Hoof & Paw, the West End’s nonprofit dedicated to serving the stray animal population, saw an influx of felines when 16 cats were dropped off a week and a half ago in the middle of the night. When the morning volunteer reported for work on Aug. 12, the cats were found waiting in crates in front of the animal shelter.
Executive director, who is also an unpaid volunteer, Tonya Stephens told the San Miguel Basin Forum she’s disappointed with the way the animals were dropped off at the Hoof & Paw shelter. Still, she thinks she knows who did it, and she plans to warn them. She said she knows some people are desperate for help, but all must ask permission before dropping animals.
Still, the cats are at least friendly, she said.
Now, Hoof & Paw will speak to Animal Control of Montrose County, since they know there are probably other cats at the site where the new 16 cats just came from.
Hoof & Paw volunteers will work to get the cats spayed and neutered, so they don’t reproduce. They’ll work to find loving homes for them, too.
Stephens said a lack of resources is to blame. She knows it costs money to get barn cats, or feral cats, or stray cats fixed. But, it must be done.
Hoof & Paw is “bursting at the seams.” There are now 25 cats on site that need a family or a person to live with. There are also 10 dogs, too, though there are only six kennels for dogs at the shelter.
With the most recent cats, Stephens said the 16 are scared, but rather easy to pet. They’re not hissing or growling, and she knows they’ll make good companions for someone.
Now, though, the nonprofit will have to work on finding more pet food, more kitty litter and also volunteers. The animals at the shelter need more than their basic needs of survival met. They need human interaction, too, and back scratches, and to be held — and also the dogs must be walked.
There are 21 shifts available at the shelter. That’s three each day. Sometimes Stephens has done the majority of them herself, and she’s grateful for the volunteers that are showing up these days. It typically takes two people to get the work done.
Now, Hoof & Paw needs morning volunteers, and there are at least three mornings available for anyone who’d like to come help out.
“There is so much to do,” Stephens said. “The dogs need to walk, animals need fed, and there is cleaning.”
Stephens agreed that high school students can get service learning hours for volunteering at the shelter. When asked about groups of students coming in to work with or pet animals — maybe even read books on site aloud to animals — Stephens said she was open to it, but teachers and chaperones would have to be present and lead the activity with the kids.
She’s hoping to create a partnership with the Naturita Public Library soon. Library representatives mentioned something about having a cat condo on site, so that adoptable kittens could be seen and played with. That perhaps could get some cats adopted.
“That would be a good thing,” she said.
Stephens, who’s been working on putting stray animals in homes and controlling the stray pet population, has been doing it 14 years. She’s always thinking about ways to get the animals into homes.
