The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved an annual $84,369 agreement with the Verde Valley Humane Society as a consent item July 15 to shelter dogs and cats picked up by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re Yavapai County’s shelter for strays in the county, and we’re very grateful to them because we get paid a fee for animals with the contract, and every dollar helps us keep our shelter going, as well as donations from people too,” VVHS board president Maxine Belcher said.
From the start of the year to July 1, VVHS canine numbers from YCSO are 78 dogs — 38 strays picked up by animal control, 17 brought in after an owner was arrested, eight strays turned in by the public, seven quarantine cases, six emergency assists and two owner surrenders. Forty were reclaimed by their owners, 41 were adopted and two were transferred to other shelters. A separate four dogs came in as public drop-offs from Cottonwood.
The contract also covers cruelty and neglect seizures, along with animals the county takes in under court order, however those are not common.
“We just got the six puppies and the mom that were abandoned in a crate in the wash behind Planet Fitness,” VVHS Shelter Manager Melanie Lucas said. “The puppies just got altered today. They’re up for adoption, and they’re just dolls.”
Over that time the county brought in 30 cats: 18 strays from the public, five after an owner’s arrest, four surrenders, two when an owner couldn’t care for them and one quarantine. Two went home and 27 were adopted.
Kitten season runs roughly April through September and hits shelters across the nation. The Humane Society of Sedona took in 48 kittens in 29 days this spring, which is more than it had in the first four months of the year combined.
“We just probably got in about 12 cats, 12 young kittens, just in the last couple of days,” Lucas said. Kittens between six weeks and three months usually get adopted quickly. It’s usually when they hit over three months, they have a tendency to stay a little bit longer.
VVHS is also planning a capital campaign to double its capacity because as Yavapai County grows, so does its animal population. The shelter has 28 kennels in one building and 16 in the other, and in July, it was running about 10 dogs over capacity, Lucas said. That doesn’t count the dogs and cats it has out in foster homes.
“We would really love to have an extension on our building, so that we would be able to take in more animals, provide them better kennels,” Belcher said. “We do have a surgery center, but it would be lovely if we could double the size of that, as it is fairly small, and also perhaps offer the public where we could actually do spay and neuter for the community. We aren’t able to do that at present, and that would be a lovely thing if we could do that too.”
VVHS is always looking for volunteers and board members.
“It helps the animals that come into us because, of course, many are strays. It gives you that feel good,” Belcher said. “We run on a very small amount of staffing, and so any little bit helps. Doing laundry, walking a dog, reading to a dog, and also our cats.”
Visit verdevalleyhumane.org or call 928-634-7387 for more information.
