The tales behind the whiskers

HAYDEN - Each furry paw and cold, wet nose that pokes through the cages and kennels in the Kootenai Humane Society has a story to tell.

Like the blind, shorthaired tabby brothers Wilbur and Porky, felines who lost their vision to the herpes virus but are still capable of being worthy, loving companions.

"They have a great sense of smell and taste and touch, and they're very, very sweet," KHS cat tech, behaviorist and adoption specialist Adam Frank said Thursday. "The only thing they can't do is see something flying through the air at them, but otherwise they can do anything another cat can. They mostly are cuddly and want to be held all the time."

Or Dixie, the 3-year-old, black and white pitbull mix who is happiest when she is pouncing on bubbles and splashing in the kiddie pool in the fenced yard outside the building.

"I call her the 'North Idaho water dog,' because no dog that I've ever seen out here loves it like she does," said Joy Cassidy, who volunteers 20-25 hours a week at KHS. "I've worked with Dixie on heeling, not jumping on people and not pulling on the leash, and I reward her with all the playtime with the ball and the pool."

More than 20 dogs, dozens of cats, two guinea pigs, six rabbits and two parakeets are presently housed at the humane society, not including several frightened canines that were brought in on the Fourth of July and still waiting to be claimed by their owners. The no-kill shelter has nine full-time and nine part-time staff members as well as 175 active volunteers who help with everything from fundraising and outreach to facility maintenance, answering phones and walking dogs. Thousands of animals come in each year, and with luck and effort, they only stay a little while until they find permanent homes.

But it doesn't happen without expenses, and it certainly doesn't happen without community support.

"We are not a government agency," said KHS director of development Vicky Nelson. "People assume we're 'Kootenai County Humane Society.' We're not. We're Kootenai Humane Society. We pay rent to the county. We get no funds from the county. All of our funds come from the community."

As many nonprofit organizations do, the humane society works with a limited budget and must make dollars stretch as far as it can go.

"I always say, people work here for the cause, not for the cash," Nelson said. "It's not a high-paying position. They're here for the cause."

Cassidy said her reward for volunteering is making a difference in the animals' lives and helping them get adopted. She said it is fulfilling to know she is assisting them on their journeys to happy homes.

"The payment, for me, it just comes back up the leash," she said. "The dog kisses, the appreciation from people like Vicky and the others."

Frank said he took a pay cut to become a full-time employee, but he would rather do a job he loves and believes in than work all the time at a job that eats his life away.

"We always need more help," he said. "There are always cats that need more attention, you know, anything we can do to make sure the cats get good, healthy, happy homes is always appreciated.

"By doing a really good job, we make it harder for kill shelters to be a thing that continues to exist," he continued. "Our example has shown that you can go from a kill shelter to a no-kill shelter and you can always do more to improve, but we have to have the funding and the staffing to do that. Volunteers alone can't do it all."

The 11th annual Tails at Twilight, Kootenai Humane Society's annual major fundraiser, is taking place at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Coeur d'Alene Casino's Chinook Meadow. The evening will include a surf and turf meal, no-host bar, an auction and celebrity appearances by Jon Provost, who played Timmy in the original "Lassie" TV show, and KXLY-TV Good Morning Northwest anchor and animal lover Mark Peterson, who will serve as the emcee.

Tickets are $100 for individuals, $175 for couples or $700 for tables of eight. Funds from the event will support KHS in its mission to provide quality humane care, rehabilitation, adoption and education for the good of the animals and their companions in the community as well as cover medical care, food, shelter and other expenses.

"It's a 40-year-old building, and we don't have the equipment and room we need," Cassidy said. "The staff and volunteers here do amazing things, considering what they have to work with. We don't have enough resources. The public is awesome, they adopt all these dogs and cats in Kootenai County and they come from everywhere, but we can always use more resources to house these animals and get them out and give them a decent life while they're here in transition."

For tickets and info, visit www.kootenaihumanesociety.com.