Humane Society coming closer to animal shelter

A small group of dedicated Carson City residents took another step toward building a home for the Humane Society in the capital city.

Carson City supervisors have approved a preliminary plan to lease almost 7 acres in east Carson City to the Capital City Humane Society. The parcel, which is leased to the city by the Bureau of Land Management, sits between Highway 50 East and Asphalt Road.

The group is hoping to build a non-kill shelter to house 200 dogs, 200 cats, birds and a small number of large animals. The group has to continue to wend its way through the city's red tape for an official lease, apply for funding for the shelter and get a stamp of approval for the shelter's design.

Humane Society President Isabel Young said the project will cost between $5 million and $7 million. Neither the cost nor the scope of the project deters Young from the goal of seeing a safe place for animals built in Carson City.

"You'll see ground work by the end of the year," Young said. "It sounds impossible, but if I said we were going to have the ground work done by next Easter, where's the incentive? If I say the end of the year, there's incentive. We have to push to get here with the lease, and then people will lend us money."

She's not worried that the group won't be able to come up with the millions necessary for the shelter.

"I know where to get it, and I know how," she said. "Besides, who would turn me down? My mother always said there are only two answers: Yes and no, and never take no for an answer. That's been my creed ever since."

Young even managed to find an architect to design the building for free. Kevin Jeffers with Reno's Cazassa HMC Architects is from Carson City and said he wants to see the project work out.

Young came to Carson City four years ago from Nashville, Tenn.

"I've always loved animals, and my daughter who died unexpectedly three years ago loved animals," Young said. "I'm doing this because of her and my own love for animals. I just can't imagine a capital city that doesn't have a shelter. It boggles my mind."

The nine-member group received $15,000 from Project Impact to help animals in an emergency.

"We decided to build a shelter," Young said. "If I get going on something I just do it. I don't see obstacles the same way people do. I just get it done. If we have an emergency, where would the animals go?"

Stephanie Gabler, a Humane Society Board member, said she sees a great need for education about the responsible treatment of animals, and the Humane Society can be a vehicle for that cause.

The supervisors' decision "was a real turning point for us," Gabler said. "Now we actually are in a position where we can get funding from. I was very pleased to get such unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors. That was a very good sign. That proves we're on the right track, going through the right channels and doing all the bureaucratic things that need to done."

Donations for the Capital City Humane Society can be sent to P.O. Box 2856, Carson City, Nev. 89702.