GREAT FALLS — Thanks to SLIPA funding the Great Falls Animal Shelter is going to be able to do some much needed renovations. Laramie Smovir, the operations manager for the shelter, said, “We are very lucky to have been awarded a SLIPA grant to help with some of the infrastructure issues that we're having here in the shelter.”
The State Local Infrastructure Partnership Act, or SLIPA, is funding nearly $86,000, with a 25 percent match by the shelter’s “Help Us Grow” fund. Smovir explains that the money will go toward replacing their pipes, resurfacing dog kennels, removing mold from the kitchenette, and replacing the front door of the shelter. This will begin on February first.
Smovir said, “During that resurfacing, the fumes of that, that material that they're going to be using is toxic. And so we have to have the building completely empty and are going to have to be closed for 2 to 3 weeks.”
This means that for the next few months, the shelter will be operating differently.
Smovir said, “Starting next week, we are actually not going to be doing stray intakes from the general public.”
The shelter asks if you see a stray and have the resources to care for it until an owner is identified, do so. If you can’t care for the animal, take a picture and post it along with its location on the Great Falls Lost and Found Pets Facebook page so someone else can help.
Smovir said, “It's called community sheltering, and it's actually a thing that's done oftentimes in smaller communities that don't have access [to] the resources that we have here.
Although it is not helpful to have the shelter closed, it is the only logical course of action.
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Smovir said, “If we don't close and get this accomplished in the long term, our piping would collapse and we wouldn't be able to operate as a shelter, so we would lose the shelter completely”
Don’t worry. The animals in the shelter that arent adopted will still have a place to go.
Smovir said, “We are working with several partners across the state of Montana, lots of different animal shelters that have all volunteered and stepped up and are going to be great partners, and taking in a couple of those animals for us so that they will have a safe place to go that will continue to help find their forever homes for them.”
Additional ways to help include properly ID-ing your animal or microchipping them. The microchip scanner at the shelter will still be available for public use during the renovations. You can also adopt an animal at the shelter for only $55.
The Great Falls Animal Shelter is at 1010 25th Avenue NE. For more information, call 406-454-2276, or click here to visit the website.
