Brief by Central Staff
Animals – December 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Based in Buena Vista and serving the entire region, the Ark-Valley Humane Society is conducting its third annual Friends of the Shelter fund drive.
Donations are needed now more than ever because the state required Ark-Valley to build an “isolation addition” where new arrivals go first. To prevent contagion, the animals have to be checked out, and perhaps inoculated, before they can join the other critters.
Ark-Valley has tried to cut expenses by reducing staff and hours, as well as reducing the number of animals accepted. But that hasn’t worked. According to AVHS, “Frustrated people are now dumping their animals at the front door when the shelter is closed.”
So the shelter still handles 40 to 50 pets, mostly cats and dogs, each month. During its decade of service, the shelter has tended to 5,500 animals, and spayed or neutered more than 2,000. It costs about $10,000 a month to run the shelter.
For information on donating, contact AVHS at www.ark-valley.org or 719-395-2737.
