AURORA —The Aurora Animal Shelter has grown in less than two years into a full-service care and adoption center, and the Aurora Animal Service Division is exploring how to expand it even more.
Jenee Shipman has served as the manager of the Animal Services Division since 2014 and has worked to develop programs and outreach that she says are the building blocks for how pets and animals in Aurora are cared for and protected.
“There are areas of Aurora that require different animal services — areas that need public vaccine clinics, public veterinary clinics at low-cost or income qualifying rates, versus other areas that would like to adopt, donate, volunteer and partner,” Shipman said. “But then you also have a need for animal control with a multi-jurisdictional feel to it because we reside in three separate counties. We are trying to figure out what that looks like for the future.”
Since June 2014, the shelter at 15750 E. 32nd Ave. has worked to provide a higher level of care to dogs and cats, but also to bring people closer to those animals that are waiting for homes.
Among those are foster and volunteer programs for people, as well as vaccination clinics and weekly events to spay and neuter cats and dogs. Before Shipman and animal shelter supervisor Zoie Keast started working with Aurora, those programs and clinics existed on a limited, little-known and sparse basis.
“The foster program began around October and is something that we are pushing for right now because it is an incredibly valuable resource to the shelter,” Keast said. “It’s not only for teeny tiny kittens and underage puppies, but also for animals that need recovery time from medical conditions and just to give animals a break from the shelter sometimes.”
There are 11 registered foster families with the shelter now, and Keast is hosting an open house May 18 to try and get more people signed up.
The shelter also works with Aurora Public Library to hold reading programs every third Saturday where kids go to the shelter to check out books and read to cats. Since its launch in September, 77 kids have gone to the shelter to read to the animals.
“Partnering with the Aurora Animal Shelter gives us the opportunity to provide a fun and unique reading experience for our patrons, while being able to support the great work the shelter does for animals in the community,” said Sara Van Holbeck, programming and outreach library assistant. “Kids are able to practice their reading skills and cats receive socialization and interaction as they await their forever homes, so everybody wins.”
Since 2014, the level of animals adopted out or transferred to other shelters has also grown: from 77 percent in 2014, to 88 percent in 2015 and 92 percent so far in 2016.
“We are proud of those numbers and proud of the progress made here,” Shipman said.
But it’s just the tip of the iceberg for her.
Shipman, Keast and officials with the Aurora Animal Services Division are discussing a different kind of expansion that could involve smaller shelters located throughout Aurora, providing all kinds of area-specific duties.
“The biggest piece that Zoie and I are looking at with our current statistics is having truly an animal center of Aurora and being able to really identify the needs, like those in the homeless community,” Shipman said. “We want to be able to provide homeless pets with the same services that homeless people have; vouchers to go into an (animal) shelter no different than vouchers to go into a housing community.”
She said: “We’d really like to get the community involved in those visions and work with nonprofits like Comitis and Aurora Warms the Night. Our end goal, no matter what, is to keep (pets) in homes.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or @Mmitchelldp
Aurora animal shelter foster event:
When: 6 p.m. May 18
Where: 15750 E. 32nd Ave.
Info: 303-326-8282
