Animal Rescue faces a backlog of bills

SANDPOINT – When Lynn Walters first laid eyes on the frail pit bull that arrived Saturday at the Priest River Animal Rescue, she could hardly comprehend what she saw. Severely emaciated with its ribs and vertebrae clearly visible through its skin, the dog has a 50 percent chance of survival.

“I could not wrap my mind around it,” said Walters, a volunteer and vice president of the animal rescue group serving west Bonner County. “He looked like a fossil.”

Julie Horowitz, president of the group, said the dog named Laben weighed 47 pounds, less than half its ideal weight. Horowitz had to carry Laben, who was too weak to walk. A technician for a local veterinarian took the starving dog home to try to nurse it back to health, and the local animal-control officer is investigating the case.

“You cannot only see his ribs, but you can actually put your finger in between them,” Horowitz said, adding that it’s the worst case of animal neglect she has seen in her years volunteering for the shelter.

Walters, Horowitz and other volunteers say they’re doing their best to ensure they see fewer cases such as Laben’s. Founded in early 2002, the organization strives to rescue animals but also to control the animal population through its spay and neuter program.

Those services, however, are in jeopardy. The group’s rent, food and veterinary bills are rising, and needed repairs are stacking up at its facility in Priest River. The building, which houses the kennel and the animal rescue’s thrift store, also is for sale.

Priest River Animal Rescue raises money through Critters, its thrift store. That is the main source of income for the nonprofit group, but it does not bring in enough to run the organization and take care of all the animals.

“We are doing fundraisers as often as we can,” Horowitz said. “I bake an awful lot of cookies.”

The group is looking for carpenters to volunteer to build shelves and a plumber to help set up laundry facilities to wash animal bedding. The building also needs a fresh coat of paint inside, Horowitz said. The animal rescue has seven dog kennels and a cat room, and it also uses foster homes for some of the abandoned animals it takes in. But that’s not enough, Walters said.

“Our needs are so extensive, we often have the dogs doubled up,” she said. “Many of them are also in foster care awaiting forever homes.”

The organization started by serving only the Priest River area, but now it also serves small Washington towns such as Cusick and Usk. “We are basically the entire Pend Oreille River Valley,” Horowitz said.

With the shelter-store building for sale, the organization would like to buy it or find another facility, but funds are too scarce.

Rent alone is $700 a month, and the group must take in an average of $60 a day to keep the doors open, Walters said. The animal rescue owes $2,500 in veterinary bills.

Much of the local support comes in the form of volunteers – about 35 are active with the thrift store, Horowitz said. “We have a core group of hardworking volunteers,” including some kids, she said. “They provide a great deal of energy towards this place.”

Barbi Johnson, a volunteer who maintains the group’s database, said she is amazed that 302 of the 346 animals taken in last year were adopted.

“We only euthanize for medical reasons,” Johnson said.

She added, “We have a very small group that is performing a miracle here.”

As for Laben, “He is standing now, so that is good,” Horowitz said.