they leave they are always vaccinated, dewormed, they have to be fixed before they leave, they get microchipped, and that’s all included in the adoption fee,” Beaudion said. “For cats, if they’re kittens, around 2 to 5 months, it’s $130. Not quite adults, in a sense, we go to $85, and those are usually around 6 months to 11 months. Adult cats are 1 year old to about 6 years old and are $65. Seniors, 7 years old to 9 years old are $45, and then ones with a little extra life experience, the 10-plus, or have medical issues, we do a discounted price of $25.
“With dogs, it depends. Puppies are $275, that’s up to 6 months old. Between the 6 month to a year range, they are $225. And then 1 to 7 is the $200 price, which is the usual main amount of dogs we get,” Beaudion said.
If you want to do more than volunteer, but are not quite ready to fully commit to adopting, fostering is also an option offered. SpokAnimal offers the option for people to foster an animal for a while.
“And of course, we really always need fosters. We try to get that out as much as possible. For the pups and kittens who don’t have mommas,” Beaudion said.
SpokAnimal is considered a no-kill shelter. They work day in and day out to provide homes to as many animals they can. Beaudion explained that unless an animal is very sick or aggressive, no animal should be put down.
“We do not kill for space, we do not put down for space. We work with so many rescue organizations … we try to get everyone out of here, I mean we have ones that were here for months and months. But we absolutely do not put down for space. We will work our hardest to make sure that everyone is either adopted or rescued,” Beaudion said.
“We are a very very low kill shelter. We do not euthanize to make space.” Cochran said. “Highly aggressive dogs, or ones who are very very sick. Yeah, but other than that, like, maybe, a two percent, very low rates.”
SpokAnimal is nonprofit, which means its funds all go toward their clinic and back into the shelter. Revenue is turned back onto itself to fund the animals in the shelter, or the animals that the staff plan to travel to rescue and bring back to Washington.
“We are a nonprofit. We plug along, we all work around the clock for these guys. We try to do a lot of fundraising events offsite. We have our thrift store which we call the barking market. We try to get that out there, because a lot of people don’t know about it. But all of that really helps with the funds and the animals as well. The proceeds go straight to the animals,” Beaudion said.
“We have a great community. A lot of people that tend to really help out so we can just keep plugging along.”