Animal Shelter Beat
Here are a few of the artices I've written about Laramie Peak Human Society.
They're listedn in reverse chronological order with the most recent story at the top.
Here are a few of the artices I've written about Laramie Peak Human Society.
They're listedn in reverse chronological order with the most recent story at the top.
County seeks architect for new animal shelter
By Jackson Day
Published in the Douglas Budget April 10, 2024
Published in the Douglas Budget April 10, 2024
A new or rebuilt animal shelter may be on the horizon just outside the Douglas city limits now that the Converse County commissioners are seeking an architect to design it.
Long in the discussion stages, the new animal shelter would replace the current one operated by Laramie Peak Humane Society on county-owned land just off the end of Second Street.
The county has published a request for qualifications (RFQ) for architect designs of the potential expansion project at the Laramie Peak Humane Society (LPHS). The designs will give a joint committee made of representatives from the county, the City of Douglas and LPHS a better idea of how much it might cost to improve or rebuild LPHS facilities.
The committee overseeing the project was organized in October to discuss problems facing the three groups, primarily the inadequacies of LPHS’s current facility. As the facility is on county land and LPHS is contracted by the city to act as the local animal shelter, all three entries have a vested interest in the project, officials said.
From the beginning, representatives from all three groups have agreed the current facility does not meet demand and the question hasn’t been if the facility should be improved, but rather to what extent.
“There is some debate on whether it’s an expansion or a demolition and rebuild. That’s something the analysis of the architect would have to look at,” Converse County Commissioner Jim Willox said.
“An architect is going to help look at the structure of the building – the functionality of the existing building – and see if it can be remodeled or converted to a different purpose or if we should build an add on.
“We know we’re asking about building something new. We don’t know what that looks like yet.” Once the county receives the RFQ, there’s still a lot more for the group to discuss.
The architect’s designs won’t necessarily represent exactly what will come next. Instead, the committee will use the cost estimates and other information to determine its next step.
“This is not 100% a done deal because we don’t know what the cost would be. We have some ideas, but we need to get a little better sense because we have not had a true engineer’s or architect’s estimate of what it might be,” Willox said. “That’s part of this process, too, and once we know what we might design for and what it might cost, then we can more firmly determine what the partnership will look like.”
The RFQ outlines the new facility may be up to 7,000 square feet and encourages designs that repurpose or build onto the old facility with expansion heading generally north. The RFQ does allow for demolition of the old facility if renovation is deemed not cost effective. Proposals will be received until May 1.
Staff at LPHS are hopeful for the future. Although it’s understood that this RFQ does not mean there will be construction, LPHS Executive Director Lisa Patterson said she feels the project is heading in the right direction.
“We are thrilled about the prospect of a new building. It will enable us to better serve the community and the animals in need, that’s for sure. Having this project really represents a significant step forward in our mission,” Patterson said.
“And, it’s not just me. Everybody on my staff is so excited. . . . To be able to watch them get excited about the prospect of a new building and to see the development between us, the city and the county has truly been fantastic. It takes a lot of work on everybody’s part, all entities involved, and I think this really represents where we are as a community, city, county and shelter.”
Putting their heads together
As stray and neglected animals cause countless problems, the city, county and Laramie Peak Humane Society seek solutions, including what to do about the inadequate, aged shelter
By Jackson Day
Published in the Douglas Budget Nov. 15, 2023
Published in the Douglas Budget Nov. 15, 2023
The City of Douglas, Converse County commissioners and Laramie Peak Humane Society (LPHS) Board of Directors have formed a joint-committee to discuss problems facing the three entities – primarily the inadequacies of LPHS’s current facility.
Committee members first met Oct. 16 to establish common goals. Representatives expressed a belief that in order to find a solution to the animal-related issues currently facing Douglas, all three parties will need to be involved, as LPHS is contracted by the city and the current shelter sits on county land.
Robert Short and Trent Kaufman represent the county commissioners, Perry Hershberger and Matthew Schmidt represent the City of Douglas as council members, and Jennifer Clowers, Courtny Conkle and Jackie Downie are on LPHS’s board of directors. Converse County Clerk Karen Rimmer participates as the committee’s secretary and note-taker.
Rimmer clarified that no official decisions can be made during these committee meetings, as none of the three entities have a sufficient number of members present to make a quorum. “To be really clear, this committee is not making any decisions,” Rimmer said. “(This committee) is just individuals from each organization, who are going to take recommendations back to each governing body – and that’s who will take any action.”
While the committee is unable to make any decisions, it allows for the three entities to converse, brainstorm and propose solutions in a productive manner.
“I’m very happy with the committee that was created and the people that are on it. The first meeting was very productive and a lot came from it,” Hershberger said. “We are able to talk freely without making any decisions. We can come up with great ideas, then take them back to our respective groups.”
During the first meeting, the three parties established a number of common long-term goals, with the primary one being to ensure that the Humane Society can continue to operate. The second goal is to “construct a new facility and to ensure infrastructure is in place,” according to the meeting’s minutes.
“Most everybody recognizes that building is at the end of life and capacity, at least for what’s needed in today’s world,” Converse County Commission Chairman Jim Willox said. “But, we do have all the right players at the table talking about what’s wanted, what’s needed, what’s required and how we may move forward.”
Additionally, the members agreed it may be beneficial to develop a long-term operational fund and improve relationships, both with the public and among the three groups. “I hope we (as the city) have a better working relationship with LPHS going forward,” Hershberger said. “We’ve obviously had some issues in the last year. (Solving these problems) not only helps LPHS, but it helps people in the county and the people of Douglas.”
The next meeting is expected to take place mid-November, but the parties involved have requested to keep the meeting’s date and time private. According to Rimmer, as ideas are more fully developed, it is expected the public will then be more involved.
“This committee needs to be able to have discussion to keep moving forward . . . but since there’s no quorum with any of these entities represented and no decisions will be made, there’s no requirement for a public meeting,” Rimmer stated. “They’re not looking for public comment yet – that will come, but they’re not at that point yet.”
City renews Humane Society $90k contract
By Jackson Day
Published in the Douglas Budget Oct. 11, 2023
Published in the Douglas Budget Oct. 11, 2023
The City of Douglas agreed to pay Laramie Peak Humane Society (LPHS) $90,000 for their fiscal year 2024 services as they renewed their annual contract Sept. 25.
While this is $5,000 more than the previous year, the contract dictates LPHS must spend an additional $5,000 on their Treat, Neuter, Release (TNR) program. The shelter is required to spend a total of $10,000 on the program.
“In our conversations with LPHS, it was determined that more investment would be made toward the TNR program in hopes of reducing the cat overpopulation in the long run,” Douglas City Administrator J.D. Cox said.
Both city and shelter officials believe a strong TNR program is a positive step towards addressing the current animal overpopulation problem facing Douglas. The program is specifically designed to help stabilize the wild cat population.
“Because of the feral cat population and its substantial increase, the city council really wanted to focus on the feral cat population and getting that under control. It is causing a pretty big issue with a lot of property owners because a large cat population can really do a lot of damage,” LPHS Executive Director Lisa Patterson said. “Having a successful, long term TNR program keeps your cat population down. It’s a long term solution.”
TNR programs are not only considered a humane method of population control, but are also, in many cases, considered more successful in stabilizing stray cat populations than simply removing cats according to Patterson.
“It’s a feral cat program where you trap feral cats, you get them fixed and, in order to keep your feral population stable, you release them back into their little groups,” Patterson said, explaining how the program compares to other options.
“Because, if you pick up 40% of your stray cats and just take them away, all of a sudden all the cats in that area are like, ‘Oh my God, we don’t have any population. We’ve got to boom the population.’ So you have kitten explosions. But, when you return them back to where they were, and they’re fixed, you don’t cause that panic within the group.”
A research study published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal Frontiers in 2019 found that over a 10- year period high rates of cat sterilization through a TNR program was just as successful at reducing cat populations as a removal program, such as one LPHS would be capable of offering, while resulting in far fewer preventable deaths and lower predicted costs to the shelter.
The annual contract is generally agreed on before the end of July, but this year discussions between the two groups were more complex than normal, according to both city and shelter officials, as stray animal populations have skyrocketed. LPHS has struggled to meet demands with their current shelter size and funding.
While the city had originally tried to add a clause to the contract outlining LPHS would be responsible for paying for animal boarding fees and police officer overtime in the case the shelter didn’t have room for a police held animal, it was ultimately decided this clause would not be added.
“One of the reasons it took longer is that we had a provision that we had included that . . . would hold the animal shelter more accountable for the disposition of our extra animals,” Cox explained.
“The problem is, we have a lot of what’s called police holds. Those police holds filled up many kennels at the shelter, so then when we pick up more strays or other animals, then those kennels were often full. That left the animals with nowhere to go and created problems for us.
“Eventually through those conversations we realized it was better to not include that provision, it was removed. Further conversation led (to a solution) pretty quickly.”
Patterson expressed being happy with the current agreement, but that more help would be greatly appreciated.
“Our operating budget is a little over $200,000 a year. Some of that is obviously provided by the city, a small amount is also provided by the county and the rest of it is all from fundraising and grants,” Patterson said.
"It’s really difficult. “In previous years, like three years ago, we were receiving more funding from the city. I don’t know why (the city funds less) now, but I’m sure that they’re under plenty of constraints as well.”
City, county, LPHS search for solutions
to animal shelter operating at capacity
to animal shelter operating at capacity
By Jackson Day
Published in the Douglas Budget July 12, 2023
Published in the Douglas Budget July 12, 2023
Collectively recognizing that current facilities are insufficient for the needs of the Laramie Peak Humane Society (LPHS), the Converse County Commissioners, City of Douglas and LPHS are actively in the process of finding solutions.
The situation is more complex than already expected from governmental bureaucracy, as each of the three groups tied to the project are desirous of different outcomes.
“We, all three, have different interests in it. The city uses the facility for animal control, (which) is a major part of what the city does. The county owns the building currently and the land that it’s on. Then (LPHS) is a nonprofit that operates it all. So, you’ve got a three way partnership,” Converse County Commission Chairman Jim Willox said.
“Most of the conversation revolves around what would be wanted and needed to update the facility.”
The joint discussions focus primarily on how new or renovated facilities could allow for LPHS to better keep up with demand. But, working towards a short term solution, the City of Douglas is looking to pass amendments to city ordinance, allowing police and animal control officers to release, rehome or potentially euthanize certain animals when sufficient room is not available at the animal shelter.
“(A new or updated facility) should address a long term issue that we currently have, but in the short term, what do we do? That was the whole point of the ordinance that the council approved (on first reading), was to give us more authority to be able to deal with animals that are picked up, other than just taking them right to the animal shelter,” Douglas City Administrator J.D. Cox said.
Another potential short term solution is to construct additional outdoor enclosures, but LPHS does not consider this a viable solution, even in the short term.
“They had talked about, in the interim, putting dogs outside 24/7. We can’t do that – we can’t shelter them outside – because that’s inhumane. Nobody leaves their dog outside in a storm, with 80 miles-an-hour winds,” LPHS Executive Director Lisa Patterson said.
“(We understand) it will take a while to build the (new) buildings, but we can’t just expand outdoors because what happens when it’s cold? Right now, we’re really stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to not turn away anybody.”
While plans are in their infancy and the three groups each stressed no decisions have been made, the possibility of new or renovated facilities has been considered.