The Glendale Humane Society's woes in 2001 were many, but if progress
made at the animal shelter over the past 30 days is any indication, 2002
promises more solutions than it does problems.
The society's board of directors, which has as one of its primary
goals building a state-of-the-art shelter within the next few years, is
doing what it can with the idiosyncratic facility the shelter presently
calls home. The 1960s-era compound -- a remodeled apartment building on
Ivy Street, just east of San Fernando Road -- is made up of two two-story
buildings of smallish rooms with paved dog kennels comprising what
otherwise would be a backyard. Cats are housed in one of the rooms, while
another is home to a "sick bay," where feral cats share space with birds,
a turtle and a big, green, languid lizard.
(The shelter also has sheep, chickens and ducks as tenants at the
moment. A bull, technically a shelter resident, lives at the Los Angeles
Equestrian Center. So it's not just dogs and cats we're dealing with,
here.)
If that sounds like a zoo, it should, but it's a zoo with several
noticeable improvements from a few months ago:
* All of the animal cages, most of which are new, are disinfected
every day, with waste clean-up on an as-needed basis.
* That feral cats are in a separate space than non-feral felines is a
change from the previous administration, which housed them together.
* The sick bay has been repaired and expanded. In fact, the room that
houses the sick bay was used for storage. It now is clean, roomy and
accessible.
* New kennel ID cards have been put in place to give visitors key
information about the animals.
* A handicapped parking space has been added to the humane society
lot.
* A sign on San Fernando Road guides visitors to the facility, which
can be tough to spot, given that shrubbery has gotten tall enough in
front of the building to block the main sign.
If none of the above sounds like a big deal, consider this: None if it
was being done this same time last year. That's how big a mountain the
humane society and its board of directors have to climb.
Building a new shelter is an ambitious goal, one that will come about
with the help of donations, volunteer hours and community support. In the
meantime, the humane society board is doing what it can with what it has,
and plans several improvements in the next 90 days, including:
* New flooring, lighting, painting and exhaust system improvements for
the cat room.
* Expansion of the sick bay to include a clinic for animals in the
