By RACHEL BRANT
Staff writer
The Kitsap Humane Society (KHS) joined the Zootoo House $1 million makeover contest last October and was doing well.
KHS is now ranked 77th in the contest and needs to be in the top 20 to win some sort of monetary prize.
The trouble is, the contest ends in about two weeks.
“We’d have to go a long way to get us up there and I don’t think there’s enough time,” KHS development manager Dana Lerma said.
KHS registered to win a $1 million makeover through Zootoo House. The Web site, www.zootoo.com, is filled with information about pet products and news stories for pet lovers and pet owners alike.
People register on the Web site and create their own personal profiles. They can review products, read news stories and almost everything they do on the site earns points for KHS. The 20 animal shelters that accumulate at least 25,000 points by March 31, will be in the running for a $1 million makeover. All animal shelters in the top 20 will receive some sort of prize money to make enhancements to their facilities.
KHS needs to accumulate hundreds of thousands of points by March 31, but KHS employees are preparing to not receive any prize money from the Zootoo contest.
KHS is in desperate need of repairs and a remodel, Lerma said, so the facility is continuously saving money to update the building.
“This building is in tremendous need of enlargement and refurbishment,” she said.
Lerma said the humane society would ideally like to have a million dollars or more to expand the kennels, repair walls and other things throughout the facility, but KHS could do lots of things with smaller amounts of money as well.
“What we’re looking at now is less than a million dollars and we could still do a wealth of improvements that could benefit the animals,” Lerma said.
Lerma said the humane society is currently looking for a doublewide trailer to turn into a temporary surgery suite until they can expand the facility. The current surgery suite is tiny and dogs and cats in cages line a busy hallway to recover from surgeries. By moving the surgery suite into a trailer, the KHS veterinary team would have more space to perform surgeries and the animals will be able to recover from surgery in peace and quiet.
“Being able to do more spay and neuter surgeries is something we feel is extremely important to do,” Lerma said. “If somebody out there sells them trailers and they want to give us one we would appreciate it.”
The old surgery suite would be turned into a second cat room.
These renovations require money that KHS had hoped would come from the Zootoo contest, but without the support of Kitsap County animal lovers, the upgrades will have to be put on hold.
“Being involved is a responsibility of everyone in the community,” Lerma said. “We’re here because these animals come from the community.”
Although KHS employees and volunteers doubt they’ll be able to rocket the animal shelter into the top 20 of the Zootoo contest, anyone 13 years of age and older is eligible to participate. To register for Zootoo and earn points for KHS, visit the KHS Web site at www.kitsaphumane.org and click on the Zootoo link. KHS supporters have until March 31 to accumulate points and attempt to win the animal shelter some money.
People also can donate money directly to the humane society. Lerma said they also accept items, such as cars, boats and smaller items, which they sell to raise money. Call Lerma at (360) 692-6977, ext. 118 or visit the Web site at www.kitsaphumane.org for more information.
