(Riverton, WY) – The Paws for Life Animal League (Riverton Animal Adoption Center) has shared that the shelter is at the “level 4 disaster preparedness” stage, due to the current number of dogs they are housing.
“Unfortunately we will be forced to euthanize some of our dogs if it continues, and as a no-kill shelter it would absolutely break our hearts,” a post shared on the shelter’s Facebook page states.
The shelter has bewteen 40-45 dogs in their care on a daily basis for the last few months, when the facility is only built to house and properly care for up to 25 dogs and 25 cats.
“We get three dogs out the door as adoptions, and then five more come in. Then we get four out the door, and four more come in. We’re just not getting any relief,” Shelter manager Whitney Fontes shared with County 10.
In addition to the large numbers, the shelter is also concerned about properly caring for the dogs as colder temperatures and winter weather looms.
Fontes says that “if anyone is interested in adopting a dog, now is the perfect time.”
Folks can also help out by fostering, or by reaching out to other nearby shelters to help facilitate transportation of the dogs.
Fontes stated that even if folks could just volunteer some time to take the dogs on walks, it would help out greatly.
“We have partnered with Java Java to have 25 cent pup cups (for shelter dogs),” Fontes added, which, along with walks, can help give them time to clean the shelter without having to put the dogs in crates while they do so.
Another thing the shelter could use help with is someone to take photos of the dogs and help write their bios to add the adoption page on the website, which right now does not have every dog on file due to the sheer number.
The shelter has also addressed some of the concerns/questions people have had in response to the news, in the Facebook post below.
“Please everyone band together to help us save our poor babies,” the post concludes.
The shelter is located at 515 South Smith Road in Riverton, and is open from 12-5 PM Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM.