Finding pets homes since 2003 – the Humane Society of Wright County

When a stray animal is picked up by the police and dropped off at a county veterinarian’s office, the long process of finding that animal a home begins. If it’s a lost pet, owners have three days to contact the vet. If it really is a stray, the animal is spayed or neutered, vaccinated, then given over to the Humane Society of Wright County to be fostered until an owner can be found.

Right now, the Humane Society has just about as many dogs as it can care for. “It just seems like all year round, there’s so many animals,” said Terri Torkelson, treasurer for the organization.

Torkelson said that they operate with about 12 total volunteers, with four of them fostering animals. Don and Connie Garrett in Eagle Grove, due to space and facilities from raising animals previously, house most of them—currently 27 dogs, which is just about as many as they have space to keep. The Garretts also take care of cats that need adoption. Torkelson said there are more stray cats than can be fostered, and that most of the time, stray cats aren’t picked up and brought to vets, which can result in more stray cats over time. “It’s very hard to find a solution,” she said.

The dogs the Garretts keep have pens with food, water, shelter, and plenty of space to move around in. The Garretts said they have some dedicated Humane Society volunteers who’ll come and walk dogs or let them run around a bigger space supervised. “We really appreciate them,” Connie said. They also help with chores to feed and water the animals and clean their pens, a job Don said could easily take a few hours.

For the full story, see the July 8 edition of the Monitor.