Every year, 1,300-1,400 animals experience kindness, comfort and second chances at the Lewis County Animal Shelter. Our staff, volunteers, and donors are rewarded daily by their work creating these new beginnings for lost, abandoned, sick, and injured animals.
On behalf of these homeless animals, the shelter relies on community members for donations, volunteerism, and adoptions. Our goal is to attract responsible pet owners and help them provide permanent, loving homes to animals in our care.
Shelter Operations
The shelter follows national standards under ASPCA guidelines and Lewis County ordinances to ensure the best possible environment for animals while under our care. We accept found animals of all types as long as we have the facility to take care of them. While dogs and cats are the most common animals, we’ve also sheltered birds, potbelly pigs, snakes, iguanas, turtles, horses, and others.
Back when fewer people spayed and neutered their pets, we sheltered as many as 5,000 animals per year. We have reduced the number of animals we see to about a quarter of that each year by encouraging people to spay and neuter their pets and only adopting animals out after they have been spayed or neutered.
The shelter is open six days a week from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday through Saturday, at 560 Centralia Alpha Road.
Reliance on Community Generosity
As part of Lewis County Public Health & Social Services, the shelter does receive some county funding for building maintenance and wages for our small but dedicated staff. The balance of our need is covered by our generous, animal-loving community that donates cash, time, and supplies.
Most of our daily operating supplies — food, pet supplies, cleaning supplies, paper towels, toilet paper, printer ink, and other necessities — come from generous donors. We receive used blankets and towels from area residents who have replaced them in their own homes. Food, toys, beds, and other supplies are also donated by people whose own family pets have died. In-kind donations, memorial gifts, and honorary gifts are also popular ways to support shelter operations and animals in our county.
Volunteers Do the Fun Stuff
A dedicated cadre of shelter volunteers range from students doing community service for school credit to long-term adult commitments. Their primary role is to do anything that improves the quality of life for the animals. This includes walks, brushing, socializing, and playing with them – in other words, the fun stuff. Any time an animal can get out of its enclosure, play, and interact with people is a bright spot in its day.
If the volunteers want to, they are welcome to do some of the dirty jobs you can imagine exist at an animal shelter, but that is never a requirement. Nevertheless, we do have volunteers who mow and weed around the facility and help with feeding and clean-up duties.
We offer an orientation class twice a month for new or prospective volunteers. Anyone is welcome. Children under age 14 must have a parent with them during their volunteer times.
Intake and Adoption
Most animals at the shelter are brought in by someone in the community. It may be a found, sick, stray, or injured animal, a family pet whose owner has passed away and has no one to care for it, or a pet that can no longer be kept by its family. These animals are sheltered while waiting for their owners to claim them or to be adopted. Social media has been an incredibly effective tool for making these matches come true. Posting the animal’s photo and description on Facebook can get near-immediate results.
We encourage anyone who has lost a family pet to contact us right away to see if someone has rescued it and brought it to us. Just as importantly, if you find an animal that looks cared for, please bring it to the Shelter. Its owners have likely called us looking for it.
Call the shelter at 360-740-1290 during its business hours, or 360-740-1105 after hours to arrange pick-up of sick, injured, or vicious animals. Other animals can be brought to the shelter during its business hours.
Complete information on adopting animals is on our website at lewiscountywa.gov/publichealth/animal-shelter.
Future Plans
The current shelter facility originally housed a county weed control operation. The structure was not build to appropriately house an animal shelter. Since 1980 it has been modified many times to add kennels for dogs, cages for cats, a quarantine area, stable and corral. Thanks to generous donations and bequests, we have begun planning for a new, animal-friendly shelter. A building committee meets monthly to discuss its design and potential locations. Our immediate goal is to secure the additional funding needed to complete the project through donations and bequests.
For more information about the Animal Shelter — including donation and volunteer opportunities — visit our website, or contact Amy Hanson at 360-740-1290 or Amy.Hanson@lewiscountywa.gov. Follow Public Health on Twitter: @LCPHSS.
