By Kelli Harmon
Published courtesy of Best Friends Magazine. This article originally appeared in BFM’s November/December 2018 edition. Posted 2019/08/03
SEATTLE ANIMAL SHELTER started out like most other municipal animal services departments around the country. It was “the pound.” That was in the 1970s, when animal shelters were little more than short-term holding places for stray animals. But, says Ann Graves, Seattle Animal Shelter’s executive director, “We have a history of being progressive as a city and as a municipal agency.” So it wasn’t long before Seattle’s municipal shelter became a lifesaving model. They’ve proven that it’s possible for a cityrun, open-admission shelter to not only reach no-kill, but to sustain it.
A progressive history
What sets Seattle apart is that, as a city, it has consistently been an early adopter of core programs that go beyond the bare minimum in animal sheltering. “The low-cost spay/neuter clinic opened here in 1982, years before others around the country,” Ann says. “Seattle citizens recognized the need to do something about the overpopulation of dogs and cats, and voted for an initiative to open the clinic.”
Throughout its history, the city shelter has been open to new ideas and just keeps moving forward.
Their volunteer program started in the late 1990s, before most municipal shelters had such programs. (In fact, some shelters still don’t accept volunteer help.) They began working with rescue groups early on and they stopped the killing of animals on account of lack of space years ago, in large part because they created a foster program.
Collaboration with the public, private organizations and other agencies is a huge part of the shelter’s success. Ann, who started as a volunteer and has worked in a professional capacity at the shelter for 18 years, still remembers the first time shelters in the region got together to talk. Today the city and county shelters, as well as local nonprofit organizations, have an excellent working relationship. Ann says, “We’ve done a good job of recognizing when our neighbor needs help, and they do the same for us.”
Choices to make
As things shift and change in animal welfare and sheltering, leaders at Seattle Animal Shelter have had choices to make. What will it take to save animals coming into the shelter? How much time and funding will it require, and how can they get those resources? Today, fewer animals are coming into the shelter, but those who do have more medical needs.
“Many of the animals we’re saving now would have been euthanized in the past,” Ann says. “Thanks to the Help the Animals Fund, we’re able to provide medical care for more animals who are sick and injured. In 2011, a 501(c)3 (Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation) formed and it has increased our ability to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome the animals most in need.”
Getting to no-kill, and sustaining it, can feel like a moving target, in that each challenge that’s overcome can seem as though it leads to a new challenge. The people at Seattle Animal Shelter know that all too well. But that’s not a reason to give up — that’s a reason to keep going.