WASHOUGAL — Kira is an 8-year-old pit bull who exudes happiness to meet a new person or go for a walk along the Columbia River dike near her temporary home at the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society.
On Christmas Day, she was also the only dog in the 12-kennel shelter.
“What she wants is a human and a nice comfy bed,” said Hilda Neithardt, a volunteer who helps care for dogs, including Kira, on Sunday mornings, including Christmas. She and another shelter volunteer, Amanda Prince, told Kira’s story while a third volunteer, Lorraine Steele, took her for a long walk.
Kira once had a home, but ended up in the shelter three years ago. She was adopted, but was returned to the shelter this fall when her family was expecting a human baby and could no longer care for Kira, too.
Most dogs that come to the Washougal shelter are quickly adopted. Kira is hard to place, because she needs to be the only dog in the household and is middle-aged. But with her friendly demeanor toward humans, she’s easy to love, the shelter volunteers say.
Volunteers wanted
The West Columbia Gorge Humane Society is always looking for volunteers, both for hands-on pet care and for office and fundraising work. Older children can volunteer with their parents. Email volunteer@wcghs.org for details. The next volunteer orientation is Jan. 4.
“She’s a wonderful girl,” Neithardt said.
Though she needs a home, Kira’s Christmas was far from gloomy. She started with a walk just after sunrise while Prince and Neithardt cleaned her cage, prepared her breakfast and arranged a large overstuffed bed complete with a fresh blanket still warm from the clothes dryer.
Later in the day, other volunteers would be back to check on Kira, feed her a treat, perhaps sit in the kennel with her a while, and for sure give her another walk. Even on Sundays, a day the shelter is normally closed to the public, the dogs are not left on their own for more than four hours.
“We spend quality time with them,” Neithardt said. “We love these animals like our own.”
38 cats need homes
Next door to the quiet dog shelter, the Humane Society’s cattery currently is filled with felines. There’s Olly, whose facial expressions resemble Internet sensation Grumpy Cat and shares some of his traits.
And then there’s Gabriel, a black long-haired cat with more than his share of challenges in life. An encounter with a dog during his kittenhood left him with only three legs. And Gabriel is deaf, so he’s unable to obey verbal commands and can be easily startled. He’s been at the no-kill shelter for a year awaiting a good home.
“Gabe is a pretty cool cat,” said volunteer Debby Hyde-Sato, one of a cadre of volunteers looking after the cats on Christmas morning. “He’ll be a good cat and needs a good home.”
And there are many, many other cats too. On Sunday there were 38 cats at the shelter, which is typical; sometimes the shelter will house up to 80. Each cat can live at the shelter until it is adopted. Currently, it costs only $25 to adopt a cat because the humane society is running a special through the end of December.
“These are all my babies,” Hyde-Sato said.
Some of the cats are older, some younger. There are no kittens at the shelter; they typically stay with foster families until they can be adopted.
“I just adopted one on Saturday,” said Hyde-Soto. Her new cat, Sapphire, is a tuxedo cat: black with white markings.
The West Columbia Gorge Humane Society also has programs for barn cats and feral cats. On the front porch is a plastic cat kennel, complete with blanket and food, for any stray cat that comes by and needs a home.
