The humble but friendly building has special significance for animal lovers as it’s the only privately owned no-kill animal shelter in the Morongo Basin, and thousands of dogs and cats have passed through its doors and into the homes in the hi-desert residents looking to level-up their lives with a four-legged friend.
If you’ve been out to the shelter, you’ve definitely met Angel…
“I’m Angel, shelter manager. I’ve been here 16 years, manager 8 years…”
She’s out here 7 days a week, fostering animals and adoptions and taking care of the residents, some of which live out here permanently. For her and the furry friends she keeps, today is more than just a groundbreaking.
Angel: “We’re finally going to be able to have the dogs in comfortable kennels – areas where they can at least be comfortable to hang out. They’ll have outdoor runs but they can be indoor as well so cooler temperatures during the summer… just keeping them nice and comfortable so it’s going to change their world a ton.”
Board Director Donna Davies paints a picture of the current shelter space.
Donna: Our current building is about 50 years old. It is in disrepair… we’re putting Band-Aids on it. We’re kind of putting ‘good money after bad’ and it’s time for something new..”
That new space will have more room for current residents who are on their way to a new forever home, but also build out more room for the unfortunate influx of animals the shelter sees every week.
Donna: “We have to separate our new animals. We have to quarantine them for two weeks to make sure they have their shots and they don’t have any communicable illnesses or diseases and then we can put them in with the rest of their little buddies.”
Since the pandemic, animal shelters across the county have been at capacity with adoptions way down, and animal abandonment rates way up. For people like Angel who see the problem first-hand, it’s just simple math:
Angel: “When you’re purchasing pets, that’s another pet in a shelter that’s being euthanized. It’s plain and simple… we can’t take in more here to rescue because somebody bought from a breeder. We get plenty of purebred dogs, so do the other shelters. So whenever they’re not taken from rescues or to the kill shelters and someone purchases from breeders… that’s spaces in the kennels that are being used up for euthanasia.”
The county and municipalities within it have shelters of their own, but with the numbers up everywhere – private non-profits like the Joshua Tree No Kill Shelter are a valuable resource in the fight to keep pet overpopulation down. Third District Representative Dawn Rowe was at the groundbreaking and spoke to the importance of not only supporting shelters, but taking personal pet responsibility seriously –
Dawn: “When you commit to owning an animal, understand what that commitment means. I believe it starts with spaying and neutering. I know that is something that the shelter board shares also but to try to keep that animal population down and manageable so that all of these animals can find loving homes.
While Phase 1 focuses on dogs, the second phase will include a new administration office which will also have shelter and quarantine space for cats and kittens.
And while construction has begun, the shelter is still operating out of the same small building and they could still use your help with donations of supplies, money, or time – here again is Angel:
Angel: “Adoptions have been slower than ever. We have over 50 dogs on our waiting list right now, well over 40 cats. These last 3 or 4 four years we’re seeing 50 to 60 adoptions… and we used to average 200 to 300 a year.”
If you want to help out with donations or an adoption – check out the shelter’s new revamped website at joshuatreenokillshelter.org. They have a list of their adoptable dogs and cats, as well as donation needs and ways you can help out just by showing up to walk a dog or two.
You can also do your part by following a few three-word mantras i heard over and over at the groundbreaking:
“Adopt Don’t Shop. And Spay and Neuter!”
