Local animal shelters struggling to keep up with demand

Economic factors are creating conditions that local animal shelters have never seen before.

In a recent interview, Tobacco Valley Animal Shelter Executive Director Wendy Anderson explained some of the challenges that the animal shelters of Lincoln County have been facing lately. She also highlighted their biggest fundraiser of the year, which will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The Tobacco Valley Animal Shelters in Libby and Eureka are non-profit organizations that help care for animals and they can also help individuals in need pay for dog food or spay and neuter surgeries for animals, Anderson said.

Anderson is happy they are holding their upcoming “Mutty Graw” Winter Warmer event – the biggest fundraiser of the year for the shelters. They haven't been able to hold for the last few years due of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event is a dinner with both a live and silent auction at Lincoln County Fairgrounds. Doors open at 4 p.m. Tickets for dinner are $30 but for those who want to come for just the auction, they will be admitted free to bid on items. A 1924 Dodge Brothers Coup will be raffled off, and Anderson said there are only 40 tickets left for this “gorgeous, original, classic car in running condition.”

“We had a record number of pets through the shelter this past year,” Anderson added.

The record number of 109 pets included abandoned, dumped or never claimed pets. In 2022, there were more than 500 animals through both shelters which was also a record. The shelter saw a lot of neglected and abused pets last year, she said.

“With the issues that are happening with the economy, we’re finding more and more people are finding it more difficult to keep their pets,” Anderson said. “So it also leads to less adoptions and our average length of stay went from seven days to 19 days, which is a huge jump for dogs.”

The shelters try to help people keep their animals instead of them being given to the shelter. Last year Lincoln County shelters gave out more than 1,500 pounds of dog and cat food to residents who were struggling, Anderson said.

“We would much rather be able to help with your pets than actually get them into the shelter,” she said. “If we can help that’s what we’re here for.”

If people need help with food or a spay and neuter voucher the shelter is there to help. It’s easier on the animals and the shelter to avoid overwhelming the system. Currently, TVAS has housed several dogs for more than 130 days.

“Those are just things we’ve never seen before in the past in our 16 years of running both shelters,” Anderson said. “It’s a challenge but they are rising to meet the challenge.”

In order to ease the animals’ stress during extended stays the shelters are focusing on enrichment of the animals' stay. This means the utilization of food puzzles, spending more time outside, if the weather permits, and using music or essential oils for calming.

“The majority of the dogs we get in are dogs that people have gotten as puppies and didn’t socialize or weren't able to socialize very well. So when they become big out of control dogs (people) either just turn them loose or turn them into us,” Anderson said.

Unfortunately many dogs haven't been socialized and they have aggression issues so the shelter can not adopt them out, she said. Many of these dogs were not able to be socialized because they were developing during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

“If we can get any message across we highly suggest you get your puppy socialized,” Anderson said.

This can mean anything from having your puppy around kids, cats and other dogs. It can even just mean having your dog in new environments or around loud noises.

A dog’s chance of being adopted are much greater if they are able to be socialized, Anderson said. People don’t plan to get a puppy and then later give them up for adoption, she said.

“We used to work a lot more with transfers in-and-out of other shelters but this is a nationwide problem,” she said. “Adoptions are way down and intake is way up.”

The shelters do still occasionally work with others to give dogs a new audience. Any animals that end up in the shelter are spayed and neutered. In Lincoln County there are no veterinarians that are doing any surgeries so the shelter has to take dogs and cats to Bonners Ferry to have them spayed and neutered.

“Last year we helped over 400 Lincoln County residents to get their pets spayed and neutered, we paid a portion of the spay and neuter costs,” Anderson said.

The shelters also work with Spay Montana to host a mega-spay and neuter clinic for cats in Libby. At the last event over 100 cats were spayed and neutered over a couple of days in Libby, she said. Still, they pay $7,000 to host a clinic like that for three days, Anderson said.

21% of the shelter's funding comes from the county. They rely on fundraising for the rest of their budget.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us but we’re excited to keep going and answer that challenge,” Anderson said.

The shelters are doing another spay and neuter clinic in Eureka in May 2023. During Covid a lot of veterinarians were not doing surgeries, Anderson said. Consequently they are seeing more and more puppies, she said.

“We had a record number of puppy litters turned in last year, too,” Anderson said. “It’s just a challenging time, but that’s what we’re here for.”

The shelter hasn’t been at full capacity for dogs, but they have been at capacity in both shelters with cats for some time. The shelters need to limit the numbers that they can take in to prevent the spread of diseases, according to Anderson.

Volunteers are relied on all the time to keep the shelters running, she said. They try to keep the dogs and the cats entertained and even just having people sit with shy dogs until they learn to trust people can help. They have play yards where people can take the animals out too, she said.

“We love our volunteers, for sure, and we definitely need more of them,” Anderson said.

For tickets to the fundraiser or more information, go to