Friday, January 6, 2006

Animal Shelter offers variety of services


By CHRISTINE FERGUSON

The Animal Shelter of Wood River Valley is one of the very few shelters in the country that operates as both a private not-for-profit organization and the county impound facility. The rationale for this is two fold: we reside in a valley with a modest sized population that should not need two facilities and the shelter is in-place to take ownership of the unclaimed or abandoned animals.

This concept was put into place with the building of the original shelter in 1982.

So, how does this work?

The shelter has a contract with Blaine County and the cities of Bellevue, Hailey, Sun Valley and Ketchum for impound services. It holds any dog or cat brought in by the cities or county in our impound facility for seven days. The organization takes ownership of animals that are not reclaimed by their owner after the holding period. The shelter is reimbursed by owners for boarding fees and any medical expenses. The county and cities pay the seven-day impound fee for any unclaimed animals that their agents bring to the shelter.

However, the county and cities don't reimburse the shelter for "citizen" impounds with few exceptions. What this means is anytime you as a citizen bring a lost or abandoned animal to our facility, it will be treated as an impound, handled as a impound, but unless the owner comes forward, the shelter receives no compensation for its service.

This being said, you should contact animal control, the police or sheriff's departments for intervention. An officer needs to personally transport the animal to the shelter or grant you verbal permission to transport the animal to the shelter in that agency's behalf in order for the shelter to receive payment for services.

In addition, the shelter administers the Blaine County dog license program. While it's a Blaine County law that any dog over 6 months of age be licensed, it's the shelter, not the county who is solely responsible for the sale and tracking of all dog licenses. In return for this service, the shelter retains all income generated from license sales. Dog owners can purchase dog licenses from the Animal Shelter on Croy Canyon Road, west of Hailey, Barkin' Basement Thrift Store in Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley police departments, and the valley's three area veterinarian clinics. The license tags have the shelter's phone number printed on the back. Anyone finding a dog-at-large is encouraged to call the shelter for owner information.

The shelter provides many other services to the community beyond the contracted services.

As well, the shelter acts as the local pet adoption center and generally has about 100 animals available for placement in a new "forever" home.

Any citizen in Blaine County can surrender a cat or dog to the shelter for a nominal fee as long as the animal is in good health.

The shelter underwrites the cost for free spay and neuter clinics semi-annually and gifts pet owners coupons throughout the rest of the year to help in the cost of spay or neuter surgical procedures.

The shelter also serves the valley as a pet "lost and found" network and keeps a book of names called into us by citizens. Many pets are reunited this way with their owners. The shelter also helps as a "pets wanted" or pet placement network. Citizens looking to find a new home for their pets can call for information relating to breed rescue organizations. People looking for a special size or breed of pet can call and put in a request for a shelter rescue animal.

Assistance with behavior issues is offered through the shelter, whether in conversation, providing written material or referring citizens to trained animal behavioral specialists.

The shelter has a crematory on-site and offers cremation services to the public.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.