We've Come A Long Way...
Did You Know?
Intermountain Humane Society was first incorporated in 1982. This “grass-roots” organization arose from a community response to the closure of Park County’s Animal Control Department in 1981 and the subsequent need to address animal issues in the county.
From 1982 until 2002, Intermountain operated solely as a rescue organization. With no permanent shelter facility, foster homes and a local vet clinic were used to house and care for pets who were homeless. In 2002 Intermountain Humane Society opened a small shelter facility (at our current location in Pine Junction) to augment our foster program and better address the needs of the community.
New This Year!
This summer, we purchased the “Log Building” at 67318 US Highway 285, the same property we have been renting in one form or another for the last 26 years! Ever since, we've been sprucing up the place; we're making critical repairs to ensure the property is safe for people and pets and a generous donation is allowing us to fence the entire property to secure the property. Along with the main building, we also acquired a garage and a rustic log cabin, which we are feverishly refurbishing into our administrative facility.
This major milestone has opened so many possibilities for us and we thank the community for making it a reality.
Our Community's Needs...
Just as all of Colorado has been experiencing tremendous growth, so has the need in our community for additional resources for animal welfare. It seems that nearly everyone who moves to our community wants to better experience the mountain lifestyle, which often includes a dog or two roaming loose on their property. Many who move to our mountain community, do so from areas where spay and neuter is not considered an essential element of responsible pet ownership and therefore educational programs are critically necessary. Additionally, there is a growing feral cat population that needs mitigation. Furthermore, our close proximity to the Denver metro community makes us a target for animal dumping.
At the same time, we have an aging community. Many seniors have little or no means of caring for their beloved pets when they become ill or when they need assistance with daily living. Our community is also experiencing greater homelessness and hunger as the cost of real estate swells, while wages remain stagnant. All this community growth exacerbates the demands on our tiny shelter, resulting in an urgent and direct need to expand our facility and programming.
There is so much we could do!
As part of our on-going strategic planning, we are interested in exploring low cost spay and neuter and related community education; we could move beyond a managed intake model to an open intake model, which would take in all animals rather than being selective. We could expand our behavioral assessment and offer training to improve pet retention in the community. We could provide senior pet foster care, grow our food bank, and better address the growing feral cat problem and possibly add a barn cat program.
The top floor of our main building houses our 2nd Chance Thrift Shoppe, which brings half our earned revenue for operating the shelter annually. With your help, we could expand our retail space to generate more revenue to improve operations. Simply adding kennels would go a long way to alleviating need in our community.
With your help, we could add these programs and make many other important improvements. Won't you help?
December 10th is Colorado Gives Day.
You can begin donating TODAY! On December 10th, thousands of people will come together to support nonprofit organizations just like ours. When you donate to Intermountain Humane Society, you're helping us to serve, educate and inspire our community to advance the welfare of animals, elevate their value in society, and improve peoples lives through the unique benefits that only pets can provide.
