{"id":28594,"date":"2024-03-21T22:22:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T04:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-animal-rescue-nonprofits-reiterate-need-for-resources-and-funding\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:33:26","slug":"local-animal-rescue-nonprofits-reiterate-need-for-resources-and-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-animal-rescue-nonprofits-reiterate-need-for-resources-and-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Local animal rescue nonprofits reiterate need for resources and funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A completely blind Great Dane is one of the dogs still seeking placement. (Floss Blackburn\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Pet rescue organizations Denkai Animal Sanctuary and For Pets\u2019 Sake Humane Society of Cortez continue to provide services despite limited resources, volunteers and funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an open faucet,\u201d said Floss Blackburn, director of Denkai Animal Sanctuary. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just springtime; it is year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackburn told The Journal <\/em>that the number of pet surrenders has increased substantially in Cortez and across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have animals that just keep breeding and reproducing, and they don\u2019t have the money or resources for spay and neuter or vets won\u2019t see them if they\u2019re not already a customer,\u201d said Blackburn, adding that fewer people are adopting animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe burden is increasing, and the demand is increasing for help, and the funding is decreasing to help them,\u201d Blackburn said.<\/p>\n

NPR<\/a> recently reported that shelters across the country were full with surrendered or rescued animals.<\/p>\n

Blackburn expressed her gratitude for the LOR Foundation\u2019s support of Denkai and other animal rescues in the area.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of two cats that was looking for a new home after a Montezuma County man died around Christmas and left 23 senior animals behind. Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHow do you shift your nonprofit to keep your doors open and keep helping people and bring in funding? I\u2019m really hoping things start to get better. Thank God for the LOR Foundation, who are funding a lot of efforts in this community right now,\u201d Blackburn said.<\/p>\n

Denkai is working to open a new clinic, sheltering surrendered animals, dealing with puppy mills, and trying to help pet owners acquire vaccinations and spay and neuter services. Denkai welcomes donations, volunteers and foster parents.<\/p>\n

Blackburn is working to apply for a grant that would allow a local resident to train as a vet technician, as long as they work at Denkai for two years. They also hope to find or train someone to help train animals with behavioral issues.<\/p>\n

Lynn Dyer, president of For Pets\u2019 Sake, said the nonprofit has been busy with spay and neuter calls and calls for their feral cat program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say per week we get about 10 calls regarding people needing help for spay and neuter,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cAnd we do have a program where we pay 50% of that procedure for dogs and cats. The biggest problem, of course, in the area is the availability of vets.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Pets\u2019 Sake was started 40 years ago to help provide spay and neuter services in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

Now, the humane society traps feral cats, spays and neuters them and gives them rabies vaccines before returning them to their colonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just passed the 6,000 mark on the number of cats we have spayed and neutered in Montezuma and Dolores counties,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cThe waiting list is so long right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dyer said For Pets\u2019 Sake needs people to join their board and financial assistance for their spay, neuter and feral cat programs. Foster families also are needed to help keep up with the number of the surrender calls they receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s need for people to help us in fundraisers that we hold, whether that be a bake sale or yard sale or whatever,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Pets\u2019 Sake is totally volunteer and we have no paid staff. All of our money goes to the animals,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

After the woman living down from Sandra Mathis moved away and abandoned their seven cats, Mathis said local pet organizations helped her take care of the animals.<\/p>\n

At first, she was taking the time to walk down to the home and feed the cats each day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven cats were born in that house, and the girl who they belonged to just took off and abandoned them. And this has been going on for years,\u201d Mathis said. \u201cSo, I befriended the kittens. I mean, I\u2019m their mother now because I feed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a dog and a cat myself. And it made me think, if something happened to me, I wish somebody would feed my animals and take care of them,\u201d Mathis said.<\/p>\n

Mathis, a 77-year-old widow, said she fed the cats until about three weeks ago, when she decided she would need help to take care of them.<\/p>\n

Mathis said she contacted Pamela Imm, the new animal control officer at the Cortez Police Department, and Marion Rohman at For Pets\u2019 Sake.<\/p>\n

Sandra said Imm and Rohman provided help to some of the cats. A few of the cats went to the Cortez Animal Shelter, and a few were taken to For Pets\u2019 Sake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wonderful because everyone was willing to work with me,\u201d Mathis said. \u201cI feel good about this because these cats are so tame and so loving, and they deserve someone who\u2019s going to love them and take them in and treat them as their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mathis, two of the cats that had been taken to the animal shelter had found a home, and only one was waiting for a home.<\/p>\n

More information about Denkai<\/a> and For Pets\u2019 Sake can be found at their websites: https:\/\/denkaisanctuary.org and https:\/\/forpetssakehs.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite low funding, animal rescue organizations and officers are continuing to do what they can in the community<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[382,364,837,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-animal","tag-community","tag-dolores-county","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80463,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28594\/revisions\/80463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28594"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}