PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Peninsula Humane Society wants to know if people living in Clallam County would support a new animal shelter in a new location.
A consultant with Animal Shelter Fundraising LLC, based in Phoenix soon will begin contacting members of the community for a feasibility study of a proposed 10,000 square-foot shelter located between Port Angeles and Sequim on the U.S. Highway 101 corridor, said Mary Beth Wegener, executive director of the private, nonprofit Humane Society chapter.
The study will assess the organization’s chance of successfully raising enough capital to fund construction of a new animal shelter as well as its ability to attract community leadership and gain public support, Wegener said.
Animal Shelter Fundraising will begin the on-site portion of its feasibility study sometime in September.
The Humane Society has no estimate of the cost of a new shelter yet, Wegener said.
That will depend on the price of the property that is suited for the shelter’s needs and other factors, she said.
The present shelter — which is west of Port Angeles at 2105 W. U.S. Highway 101 — is a 2,900-square-foot facility built in 1956.
It was built to house 28 dogs and 70 cats in a crowded, noisy building, but in recent years, it has handled more than 2,000 animals annually, Wegener said.
That number reflects both an increase in population growth and a change in policy.
Three years ago, when veterinarian Suzy Zustiak joined the staff, the shelter made the decision to stop putting adoptable animals to death, Wegener said.
With on-site veterinary care, any animal that can reasonably be saved is nursed back to health, Wegener said, which has increased the number of animals in the shelter.
The shelter was able to put a large, walk-in freezer once used to store the carcasses of unwanted animals to a new purpose, Wegener said.
Now the freezer is used to store feed — a symbol of the shelter’s shift in policy.
But space remains at a premium.
On Monday, 70 cats and kittens were being kept in two rooms of small cages, and a temporary building behind the shelter housed another 20 cats.
A part of one room has been converted to a community cat space, where the felines can climb cat trees and socialize, which results in more adoptable, happier cats, Wegener said.
Community cat rooms would be primary cat housing at a new shelter, she said.
The dog kennels are small and dark, built of cinder blocks with chain-link gates.
A tiny Chihuahua sat on a blanket, trembling as a bigger dog barked in a nearby kennel, two of the 24 dogs currently at the shelter.
“It’s stressful for them to see each other,” Wegener said.
Wegener said the kennels in the proposed facility would be glassed-in, to reduce noise levels, and set so that the dogs can’t see each other.
It would be a much better experience for both the dogs and for potential adoptive owners, she said.
A new shelter also would have a dedicated surgical room where life-saving surgeries could be done on-site, as well as routine dog and cat spay and neuters, Wegener said.
The present shelter has been closed for maintenance since Aug. 1 and was reopened to the public on Thursday.
Maintenance projects included a new coat of paint, the removal of damaged ceiling tiles in the kennels, and other minor work that helps make the shelter’s interior brighter and more pleasant.
However, it doesn’t fix the underlying problem that the shelter just isn’t large enough to serve the county’s current needs, Wegener said.
Results from Animal Shelter Fundraising’s study — a company devoted to helping animal shelters raise funds — will inform the organization as to whether it has a green, yellow or red light on moving forward with a new shelter, Wegener said.
A green light would mean the shelter has strong support and should move forward, she explained, while a yellow light would indicate that adjustments must be made and a red light would indicate that it is not a good time to make an attempt.
The feasibility will follow a planning study already completed by Animal Shelter Fundraising.
Factors examined in the completed study included the shelter’s current size, location, conditions and animal housing capacity as well as Clallam County-projected human/pet populations and vehicular traffic patterns.
As a result of the study, Animal Shelter Fundraising made the following recommendations to the Humane Society:
– The Olympic Peninsula Humane Society should construct a new animal shelter that is a minimum of 10,000 square feet in size to adequately serve the human and animal needs of Clallam County through 2025.
– The new animal shelter should contain space for about 180 animals , with adequate office space for staff and volunteers.
— A new facility should be located anywhere on, or in within sight of, U.S. Highway 101 between Sequim and Port Angeles.
It makes sense to locate the shelter between the two most populated areas of the county, but the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society wouldn’t forget those it serves in West End communities, Wegener said.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.