The Whitman County Humane Society held its Barkinglot event Saturday, celebrating the end of summer with high adoption rates and community involvement.
In the cat building of the WCHS, navigating the narrow aisle between the cat kennels was nearly impossible due to prospective cat parents. Staff members, volunteers and animal lovers had to navigate past people half-inside kennels and crates, coercing the cats and kittens from their beds to cozy up to prospective owners.
Katelynn English, a WCHS board member, recounts the excitement for the adoption opportunities.
“Our first cat was adopted within five minutes; we had people outside as early as 7:15 waiting for pets,” she said.
As a board member, English is responsible for the organization of these events.
“We were looking to do an event where we could involve the community, invite people down to the shelter in collaboration with the national ‘Clear the Shelters’ event that happens this time a year,” English said.
Clear the Shelters is an annual event started in 2015 by NBCUniversal. Throughout the month of August, shelters across the country advertise lowered adoption fees and greater pushes for adoption and donations. Since 2015, more than one million pets have been adopted. In 2015, Clear the Shelters reported almost 80,000 adoptions.
“It’s a motivation not just to clear the shelter and have increased adoptions, but to support us every time we have one pet leave, we have space for another pet to come in,” said Roslyn Watson, WCHS shelter director. “The tagline, ‘If you adopt one pet, you save two,’ is absolutely true, because one adoption opens up another spot for another pet to come in.”
The event boasted more than just adoption opportunities. Terracotta offered ceramic painting, Pups and Cups cafe provided refreshments, Viking Veterinary Hospital offered future care to new adoptees and tattoo artist Meraki Ink offered pet-themed flash tattoos.
“When I’m thinking about community, I’m thinking about everybody, from the people to the pets to the businesses. I think you need that support to really be successful and make a difference in your community,” English said.
Shelter visibility is the primary goal of events like Barkinglot.
“Whether that may be coming to our parking lot with fun events, fun booths, the tattoo artists, but it’s all about getting visibility in the community and doing that in a fun way and showing that our shelter is a fun part of the community, ” Watson said.
While community involvement in the form of patronage is greatly appreciated, volunteers are the backbone of WCHS.
“Our shelter runs on the support of volunteers, and we have a very small staff, so volunteers come in to help clean, help feed our pets, help give our dogs walks, and help our cats get playtime,” Watson said.
“I’ve been volunteering since I was in first grade,” said Cecilia Hellman, incoming University of Washington freshman and volunteer. “It’s very rewarding to help the animals staying here, I like to think I’m helping them. If you clean the cage, make it look nice, they have higher chances of getting adopted.”
Despite the work of a volunteer being more cleaning than cuddling, Hellman finds time for both.
“I like to pet the cats, then clean,” Hellman said.
High school and college students make up a large part of the volunteer staff at the shelter, and their contributions are invaluable.
“We’re looking to expand our volunteer opportunities, and we’re looking into different ways that our dogs can get out in the communities with volunteers,” Watson said.
While college students may not be in the best position to adopt a pet, the WCHS always welcomes student involvement.
“I have regulars, and I know they’re just here to hang out with the cats,” Watson said.
Outside of consistent volunteering, the WCHS is about to announce new opportunities for students to get involved with the shelter on a more casual scale than frequent volunteer work. This new program would also allow dogs to get more exposure with the community, hopefully advertising themselves for adoption.
“We’ll be launching our dog field trip program very soon. Even if it’s not the right time for a student to adopt a pet, whether they’re in a dorm, whether they have a full schedule with classes, they can still hang out with the pets here and that can be their pet for the day,” Watson said.
Keep an eye on the Whitman County Humane Society website and Instagram page for announcements regarding adoptable pets, community events, volunteer and dog field trip opportunities.
