Helping out "For the love of a pet"

Exploring and greeting people between rows of motorcycles and Harley Davidson products, a number of dogs searched for their forever homes, and several found them, last weekend. 

The annual "For the Love of a Pet" event hosted by Flaming Gorge Harley Davidson brought together local animal control and animal rescue organizations on Saturday afternoon, giving Green River and Sweetwater County residents a chance to see available pets, learn about adoption, and get pets microchipped. Staff and volunteers from Green River Animal Control, Rock Springs Animal Control and Red Desert Humane Society helped put on the event, bringing in dogs and cats needing homes. 

"It's a nice chance for all of the different adoption agencies in our area to get together," Green River Animal Control Office Jade Winters explained. "Then everybody can come and see what we've got all in one spot instead of having to go here, there and everywhere."

While they were limited on which animals they could bring for the event, and still have a number of other great animals at the shelter, Winters noted, Green River Animal Control brought in several dogs and a kitten needing homes. These animals all come to the shelter under different circumstances, according to Winters. Some of the dogs at the event had to be surrendered after their owner got cancer. Another dog was given up by a family after not getting along with the family's existing dogs. Another had been bought as a gift for a child, but then the child was unable to handle the responsibility of caring for it. 

"We get a whole variety of reasons why people surrender," Winters said. She noted that shelters have been especially full the past few years, which could be from different common reasons or could be connected to the economy and the prices of everything, including pet ownership, going up. 

In order to avoid more surrenders, Winters pointed out that adoptions should take place carefully and thoughtfully. For example, those who work long shifts or aren't home regularly probably shouldn't take home a new puppy, she pointed out. Often, people having animals they can't properly care for leads to the animals developing behavioral issues, which makes it even harder for them to find a new home if they're surrendered, creating a pattern. 

"Any potential adopters just really need to think through their actual circumstances," Winters explained. 

With that in mind, adoptions are planned carefully to try to ensure that homes will be a good fit for both the animal and the family, but adoptions are also strongly encouraged and celebrated. Green River Animal Control and other local groups especially enjoy participating in adoption events like "For the Love of a Pet" in order to see these connections happen. 

"It's really nice to see when dogs go home after this and never have to come back to the shelter," Winters said. 

For those who aren't in a position to adopt, however, there are still ways to help. 

"Volunteering is the biggest thing," Winters explained. 

Volunteers are crucial for helping animals at places like the shelter, and for helping with adoption events. Green River Animal Control had help from the Green River High School National Honor Society during "For the Love of a Pet," as well as from individual volunteers like Brandy Stoeger. Stoeger works for the City of Green River at the Recreation Center, but Winters explained that she also regularly volunteers with Animal Control, helping take care of and play with the animals, even working on training them. 

"We could always use more volunteers like her that come and just walk the dogs, spend time with them, get them out of the kennels," Winters said. 

Volunteers also have the option to help as much or as little as they want, and to do whatever they are capable of and comfortable with, Winters added. Anyone who wants to can stop by Animal Control to see what they have going on and to spend time with the animals without having to commit to anything. 

"I don't care if it's once a week, once a month or once a year – any amount helps," Winters explained. "If everybody in this town volunteered one time a year, we would be up to our ears in volunteers. It would be awesome."

Bringing in more volunteers is another benefit of adoption events, according to Winters, since the events give community members the chance to get a glimpse of what Animal Control does and many people end up falling in love with helping. 

"I think everybody has a lot of fun," Winters said of the annual "For the Love of a Pet" event.  

For the volunteers laughing as they played with dogs, the families filling out adoption papers, and the multiple animals who went to their new homes after the event, this seemed to be true.