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PRIEST RIVER – Sable is an 8-year-old black shorthair who is friendly, playful and gets along with cats — though not dogs.
Sable is also one of about 40 animals ready for adoption at Priest River Animal Rescue, which is at capacity with cats. Only three of the adoptable animals are dogs; the rest are cats.
A no-kill facility, Priest River Animal Rescue is the rescue closest to most of the small towns in the area, including Newport, Oldtown, Laclede, Usk, Cusick, Ione and Colville. The rescue is run by about 13 staff and 22 volunteers and works with a small group of fosters, foster coordinator Layla Bews said.
“We’ve had sales and just can’t get them adopted,” said Barbara Grover, president of the Priest River Animal Rescue board of directors. “So, we just keep advertising on Facebook.”
The rescue only has the capacity for about 60 cats and 10 dogs, Bews said.
The cats stay in the rescue’s main building, which has its office, community rooms with patios, an observatory room, an intake room, a sick bay, a laundry room, bathrooms and some storage. The dogs stay in an auxiliary building with three yards. For more storage, the rescue has a few sheds.
“We make do with the space we have,” Grover said.
When the rescue takes in animals, it houses them in separate kennels for intake, a process involving vaccination and a precautionary isolation period. Then, the rescue moves them in with its other animals. With only five of those kennels for cats and two for dogs, the rescue is forced to turn away both — 60% of cats and 70% of dogs, Bews said.
As of Monday, the waiting list for intake has six cats and between five and 10 dogs. Some people bypass the wait entirely and leave animals tied up or in boxes for staff or volunteers to find in the morning, which Grover notes is abandonment.
“It’s just frustrating,” Grover said.
Priest River Animal Rescue is not the only rescue at capacity. Intakes at rescues and shelters across the country are rising while adoptions are not, according to the Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare organization partnered with Priest River Animal Rescue.
Best Friends attributes the rise to competition with breeders, veterinary care costs and a lack of pet-friendly housing. Grover agrees with them.
“We used to get a lot of strays in, but now it’s more owner surrenders,” Grover said. “They’re moving, they can’t take their dog. Or health issues, housing issues.”
And Priest River Animal Rescue has “always” been at capacity, Grover said.
The rescue moved into its current location at 5538 Hwy. 2 in Priest River in 2009. Built in the 1950s, the rescue is falling apart, Grover said. There is no heating or air conditioning, so staff and volunteers rely on radiator heaters and wall air conditioners. And the rescue’s puppy isolation shed does not have heat or hot water, so the shelter is forced to turn away puppies in the winter while the shed is closed.
“We’re afraid to walk into the door some mornings,” Grover said. “Because you don’t know. Are the pipes frozen, or is the roof leaking?”
So, the rescue is trying to move to a new location: a 3-acre lot between Les Schwab and The Ranch Club off Highway 2.
The rescue’s current location spans about one-and-a-half acres, about a third of which Bews said the rescue cannot use since part of the lot is downhill. With three acres, the rescue could increase its capacity as well as host health and wellness animal clinics and provide pet owners with veterinary care and education.
Priest River Animal Rescue and The Ranch Club have written a letter of intent to buy the lot, but Grover said both are still going through the Bonner County permitting process.
“We have to rezone it,” Grover said. “And the issue we’re having now is finding access, because apparently, driveways are not legal.”
The new location could cost upwards of $3 million to build. Nevertheless, Grover has faith in Priest River Animal Rescue and its community, which donates both monetarily and in kind with supplies such as food or bleach.
The rescue also receives all the revenue from Critters Thrift Store, located right next to the rescue’s main building. If it moves, the rescue could expand the thrift store’s inventory, increasing sales by at least 40%.
“I think it’s going to work out,” Grover said. “It’s just, hurdle over hurdle over hurdle.”
To adopt Sable or another animal at the rescue, apply in person or on its website at www. pranimalrescue.org.
All applicants are required to meet the animal they apply for and pay its adoption fee before taking it home. Adoption fees are $35 for adult cats, $40 for kittens between four months and a year old, $75 for kittens less than four months old and between $100 and $300 for a dog.
The rescue also takes monetary donations and applications to foster online or in person.
