Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

HOPE Animal Shelter to hold Furry Friday

By KIM E. STROM

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Ironwood - On Friday Nov. 1, downtown Ironwood will celebrate its first Friday. H.O.P.E. Animal Shelter will have Furry Friday from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.

More than 15 businesses are participating in a treasure hunt during the event where there will be names drawn and gift certificates given out. Along with the treasure hunt there will be shelter animals available for viewing downtown, weather permitting, according to Randy Kirchhoff, shelter director.

There will be dogs in the empty lot next to Mattson's TV and Appliance. The cats will be in the entrance to the Historic Ironwood Theatre on Aurora Street.

While any adoptions that take place will have to happen at the shelter facility, the animals on view will be helping to promote awareness of the need for homes, said Kirchhoff. Staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about how they can adopt, become involved or help at the shelter.

While the animal population fluctuates at the shelter, this summer they kind of got slammed, he said. "We just kept getting multiple cats and pregnant cats. We became overwhelmed. We only have so many cages, and a lot are in foster homes," he said. The shelter uses its resources to the best of its ability. And they also try to accommodate animal control when strays are picked up.

A lot of other shelters are facing the same situation, he said. Even promoting two for one and giving cats to owners for free doesn't help all that much, but it does help some. Currently cats are available at a "name your price" deal.

Many times animals are surrendered through no fault of their own, said shelter manager Kathy Zumbroch. Maybe someone moved and couldn't take their pet with them, or an owner may have discovered someone in the family was allergic to the pet.

Even in cases where an animal may have scratched or bitten someone and was surrendered because of that, it may be that the animal was provoked, she said. In any case, there are many adoptable animals at the shelter looking for their forever homes.

H.O.P.E. is a no-kill shelter. One particular cat has FIV or feline immunodeficiency virus. Some vets would have put him down, said Zumbroch. FIV is contagious to other cats. "But right now he's a happy go-lucky cat and there's no reason he can't live out a happy life in a new home," she said.

For those wishing to donate, the shelter has a wish list on its website at myhopeanimalshelter.org, but standard items are non-clumping cat litter, laundry soap and bleach.

The shelter is open seven days a week from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

 
 
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