Second Chance makes bid for housing strays

Second Chance Animal Adoption would like to contract to become the official pound for Bonners Ferry and Boundary County.

Rhonda Hammerslough, executive director of SCAA,  presented its  plan to city council and county commissioners in hopes of  getting a contract from both entities.   The city and county would pay SCAA for  its service. 

Mayor Dave Anderson told Hammerslough  he was impressed with what SCAA has done so far and would like to negotiate a contract.  The contract with both the city and county will be for one year. The current city pound would close as a result however they will keep the facility in place.  This will leave the county with no other option than to find an organization to house county dogs.

County Commissioner Ron Smith told the group that in June or July they will be advertising requests for proposals from other groups interested in sheltering dogs for the county.  The county hopes to have something in place by Oct. 1.

“There might be three or four groups out there, we don’t know,” Smith said.

“It will be difficult to redo the plan if they wait a couple years before they decide to contract,” said Hammerslough.  “We have to form an operation and business plan whether they contract or not.”

Second Chance Animal Adoption assisted the Bonners Ferry city pound with $14,873 in cash and volunteer time for 2009.

The new shelter is 1,450 square feet is handicap accessible. It has a bathroom, laundry room and grooming area.  There are nine dog runs, and three police intake areas for strays found after hours. There are play, socialization and training yards on site. 

 Medical and temperament assessment of all dogs will be provided.  There are three isolation kennels.  The organization has written policies and procedures. The dogs will be exercised, trained, socialized and shown to potential adopters by staff. 

The shelter will have staff to clean and assist in disease prevention and an assertive plan is in place to cut down possible noise.  The dogs will be housed inside at night; extra insulation has been used in the structure and there will be solid fencing and landscaping designed to mitigate the noise. 

According to Hammerslough there are studies that indicate a healthy, strong enriched environment and exercise program as well as a routine schedule keep dogs happier and less likely to obsessively bark and they sleep better through the night.  The designers and board member of SCAA had this in mind when designing the shelter.

SCAA has provided blankets for kennels, taken dogs to foster homes and transferred them into other rescue facilities.  They have organized adopt-a-thons and organized feeding, cleaning of dogs and kennels, and walking dogs when the pound lost its employee. 

SCAA volunteers and employees have obtained and delivered food and treats, purchased and delivered straw for the outdoor kennels and paid for medical care, and spayed and neutered. SCAA purchased collars, leashes and necessary items.  The group advertises for adoptions in local papers and has made fliers for animal adoption.

 According to the board of directors, over the past two years SCAA has assisted the existing pound by showing dogs on and off site to those interested in adopting, and actually adopted out 29 dogs with no dogs having to be euthanized in 2009.   Last year 65 percent of the dogs came from the county and 35 percent from the city.