The Humane Society of Southwest Washington (HSSW) hopes its latest acquisition will help serve more animals in the region.
HSSW announced last week it is expanding from Clark County into Cowlitz with the acquisition of its location there. The acquisition would result in HSSW expanding its operation to two campuses, in Vancouver and Longview. The HSSW executive and leadership teams will oversee operations at both campuses.
“The HSCC board sees this as the best opportunity to provide the support our community needs,” Humane Society of Cowlitz County Board President Cindy Nordstrom, said in a news release. “We can tap into the resources and strengths of their organization and do even more for pets in need.”
HSSW President Andrea Bruno believes the expansion will serve the community better by expanding resources and operations.
The expansion will allow HSSW to operate at an economy of scale, providing a seamless and consistent network of accessible services and programs for pets and people in Clark and Cowlitz counties, according to the release. HSSW will assume operations of the Longview shelter in January 2025, and the integration will continue for several months.
Bruno said the acquisition of the Longview location will benefit south Cowlitz County residents as that facility is a closer drive and more resources and services will become available with a shared website.
“We will be able to do lost and found for both Clark County and Cowlitz County on one website,” Bruno said. “So if somebody is looking for an animal, they can look there and see if we have it at either one of our facilities. So, I think that will be streamlined and more efficient for the community to search for a lost pet or for adoptable pets [with people] looking on our website and seeing all the pets that are available in each location.”
Along with the expanded humane society services for both Clark and Cowlitz counties, next summer the HSSW will be opening a low-cost veterinary clinic for low-income qualifying families who need care for their pets in the Hazel Dell area of Clark County, Bruno said.
Caring for pets in winter
The expansion of services to Cowlitz County comes in the middle of winter, which HSSW Communications Director Sam Ellingson said doesn’t change operations too severely but will allow HSSW to share crucial winter safety information to a new community.
“It’s really not terribly different than what we might want to consider for pets in the summer, right?” Ellingson said. “So the majority of pets, they’re going to be fine in our typical winter weather just like they are in our typical summer weather. It’s really when we start to see something more like extreme lows and ice storms and a lot of snow, things like that, that we want to start paying attention to what we’re expecting for our pet’s general health.
For pets that spend a majority of their time outside, such as outdoor cats, Ellingson recommends providing a warm shelter or keeping the cat indoors. He said outdoor pets also face exposure to certain poisons in winter, such as certain ice treatments.
“You want to make sure to also watch out for some poison control concerns that we’re going to have during cold weather,” he said. “I think that the majority of our community probably understands that antifreeze is a dangerous poison that can be fatal to pets if they consume it. So always make sure that antifreeze is not spilled or available to any pets who might seek it out because it does have this kind of sweet taste that pets can be drawn to.”
Along with antifreeze, salt can hurt pets by giving them upset stomachs if consumed, too, Ellingson said.
While Ellingson said the humane society generally doesn’t see an increase in stray pets coming in due to cold weather, it does see an uptick on New Year’s Eve with fireworks.
For more information on HSSW and its resources and services, visit southwesthumane.org.
