Animal rescue group seeks building for animals, pet food

GRANGEVILLE — Volunteers with a local animal rescue organization told the Idaho County commissioners Tuesday they are in desperate need of a building where unwanted animals can be sheltered and for storage for their activities.

“We’re not talking about a big, fancy shelter,” said Alaina Redenbo, a member of Animal Rescue Foundation, a group who met with the commissioners to seek their support for acquiring a facility.

The building could be as small as 1,000 square feet on a half-acre lot, Redenbo said. Currently all abandoned animals in Idaho County are being temporarily housed with foster families, including the dozen or so volunteers with ARF.

But that situation is not sustainable, Redenbo said. Besides housing unwanted animals, the group also needs space for pet food, traps, crates and other equipment that goes into caring for and relocating animals to safe locations.

Since February 2020 when ARF initiated a trap/spay-neuter/vaccinate/relocate campaign, the group has helped 1,559 animals, including transfers to larger animal shelters, adoptions, spaying and neutering vouchers, and placing animals in foster homes.

The group gets calls every day from people throughout Idaho County and in parts of Lewis County needing help with animal problems. Some of these people have ended up with dozens of unwanted or problem animals resulting from feral cats and abandoned dogs being dumped in the countryside.

“This isn’t just a problem for animal owners,” Redenbo said. “It’s an entire Idaho County problem.”

Commission Chairman Skip Brandt agreed “there’s definitely a problem,” and offered to link ARF’s website on the county website to make it more available to the public.

But as far as offering a building or land for the group, the commissioners had no immediate answers. Although empty buildings at the Idaho County airport have been mentioned as possible solutions, Brandt said all activities at the airport must be related to airport business. The county does not have the discretion to use those facilities for other purposes, he said.

Commissioner Denis Duman asked how ARF differs from Animal Ark, a longtime Idaho County animal rescue organization. Redenbo explained that ARF started in 2014 with the sole purpose of getting a no-kill animal shelter built in the county. But in the process of exploring grant possibilities the group discovered it has to quantify the need for an animal shelter and show proof that it can take care of the problem. Animal Ark has no facility, she said, and is a volunteer organization that exists strictly to rescue animals. Both groups work together closely, she added, and may merge sometime in the future.

Even having a spot where ARF can store and make pet food available for people would be a big help, Redenbo said. The need for pet food assistance is huge.

“A lot of senior citizens will forgo their own food to feed their pets,” she said.

Anyone wishing for more information about ARF can visit the website at ARFGrangeville.org or make donations at P.O. Box 72, Grangeville, Idaho, 83530.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.