PAWS: Reasons to celebrate

PAWS acquired the Teton Valley Community Animal Shelter on 1/1/22 and hosted an Open House that following summer. We’ve almost completed our first year of Shelter Management and Ownership and are grateful to all our supporters, adopters, volunteers, and staff. Please assist us in providing this essential resource to the Teton Valley community by donating: https://pawsofjh.org/support-paws-of-jackson-hole

JACKSON, Wyo. — 2022 has been like no other year for PAWS. In addition to providing more than 700 local pet families with low-cost spay/neuter aid and financial assistance for critical veterinary care, PAWS acquired the Teton Valley Community Animal Shelter in Driggs, ID due to financial distress.

As we reach the end of the year, we are gratified to report that our shelter, PAWS of Teton Valley, has cared for more than 450 local pets in Teton Valley in 2022. That’s more than 1,100 local pets helped by generous donations to PAWS.

A 2022 MedFund recipient states, ““Mollie Brown is once again unsinkable! After a potentially traumatic chest puncture, she is back to her usual self. Our community really shines from the people who helped carry her off Munger to PAWS helping with her emergency surgery. We are so thankful that our Mollie is alive!” Photo: Courtesy of PAWS of Jackson Hole/Teton Valley

Since 1999, PAWS has been providing a variety of financial assistance and educational programs to our three local communities: Jackson, Teton Valley, and Star Valley. We continue to offer all these services and operate the only open-admission animal shelter between Victor and Idaho Falls, meaning our doors are open to all homeless and neglected pets in Teton Valley, ID.

But expanding our services did not come without challenge this year.

PAWS has suffered the consequences of several national economic trends, locally. For example, shelter pet populations nationwide are at all-time highs due to inflation. We typically have between 40 pets to care for on any given day. Local staffing shortages have made it difficult for PAWS to attract and retain good staff members. And the building we inherited is 30-years old and in grave disrepair. We’ve had a variety of issues to deal with this year including a ruptured sewage tank, a water pump and pipes that failed, and just in time for the holidays, our building lost power and heat.

While we see many animals that come in healthy and adoptable as is, we’ve also had a dog who’s been shot, multiple litters of critically ill kittens, dogs involved in court seizers, animals abandoned including an elderly blind and deaf shih-tzu who was left at a local park. These animals did not choose their circumstances, but we can change them by giving them a second chance – better lives with families who will treasure them.