Lander Pet Connection
Lander Residents often ask about what happens to stray animals in the city.
We hope that this information will answer your questions and make it clear
why the work of the Pet Connection must continue.
Q: How does the city of Lander deal with stray dogs and cats?
A: Lander has no animal shelter. Lander’s Animal Control Officer impounds
stray dogs and takes them to a local veterinary clinic. They are impounded for
five days. Cats are given no assistance.
Q: What happens after five days?
A: The city provides no more assistance. The law allows them to be
euthanized.
Q: Is five days long enough to find the pets a new home.
A: No, most pets are not adopted within five days. It usually takes a month or
more to match a pet with the right owner.
Q: What is the Pet Connection’s role?
A: Pet Connection must pay to board the animals. The cost is $9.00 a day for
each dog and $7.00 a day for each cat.
Q: Aren’t strays often in bad shape when they’re picked up?
A: Yes, abandoned animals are often the victims of malnutrition, abuse, hit
and run drivers, and a few owners even dump them into landfills. The city
does not pay most medical costs. Surgery can result in bills of hundreds or
even thousands of dollars. Costs are paid by the Pet Connection when funds
are available.
Q: Are any animals euthanized now?
A: In general, animals are not euthanized unless they are dangerous or
beyond medical help. The Pet Connection has an evaluation program that
tests for aggression and cannot accept aggressive dogs. We are also unable
to take pit bulls. This is mainly because we are usually unable to find homes
for them. Neither the Denver nor Boulder shelters will allow us to transfer pit
bulls to them. Some towns in this area do not allow residents to keep pit bulls.
Q: How much money is contributed to the Pet Connection each year?
A: Last year (2007) we raised a little over $24,000 in contributions.
Q: When are you going to build a shelter?
A: Our goal is to work with either county or city government to plan a shelter
together. We do not raise enough money to build and operate a shelter by
ourselves but if we worked together, we could be much more successful. A
good model is the PAWS pet rescue group and the city of Riverton are
partners in the Riverton shelter.
Q: Why can’t I give my pet to the Pet Connection if I cannot keep it any longer?
A: Since the Pet Connection does not have a shelter, it cannot take pets from
individual owners. We have only enough money to rescue stray and
abandoned pets. We have, however, helped a lot of people find homes for
their pets by maintaining a list of pets available for adoption and sharing tips
that have been very effective in finding new homes.
Q: Do you just accept pets from Lander or do you rescue county strays?
A: Our first priority is Lander. If funds are available, we also try to rescue pets
found in the county.
Q: How many pets were spayed/neutered?
A: In 2007, we helped with the cost of spaying or neutering 70 pets. Our
average contribution was $35.00.
Q: When did we get the 501c3 status?
A: The Pet Connection is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation and received this
designation in 1998
Q: Do you screen homes?
A: People wishing to adopt complete a long application form that includes
questions about their home, and their experience with other pets. A decision
is made based on their answers to those questions. When we are able, we try
to follow up later to make sure everything’s okay. This is not always possible
since we are such a small organization
Q: Do you require spay & neuter? Do you enforce this?
A: New pet owners sign a statement promising to have their pet spayed or
neutered. The pet connection provides a credit of $75.00 for surgery on each
dog and we have a similar policy for cats. We are not able to enforce it but
most people want to take advantage of the $75.00 credit.
Q: What happens when dogs are sent to the Denver shelter?
Answer: The Denver shelter is an excellent low-kill shelter. Most of the dogs
find good home. However, Denver has an extensive evaluation program and
our dogs are occasionally euthanized because the shelter does not believe
they are adoptable.
We hope that this information will answer your questions and make it clear
why the work of the Pet Connection must continue.
Q: How does the city of Lander deal with stray dogs and cats?
A: Lander has no animal shelter. Lander’s Animal Control Officer impounds
stray dogs and takes them to a local veterinary clinic. They are impounded for
five days. Cats are given no assistance.
Q: What happens after five days?
A: The city provides no more assistance. The law allows them to be
euthanized.
Q: Is five days long enough to find the pets a new home.
A: No, most pets are not adopted within five days. It usually takes a month or
more to match a pet with the right owner.
Q: What is the Pet Connection’s role?
A: Pet Connection must pay to board the animals. The cost is $9.00 a day for
each dog and $7.00 a day for each cat.
Q: Aren’t strays often in bad shape when they’re picked up?
A: Yes, abandoned animals are often the victims of malnutrition, abuse, hit
and run drivers, and a few owners even dump them into landfills. The city
does not pay most medical costs. Surgery can result in bills of hundreds or
even thousands of dollars. Costs are paid by the Pet Connection when funds
are available.
Q: Are any animals euthanized now?
A: In general, animals are not euthanized unless they are dangerous or
beyond medical help. The Pet Connection has an evaluation program that
tests for aggression and cannot accept aggressive dogs. We are also unable
to take pit bulls. This is mainly because we are usually unable to find homes
for them. Neither the Denver nor Boulder shelters will allow us to transfer pit
bulls to them. Some towns in this area do not allow residents to keep pit bulls.
Q: How much money is contributed to the Pet Connection each year?
A: Last year (2007) we raised a little over $24,000 in contributions.
Q: When are you going to build a shelter?
A: Our goal is to work with either county or city government to plan a shelter
together. We do not raise enough money to build and operate a shelter by
ourselves but if we worked together, we could be much more successful. A
good model is the PAWS pet rescue group and the city of Riverton are
partners in the Riverton shelter.
Q: Why can’t I give my pet to the Pet Connection if I cannot keep it any longer?
A: Since the Pet Connection does not have a shelter, it cannot take pets from
individual owners. We have only enough money to rescue stray and
abandoned pets. We have, however, helped a lot of people find homes for
their pets by maintaining a list of pets available for adoption and sharing tips
that have been very effective in finding new homes.
Q: Do you just accept pets from Lander or do you rescue county strays?
A: Our first priority is Lander. If funds are available, we also try to rescue pets
found in the county.
Q: How many pets were spayed/neutered?
A: In 2007, we helped with the cost of spaying or neutering 70 pets. Our
average contribution was $35.00.
Q: When did we get the 501c3 status?
A: The Pet Connection is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation and received this
designation in 1998
Q: Do you screen homes?
A: People wishing to adopt complete a long application form that includes
questions about their home, and their experience with other pets. A decision
is made based on their answers to those questions. When we are able, we try
to follow up later to make sure everything’s okay. This is not always possible
since we are such a small organization
Q: Do you require spay & neuter? Do you enforce this?
A: New pet owners sign a statement promising to have their pet spayed or
neutered. The pet connection provides a credit of $75.00 for surgery on each
dog and we have a similar policy for cats. We are not able to enforce it but
most people want to take advantage of the $75.00 credit.
Q: What happens when dogs are sent to the Denver shelter?
Answer: The Denver shelter is an excellent low-kill shelter. Most of the dogs
find good home. However, Denver has an extensive evaluation program and
our dogs are occasionally euthanized because the shelter does not believe
they are adoptable.
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