GREAT FALLS – The Great Falls Animal Shelter is encouraging people to adopt as the shelter is full.
“We can hold 42 dogs. That is how many kennels we have. We do have a quarantine side that we don’t like to put stray dogs in because the public cannot see them,” Great Falls Animal Shelter volunteer coordinator Karen Hockenberry said.
Between the animals they have up for adoption, as well as the stray dogs brought in, the shelter is at capacity.
“We have a lot of strays that are looking for their owners,” Hockenberry said.
She added the staff is very busy cleaning, walking and feeding the animals.
“Our staff is very busy and we are actually short staffed right now. Our full timers are being stretched to the bone right now on cleaning,” Hockenberry said.
She said now is the perfect time to adopt because when the shelter is full, they run a special adoption price.
“Our adoption fees are not big. $50 for a cat. $140 for dogs. That includes everything. If you think about it, you can’t get a free dog for less than that,” Hockenberry said.
Adopted dogs are spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and come with a name tag.
If you lost your dog, the shelter encourages you to check their Facebook page or stop by the shelter during business hours to see if your dog is there.
“The shelter environment is hard on dogs, especially on strays when they first come in. They don’t know what’s going on. It’s stressful for the dogs and it’s hard for us to figure out their actual temperament whenever they are so stressed,” Hockenberry said.
The Great Falls Animal Shelter is open Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and on Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. It is located at 1010 25th Avenue NE.
Reporting by Elizabeth Transue for MTN News
