When an animal shelter says it is full, most people picture kennels packed wall to wall. But at the Great Falls Animal Shelter, the reality is more complicated — and more nuanced — than that.
"So when we say the shelter is full, we're not just counting the kennels. We're counting our resources, our staff, and our ability to successfully care for all of the animals within our facility," said Laramie Smovir, operations manager for the City of Great Falls Animal Shelter.
The shelter works hard to never reach that point. Staff feature animals for adoption, work to return lost pets home quickly, and lean on a statewide network of shelters to transfer animals when needed. But some situations are impossible to plan for.
"We always have to take in those animal control animals that may be part of a hoarding case. So when animal control comes in with 60 animals in a hoard, we have to be able to take care of those animals in some way, shape, or form. So we have extra kennels — temporary kennels that we can set up at, like the fairgrounds or wherever," Smovir said.
For those extreme situations, the shelter also calls on national partners like the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society, who send in teams to help care for animals when local resources are stretched thin.
Smovir also wants to address something she sees circulating on social media — posts claiming animals at the shelter have a set number of days before they are euthanized.
The shelter does not euthanize animals for length of stay or lack of space. Decisions around euthanasia are based on an animal's quality of life, health, and whether they are safely adoptable — not how much room is available in the facility.
The community plays a big role in keeping the shelter from reaching capacity. Smovir urges pet owners to make sure their animals are microchipped and that the information on those microchips is current — so that if a pet ends up at the shelter, staff can get them home immediately.
The Great Falls Animal Shelter is open to the public for adoptions.
