The Whitman County Humane Society in Pullman is back on its feet after returning to full operational status this month.
The society has had a tumultuous past few months after six of seven staff resigned and the shelter had to limit its services. With time, the institution has been able to remodel the shelter and replenish its staff. The society is working to continue to hire new workers and take in more animals.
Board members announced at their September meeting that they hired a shelter manager, office manager and two full-time employees. Since then, the shelter has hired five additional staff members and established work roles within the institution.
Jeff DeBoer, vice president of the board, said hiring an office manager and shelter manager has helped the society’s operations greatly. The office manager is responsible for handling paperwork including adoptions, financials, time cards, volunteers, fostering and animal appointments. The shelter manager’s role is working with other staff on handling animals, including training and hiring. All five new staff members have pre-veterinary experience or wants to pursue animal medicine.
The society currently is taking care of 24 cats, 10 dogs and one rabbit — many of the cats are young kittens. In September, the shelter took in 64 animals, of which 59 found forever homes. DeBoer attributes the abundance of cats to a late kitten season, he said it appears their breeding season has been deferred by a couple of months.
John Musselwhite, president of the board, said the society has met their trap, neuter and release goal. The shelter will continue to care for stray animals throughout the year even though they’ve met their set objective.
“If we don’t trap these feral animals, fix them and medicate them, we will continue to see an overpopulation of cats and dogs in the area,” said George Farwell, board member.
Membership options were anticipated to be available on the shelter website in the beginning of October, but the board reported this feature is not ready to launch. Musselwhite said the board is still preparing these options — he anticipates the board to review memberships Wednesday and make the feature available sometime this month. Once active, members will have more customization under the new feature. People will be able to choose their donation amounts and are able to opt out of receiving emails.
The board presented a financial report at the meeting. According to the report provided on their agenda, the shelter had a monthly income of $19,096 and total expenditures of $19,962 in September. Farwell said the shelter experienced lower expenses because of a small staff. The society gained $6,414 in adoption fees and $2,677 in projects, according to the report.
DeBoer said the society received an anonymous donation of $15,000, and during their Cat Match Fever fundraiser, the shelter raised $800. The board announced in a July meeting the society needed to raise around $75,000 by December to keep the institution operational. The board did not comment on how much the society needs to raise at this point to keep the shelter operating in the future.
The shelter will hold a Howl-O-Ween costume party for dogs from 1-5 p.m. Saturday at the Gladish Gym. At the fundraiser, people can take family photos with their pets, which Farwell said is perfect for the upcoming holiday season. The society plans on holding a Fur Family Photos fundraiser event in November, Pet Pictures with Santa in December and its annual Fur Ball on Feb. 25 at the SEL Event Center. DeBoer said the shelter is working on making the society a charitable organization on Facebook so they can add a donate button to posts.
For more information about the Whitman County Humane Society, visit whitmanpets.org.
Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.
