By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
It’s just a fact, some dogs and cats do not do well in a shelter. The consistent barking and meowing along with an unfamiliar setting can be too much for a pet. Additionally, severe winter temperatures can cause even the nicest of shelters to be cold.
Golden Belt Humane Society Director Heather Acheson says the week leading up to the recent cold snap, they asked for people to become temporary emergency fosters to create room for dogs who otherwise had no protection from the cold.
“The dogs available for adoption at the shelter were placed in foster care. I could then go out to the community to offer a courtesy shelter boarding or a discounted rate until the blast was over. We placed eight dogs in foster, and six of those have been adopted,” explained Acheson. “We took in twelve dogs during that arctic blast, and they stayed 7-10 days.”
Acheson says the shelter tried to educate people that animals can suffer from hypothermia and frostbite as well. If owners still do not comply with local and state statutes that protect animals, they may press charges.
Luckily, Acheson says everyone complied during last week’s arctic blast.
“Some of the analogies we used were if you had the heat on in your home with a little bit of straw, but no doors or windows, are you going to still stay warm? Probably not. A doghouse with a little bit of straw is the same. That worked,” says Acheson.
Acheson says they have to be picky about where they foster pets because some animals have lived at the shelter for so long, that’s all they have known for several months.