The Gastineau Humane Society celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and it hosted an open house on Saturday to mark the occasion.
The private, nonprofit animal shelter has come a long way since it was founded in 1963, according to Executive Director Chava Lee.
Lee said concerned citizens banded together then to care for unwanted and stray animals that were roaming the streets. The first shelter was a shed under the old Juneau-Douglas bridge that was donated by the city.
“This was back in the days when sacks of kittens and puppies were just thrown in the channel,” Lee said in an interview. “It was grim.”
The shed, which was stocked with air kennels, quickly became too cramped to hold the increasing number of animals the shelter was taking in.
In the 1980s, volunteers raised money and bought the building on Glacier Highway where the shelter is currently located.
Today, the shelter still provides pet adoption services as well as runs its own animal care clinic. It also provides a variety of services from rabies and microchip clinics to pet behavior consultations, and it contracts with the City and Borough of Juneau to perform Animal Control and Protection Services.
The building itself houses 45 dog runs, quarantine areas for recently arrived animals that have not yet had a medical check-up, an isolation ward for sick animals and medical kennels for animals recovering from surgery or serious injury, according to its website.
But Lee says the number one goal of GHS in this day and age is to control the pet population by spaying and neutering. The shelter provides low cost spay and neuter services for pet owners who cannot afford a veterinarian.
Lee said GHS has done 55 spays and neuters this month alone.
Lee, the third person to hold the executive director position, says it’s been interesting to watching the shelter grow and adapt over the years.
“We’ve come a long way, and we’ve grown with the city,” Lee said. “We’ve grown — people’s concerns about animals have changed in 50 years. We view them differently, we consider them parts of our family.”
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (10)
Add commentCongrats
Thank you for your service and education. Bob Barker said it best, "Have your pets spay or neutered".
Don't forget to keep your male and female guinea pigs separated (even if they are related).
Thank you GHS
You are appreciated for your work with our communities animals.
I know personally I appreciate you, as my one dog has run free twice and you kept her safe until we could retrieve her from you. Worth every penny to know she was safe in your hands. Thank you.
@rainak
Nice Bob Barker quote - 10 points for you.
Is it possible!!?
Good Grief!......seems like just a year or so back that things got started under the bridge. And now look at what has been accomplished. There would be a long list of people who helped make this possible if any reporter cared enough to look.
Thank you.....every one of you from the start up until now.
Sad there was hardly any publicity for this event
I mention GHS to people and no one has these positive things to say-even though everyone is certainly for spay/neuter. The response is more of a very sad creepy shudder.
There are always questions on why the GHS refuses to divulge any info on intakes and euthanasias-particularly when there are only 3 or so dogs available for adoption through them on average. That's way low for a population that goes from 32,000 to 70,000 in the summer; no matter how pro-pet the population is.
There's also their arrogant refusal to utilize the free space at petco to do adoptions. They have plenty of cats they could have a volunteer bring but they're the only shelter I've ever heard of that refuses free help.
Their website has stepwise removed all information since Ms Lee took over. Nothing but the most general info is there-no info on contacting board members, no info employees and the animal experience they brought to the GHS, no info on their statistics, etc. it's a completely airtight closed book.
total
waste of taxpayer money. Most problems would be cheaply taken care with burlap sack couple glacier stones and off the cliff at 33 mile.
Dusty, you dog, you!
True, Northboy
Just make sure you can jump far enough away from the cliff edge to get a decent descent rate for your impact, and that someone either drove you out there or can pick up your car afterwards.
my best dogs
ALWAYS came from the Gast. Humane Society. Still thinking about getting one, but I have a job now and don't want to leave my 'buddy' home alone.
Northboy support
Wow northboy where were you on the discussions about abortion on another article. It's comments like those that lend support for pro abortion.
Do the right thing
I just looked at the GHS website and found most of what you said didn't exist. Not that hard to find..
What is your euthanasia policy?
GHS does not euthanize any animal unless they have failed a temperament test or have a serious illness or condition that diminishes the quality of their life or affects the lives of other sheltered animals. Animal are not euthanized to make space or because they are hard to adopt.
How many animals do you euthanize a year?
Last year we euthanized 156 animals. It is important to note that a large percentage of these animals were sick or gravely injured (like tossed of a cliff at 33 mile?) and left in our outside kennels for us to deal with.
How many adoptions do you do a month?
We average 48 adoptions per month.
The shelter is a great part of our community that I regularly volunteer at and encourage others to as well. Just stop by and ask them if you can walk one of the adoption dogs!
Also the population of Juneau is 32,164 I am wondering where those other 37,836 people are that live here in the summertime?
@Do the Right Thing
I agree with @ThaneRoad, GHS's website also clearly lists the board members. Not to mention, their website has been updated and now people can donate on-line if they wish to. You've been in comments before making negative comments about GHS. Ive volunteered with them and if you had, you would know how well they care for abandoned pets. I cant help but wonder if you've had a run-in with GHS in the past that causes you to react the way you do each time something is in the paper about them. They were on a radio chat show talking about the anniversary and there were notices in the paper but it doesnt matter, if they had publicised more, you would have accused them of spending too much money on publicity. Its a no-win situation for GHS with you. I suggest if people truly want to adopt a cat, the shelter is about a 5 minute drive from Petco. No big deal to go over and take a look or go to their website to look at the available pets. Its not complicated.