Wednesday, June 18, 2025
68.0°F

Grant County Animal Outreach still busy

CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | April 7, 2020 10:57 PM

MOSES LAKE — April 3 was a good day for Lamb Chop.

Lamb Chop is part husky and, as Grant County Animal Outreach coordinator Kelsie Einspahn said, part something else. He has the husky head and long gray fur, but not the stocky husky body. “You don’t see them lanky like that. Normally they’re very fluffy,” Einspahn said. His looks may have contributed to his lengthy residence at GCAO – he’d been there since Feb. 13.

But April 3 was Lamb Chop’s day. Jacob Mitchell wanted a dog, and had been looking at options on pet-adoption websites. In the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, the GCAO shelter technically is open weekdays by appointment only, but the gate was open in anticipation of a volunteer coming to pick up a foster dog. So Lamb Chop got a chance to meet a prospective owner, and in the end he got a new home.

The prospective foster dog had just had puppies, so young their eyes were still closed. Einspahn called her the “angry mom.”

“She doesn’t let us pet her or anything. She just growls. She’s got nine babies,” she said.

And Mom certainly didn’t like it when she was disturbed, barking fiercely when shelter workers transferred her puppies to the carrier. Her foster caregiver drove from Mattawa to pick up the dogs.

Life, adoption and fostering go on at the animal shelter, in spite of the challenges posed by the outbreak.

There have been some changes. The animal shelter is open to the public from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturdays only. “We do try and make appointments during the week, even though we’re closed,” Einspahn said, for people who are interested in an animal. Appointments can be scheduled between noon and 3:30 p.m. weekdays.

Some of the challenges are common to everybody – the shelter is having trouble getting disposable gloves and floor-cleaning solution. Some are unique to the shelter. “The canned food donations have slowed down since we’ve been closed,” Einspahn said. Canned dog food is the primary need.

“We run out of wood pellets pretty quickly,” Einspahn said. The pellets are used in place of cat litter to reduce dust. Less dust reduces the chance of upper respiratory infections among the shelter inhabitants.

The Spokane veterinary clinic that was doing most of GCAO’s spaying and neutering services was forced to close temporarily. “Luckily, WSU (the Washington State University veterinary clinic) had fixed most of our animals before they were forced to shut down,” she said. Local vets are doing some of the spaying and neutering in the meantime.

While the shelter is still busy, it’s not overwhelmed. “It’s harder to get certain resources, like vet appointments or donations, on the spur of the moment. In terms of what’s coming in, it seems to be a bit more reasonable. Which helps match the reduced outgo,” Einspahn said.

The number of animals being left at the shelter has remained relatively steady. “Thank God it’s slowed down, because it’s been impossible to get rescues out over the mountains,” she said.

Animal formula will be needed as the weather gets better. “We go through that pretty quickly when we start getting the orphans,” she said. “The warmer it gets, the more it happens, unfortunately.”

Pictures of, and information about, animals available for adoption from GCAO can be found on a number of animal-adoption websites, such as Adopt a Pet, Petfinder and Petango, Einspahn said. People can set up appointments by contacting GCAO by phone at 509-762-9616 or by email using the form on the website, www.grantcountyanimaloutreach.com.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.

photo

Grant County Animal Outreach shelter coordinator Kelsie Einspahn loads puppies into a carrier, the first step in placing them in a foster home.

photo

Puppies from the Grant County Animal Outreach shelter are transferred to a carrier on their way to a foster home.

photo

A kitten ignores the ball at its feet in favor of another shiny object. The kitten is among the animals ready, or almost ready, for adoption at the Grant County Animal Outreach shelter.

photo

A kitten chases a ball at the Grant County Animal Outreach shelter. The COVID-19 outbreak has brought some challenges, but the shelter continues to operate.

MORE COVID-19 STORIES

Sade puppy dog eyes
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Pet project: Donations help organizations, animals in need
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 3 years, 4 months ago
Animal outreach fundraiser draws overflow crowd
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 8 years, 3 months ago

ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER

Some progress for ag in 2025 legislative session, Dent says
June 18, 2025 6:01 p.m.

Some progress for ag in 2025 legislative session, Dent says

MOSES LAKE — While some progress has been made on revising the state’s Climate Commitment Act to reduce its impact on farming, Representative Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, said there’s still work to do. A bill sponsored by Dent, HB 1912, makes the process of getting an exemption for some CCA fuel sanctions easier. The bill also added propane to the list of fuels eligible for exemption. But Dent said he couldn’t get his colleagues in the legislature to agree on other provisions that would be of help to farmers. “Some of my colleagues - they don’t understand what agriculture really means,” Dent said. “They said, ‘(The exemption) is just for farm use.’ and I said, ‘Here’s the thing. The baler breaks down and I jump in my diesel pickup and drive to town to buy parts. Is that not agriculture use?’ And (the reply was), ‘Oh, we didn’t think about that.’”

Quincy street plan subject of July 1 public hearing
June 18, 2025 4:18 p.m.

Quincy street plan subject of July 1 public hearing

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council will hold a hearing July 1 to solicit public opinion on the city’s six-year street improvement plan. It's scheduled for 6 p.m. during the regular council meeting at Quincy City Hall, 104 B St. SW. Some proposed street improvements are tied to development, and others, said Quincy Engineer Ariel Belino, are added because the streets in question need some work.

Food truck ordinance under review in Royal City
June 17, 2025 5:14 p.m.

Food truck ordinance under review in Royal City

ROYAL CITY — Royal City residents will get further chances to comment on updates to the city’s ordinances for mobile food vendors, a subject that’s been under extensive discussion by Royal City City Council members. Finance Director Janice Flynn said revisions have become a topic as mobile food vendors have become more popular.