 Lakeland Public Television presents Currents. Hello, and welcome to Lakeland Currents. I'm Bethany Wesley. Approximately 70 million dogs and 36 million cats are owned by Americans and kept as household pets, according to statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association. But what about those animals that have no home? About 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters each year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Locally, Great River Rescue is the shelter in Bemidji that houses homeless cats and dogs from the region, providing care for the animals as they seek their forever homes. Since its inception in 1977, the shelter has helped more than 10,000 animals. To help us learn more about Great River Rescue and its operations, I welcome to the program Brandon Musful, its executive director, and Terry Ball, its board chair. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having us. As we get started, let's talk a little bit about your roles with the shelter and how long you've been there. So Brandon, why don't you go ahead and start? Well, like you said, I'm the executive director, and I've been with the organization since June of 2012, so coming up on five years now. So did you come from a previous shelter? Nope. Was it just this work that interested you? Right. I am from the Minneapolis area, and I was completing my master's degree in public policy with the concentration in nonprofit management, and I was looking for work. And I saw the position description. I felt like it was something that I could do. It was something that interested me, and I applied for the job, and thankfully they brought me up here. Obviously like it if you've stayed so long so far. Yeah. Terry, tell us a little bit about what you've been doing with the shelter. I started volunteering about three and a half years ago after I sat through a full ASPCA commercial, and I was devastated that I sat through the whole thing, and I thought this is such a huge problem, and there's nothing I can do. And I just kind of sat on that for a while, and I saw an ad for level one volunteer training, and it fit into my schedule, so that's how it all started. When you first initially started volunteering, what were you doing? What was your work? I did callbacks for people that had recently adopted pets, and just to see how things were going for them, and if they had concerns, and ways that perhaps a shelter could improve. Oh, interesting. And so now you're the board chair? Yes. And so what does that role mean? You work with the board of directors? Correct. Meets how often? Once a month. So as we get started here, why don't you go ahead and introduce us a little bit to the shelter in terms of its mission, its vision, what your overall goals are? Yeah, so Great River Rescue is a companion animal shelter, so we focus on dogs and cats. Our mission statement is that we're committed to serving the best interest of the animals we strive to protect. So we're committed to helping these animals. And really our vision is a world where needless euthanasia doesn't happen anymore, where companion animals are more valued, where they have a refuge, where they have a home where they're well taken care of. Okay, so is it a no-kill shelter? That word is used a lot in terms of talking about shelters. Right. There are different ways to define shelters and rescues. We do consider ourselves a no-kill shelter in that we never euthanize an animal just to make space for other animals. We do have a euthanasia protocol, so if there is an animal that is suffering, we say irredeemably suffering, then we may need to euthanize that animal. Or occasionally if there's a very dangerous animal so that the public isn't safe, we may have to euthanize, but that's a very rare occurrence. So I mentioned in the opening, founded in 77, correct? Yep. Okay, and now we know that the shelter has gone over some different changes over those years. Do you want to talk a little bit about what happened with the name change that was fairly recent in recent years? Yeah, in 2015 is actually when we did the name change, it was the fall of 2015. The main goal of that was to help the public know and understand more who we are and what we do. The name Beltrami Humane Society was a little bit misleading because we're not part of the county. We're also not part of the Humane Society of the United States. We're a private organization. Although we're supported by the public, by the community, we're just a private agency. Okay. I want to move a little bit more into talking about some of the actual statistics, the work that you guys do over the years. So tell me on average, how many animals do you adopt each year? About 350 animals in recent history. That's gone up and down over the years. When I started, it was more like 250, but we're up to about 350 animals a year. Okay. More dogs, more cats? More cats just because there are more of them. Okay. How many do you house at a time in terms of the animals? Well, we have space for 45 cats and 25 dogs. 45 cats, 25 dogs, okay. Yeah, but typically we have fewer than that at the shelter. We oftentimes have 15 or 20 animals in foster care in addition to the animals at the shelter. But if we were to have that full set 45 cats and 25 dogs, it would really be very crowded. It would be stressful for the animals. It would be stressful for the people. So we actually like to have fewer than that at the building. Okay. Could you fill all the spots if you wanted to? I mean, is there enough need that you could stay busy booked all the time? Well, definitely for cats. There aren't as many stray dogs as maybe there used to be. Our goal is always to get them in and out of the shelter as quickly as possible. So if we did have 25 dogs, for example, that would probably indicate that we're not adopting them as quickly as we should. So that's a benefit as well. When we're moving them more quickly, they don't have to stay at the shelter. There's no reason for us to have that many animals at the shelter. How long on average give or take is an animal in the shelter before it is adopted? Yeah, the average for a dog is 30 days. For a cat it's 45 days. Now every animal is quarantined for 10 days upon arrival. So that goes into that average as well. And there are many animals that only stay with us 3, 4, 5 days after its quarantine time. Then there are animals that have more significant behavioral or medical issues. And they might stay sometimes 3, 4, 5 months. Okay. Is there a target range? Like is it dangerous or is it harmful to the animal if they stay too long? It's not good. Animals that stay longer become stressed. That can lead to further medical and behavioral issues. It's just better to be in a home. It's better to be in a home than it is to be at the shelter. And we do it the best that we can for them and definitely give them as much enrichment and attention as possible. But it's just better to be in a home. Your facility is located in Boonegee in the industrial park. Right. So do you only take animals from within the city or do you have like a coverage area or where do they come from? Yeah, we have no geographic restrictions on our services. So they come from all over northern Minnesota. Sometimes we even get calls from other shelters in southern Minnesota or even out state. And if we're able we help with that. But I'd say about half of our animals come from Boonegee in the directly surrounding area. But a good portion of the animals also come from Bagley, Blackduck, Wilton, toward Grand Rapids, really all over the place. Oh wow. Okay. Let's talk about the people who help make everything happen because obviously it's more than just the two of you. How many employees do you guys have? Right now we have nine employees. Okay. So you have a full-time, part-time mix of them? I'm full-time and I have one other full-time employee who works two different positions. Okay. And everybody else is part-time. Okay. And then give or take, how many volunteers do you have? On average every month it's about 30 volunteers that do various activities from socializing the animals to helping with cleaning and laundry to helping plan and administer events and doing things like board or committee membership. Terry, you've been a volunteer. How important is it or how, you know, you want to go in and you want to be useful. You want to do something that matches your skill set. So tell me a little bit about that. Like, did you have to fill out a questionnaire or how do they kind of match you up to something that's beneficial for everybody? At first I just told Brandon I was available for certain times and days and I would just do anything that was needed. And eventually Brandon developed a questionnaire to kind of match up the skill sets, what you like to do, what you refuse to do. Personally I'm allergic to cats so you're not going to see me working in the cat room. But there are plenty of other things to do. Fair to say that if somebody is interested in doing something you can find a spot for them if they call you with interest. Right, yeah, there's always more that needs to be done than we have time and resources to do. So, as like Terry mentioned, I mean she's allergic to cats and yet she's still found a way to become very involved. And, you know, sometimes at the same time there aren't things that are exactly pleasant to do but they need to get done. So we really appreciate people that are just willing to kind of do the dirty work too. Fair to say that all the training is provided and anything for if there was somebody who wanted to become a volunteer you guys work with them to make sure they're all adequately. Right, we have a monthly training and so you do have to sign up for that and attend the training and learn more about the shelter and the rules when you're going to be coming in there. Sometimes people, it doesn't work with their schedule but if they talk to us we always find a time to get you in there and go over the rules and make sure that you can be a volunteer. I want to move a little bit more toward the actual work, kind of some of the bigger picture stuff a little bit. So let's talk about, you know, what is it about a shelter that's important? What would happen if there was no shelter in town? Well, the animals wouldn't have a safe refuge. As we talked about earlier, I mean we save and care for and find homes for about 350 animals every year. Every one of those animals is spayed or neutered prior to adoption as well so that helps in our efforts to prevent pet overpopulation and the problems that go along with that. We also act just as a general resource for people. We take calls on lost and found pets. We do presentations with schools and groups of kids like Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and things like that. So we help educate the public as well about responsible pet care. And we get a lot of calls, just people with questions about, you know, what to do in certain situations with behavior issues with their animals, things like that. A lot of times we don't have the answer. We say call the vet. But we at least give people some guidance. And the same is true with taking in animals. There's so many stray animals, animals that people end up with that they just can't care for. And we can't take all of them in. But we definitely try to give people some guidance and some resources. Is there a ratio or anything in terms of how many you get that are strays versus those that just need to be re-homed? Because for whatever reason a family can't care for them anymore? Yeah, but it gets complicated to define exactly what the situation is. I have some statistics in front of me. Last year we took in about 115 strays and then 177 surrendered animals. So we call that owner surrender when the person owns the animal and brings it to us. But that's where it can get a little bit fuzzy as to whether you are officially the owner of the animal. There was a lot of stray animals that maybe somebody has been caring for for several months. But it wasn't really, they didn't intend to be the owner of that animal. It just showed up. I want to go through the process in terms of what happens. So let's talk hypothetically. Somebody finds a stray, wanders into their yard. What should they do? Well, the first thing would be to figure out if you're covered by animal control. So if you're within the city of Bemidji and there are various townships, I don't have the list with me, but townships like Northern Township, Grant Valley, Frone, a lot of these townships do have animal control. So there is a number that you call and an animal control officer can pick up that animal or sometimes they have you take it to the pound. The pound is separate from the shelter? Yeah, so there are two pounds. One, the city of Bemidji operates a pound and then the animal care clinic helps operate a pound for various townships. So those stray animals would go there. If no one claims the animal after five days, then it comes over to us or sometimes it'll go to another animal agency. If you're not covered by animal control, then potentially we could help take that animal in if it's safe. If it's a friendly animal that's safe to handle and everything. If it is like a feral cat or just an animal that you can't handle, there are fewer options for you. And what we do is we always encourage people to call if they're in a township that has no animal control to call their township, council, their clerk, those people and let them know that there are stray animals out here. We really need to provide some animal control services. Do you have a good relationship with animal control where they will contact you if they find animals that they think could find a home? Yeah, we work very closely with the city of Bemidji and with the townships on animal control. And we always try to have space for them. But sometimes they'll extend that five-day period, for example. We might say, look, we don't have room today, but next Wednesday we'll have room. And so they'll hold on to the animal a little bit longer and then bring it to us afterward. But if I'm hearing you correctly, if you find an injured animal or if somehow you injure an animal, you don't necessarily want them to call you first? Well, they can call us. We don't necessarily have the resources to help with veterinary care for animals in situations like that. We, for example, we did take in a stray dog a few weeks ago and we found out that it had a broken hip and it actually is having surgery this morning. Maybe as we're doing this interview, it might be in surgery right now. So we do, and the money for that came from the community. I put out a plea. I said, look, this dog has fractured hip. It's going to cost $1,400. And people stepped up and donated so that we were able to do that. But our general operating budget doesn't cover stray animals in those kinds of emergency situations. If you do get a stray animal that's brought in, you said there's a 10-day quarantine period. Some of these animals, I would imagine, come in with behavioral issues. Does it sometimes take longer than those 10 days before they're ready to be made available for viewing for the public? Rarely. But especially on the dog side, you might come into the shelter and see a big red sign that says, staff only, do not handle. So a lot of times that's what we'll do is, the longer they stay in quarantine, the worse they might get. So it's better to at least get them out where they're in the open, where people can see them, where they can have more interaction. But yeah, we might put a warning on them and continue to work with them. And that's where volunteers really come in handy. We have specially trained volunteers that can work with them and help them overcome some of those issues. Earlier you talked about foster caregivers. What exactly are they and how do they kind of work into the whole process? Well, there's a couple different programs. One is our foster to adopt program. So a lot of people, they intend to adopt the animal, but we haven't had a chance to spay or neuter it yet. Because we do that at a local veterinarian and there's frankly more animals than they have capacity for. So sometimes we get backed up or the animals too young to spay or neuter. So those people will foster the animal and then officially adopt it after it's been spayed or neutered. Otherwise we use foster care for, especially with like kitten season coming up. We will get cats that we intend to spay or neuter. We send them to the vet and the vet says, well, this animal is pregnant. So we say, okay, don't spay the cat and we find a foster home for it. So pregnant animals and litters of kittens and puppies, it's important to have foster care providers. And then when we have, for example, the dog with the fractured hip, the first thing we did is get it into a foster home. No sense having it stay at the shelter while it's waiting for surgery or recovering. So for injuries, we often will use foster homes. And then occasionally with behavior issues. Sometimes we find that it's beneficial for them to get into a home just to help work through that issue. I want to move and talk to some of the numbers. We've mentioned little pieces of the budget and stuff like that. So tell us a little bit in terms of your overall operating budget annual. Well, the actual number is about $225,000. And, you know, that money is used for the direct care for the animals, the vaccinations. I mean, spay and neuter is a big cost. A lot of animals, they come in and they spend their 15, 20 days and they get adopted. It's no big deal. But then there are animals that you have to send to the vet three or four or five times. Animals that stay longer. So the costs really mount on those animals. And then, of course, there is the staff that we talked about. So we do have a payroll budget and obviously try to pay people fairly for the work that they're doing. And it's a lot of work. My Kennel staff, you know, they come in at eight in the morning and it takes them four or five hours just to clean up every day to make sure everything's clean and sanitary. And then, of course, we have our desk person processing adoptions. We have our Kennel coordinator that ensures the health and safety of all the animals. So a lot of our budget does go to that. But most of that is direct animal care. And then, of course, there's just the occupancy fees, the regular utilities and insurance and things like that. We said earlier, you don't get funding from local units of government, correct? So where does your funding come from? Well, first, to be fair, we do get donations from various townships. So we really appreciate that. But overall, our funding comes from the community, from donations. About 50% of that budget is just through people sending in money, coming in and slapping $25 on the counter. Another 20% is from fundraising efforts, whether it's an event or, you know, we have doggie banks around town. People bring in their aluminum cans and we get funding from that. And then another 20% is from the adoption fees and other earned revenue sources. And the rest is grant money and in-kind donations. Terry, from a board's perspective, as you're out there and you've had different public events over the years, in fact, I think maybe there seems to be more in recent years. Do you hear enthusiasm from the community for the work of the shelter? Yes, I believe we do. And as awareness is built, you mentioned Great River Rescue and what's that? And it's a good talking point and it is positive. And you said that you put out the need for the dog with the hip. And so you know that there are people who obviously care about animals and want to take part to help in their own way. Yeah, I kind of laugh. It's not always that easy. His name is Vincent. He's a Chihuahua puppy. People were willing to donate for his cause. People obviously pay when they adopt the animals. So do the adoption fees reflect the cost to care for the animals? Not really. For example, it costs $75 to adopt a cat. It cost me $81 to get it spayed. So it doesn't really add up. The fee is there, yes, to help cover some of the costs. But it's also there to make sure that people are making a commitment that they understand that there is a financial side to owning an animal. We want everybody to be able to get a pet, but you also need to know that there are continuing financial obligations to owning a pet. And so the adoption fees help make sure that somebody's committed and that they're going to be able to continue to provide care. Do you feel like your funding has been stable enough that you rely on it year after year that you're in a good place? We're in a good place, but there isn't a second when I'm not nervous about it. What's the tricky part about nonprofits? You turn the calendar and then you have to start all over. Right. A huge portion of our funding comes in the month of December and we're very grateful for that. But cash flow wise, we run on a deficit throughout the year. So a typical month is about $15,000 to $17,000 to run the shelter and we take in about $8,000 to $10,000. Which again is fine as long as the calendar continues to turn and reach the end of the year. That's where you have to get to. We've also seen, I know that you guys keep a list of wish list supplies and stuff. So is that a way for the community to stay involved in addition to hopefully just sending in $20 here and there, a way for them to feel like they're contributing toward the shelter? Right. People love to give in kind contributions and we love to get them. So that is another way to give. If you have lost a pet or you just have some supplies that you no longer need, you can always bring them to the shelter. Most of the time we can use them. Sometimes it's something that we can't use, but that's fine. We might donate it somewhere else. So yeah, we really appreciate that too. And then your physical facility itself. When was it constructed? Is it adequately serving what you need? The shelter's been in place since the year 2000 and it's a good shelter. But there's definitely a lot of deficiencies with it as well. A lot of things that make it a little bit inefficient in the way that we clean, sanitize, take care of the animals. So in a perfect world we would have an expanded shelter, a little bit more advanced equipment, things like that. I want to talk about the process of working with a family or would be adopted. So they come in, they take a look with the animals. Do you usually find that they adopt on the first time? Do they come back time and again to kind of make sure that they have a good connection with the animal? Is one preferred versus the other? Well we want to make sure that people are committed. So we actually have a one-day wait policy. So we don't ever allow someone to adopt the same day they come in to see an animal. So we just want to avoid impulse adoptions with that policy. But we really encourage people to come and spend time with the animals to come several times to make sure it's the right fit. It can be tricky because a lot of times people have other pets at home and they want to know, is this cat going to get along with my cat at home? It's really not fair to the animals to come to the shelter and just put them together and say, okay, see how it goes. So that makes it a little bit tough. But we always give people advice and suggestions for how to introduce them properly once you do get them home. So we do allow people to return animals after adoption, but our goal is to avoid that if we can. Are the employees and the volunteers there? Are they able to give advice and input in terms of, I have this breed at home? Is there another breed that usually works well with it? Yep. And that's where I love my staff who know more about that than I do. Going back to the beginning, my background is more in business. And I've learned a lot about animal breeds and animal caring things since I've been here. But we have a desk person, like I said, a kennel coordinator, a kennel staff. So they always talk with people about their situation, about their needs and about what animals might be a good fit for them. We also have our application, which honestly is more for the applicant than it is for us. It's just a lot of open-ended questions to make sure people are thinking about the right things before they take an animal home. Terry, have you been able to observe when a family is matched with an animal and kind of see how they connect? I have. There was a dog that stayed at the shelter for a very long time. And people worked with him to get him ready to be adopted. And I was actually there the day he went to his forever home. And it was very emotional, actually, the volunteer that spent the most time with him. We were all worried more about him than the dog going to a home. Well, listen, you guys, I want to thank you for joining me today and taking the time to talk about Great River Rescue. I thank you guys for joining me tonight. I hope you've learned a little bit more about the shelter. If you want to take this further and learn a little bit more, I would encourage you to visit the website here on the bottom of the screen. Please join me next time.