On Friday, I had a really nice conversation with Debbie Wood, the shelter manager at Washington County Animal Services. She was very excited to tell me how much the shelter had improved over the past few years, and their goals for the future are even more exciting.

That conversation prompted me to update all of you, as well. The current goal of the shelter is not to euthanize any healthy, adoptable animals, and they are well on their way. The number of animals they’ve had to euthanize has dropped dramatically over the past two years. Part of this is because we (Indigo Rescue) are able to take many of the animals who are deemed unhealthy during their evaluation. Sometimes this is because they are injured, or sick, but sometimes it’s because they are not able to emotionally handle the shelter environment.

The shelter staff are all working so hard to find ways to make sure no ‘healthy’ animals are euthanized. Their job is a difficult one. They have to battle staggering statistics. People still fail to spay or neuter their pets, and still don’t seem to be able to keep their pet for its entire natural life. Dogs and cats who are not well socialized and get thrown into the shelter environment have the most difficult time.

Please consider helping us to continue helping the shelter on their road to this success. We need to have a strong foster network so we are able to take dogs when they can’t stay at the shelter any longer. We need to help them have enough space for the stray dogs as they come in. We need your help!