The stakes are high

HAYDEN — Vicky Nelson looks at the stake markers that cut through the southern section of property that serves as home to the Kootenai Humane Society.

They are cause for concern.

“It’s happening. It’s happening,” she said. “We really need to get the rest of the funds to start that new building.”

The city of Hayden has long had plans to extend Ramsey Road from Wyoming Avenue to Lancaster Road. A 2019 map shows Ramsey Road turning east at KHS, where it ends now, then north before Reed, and angling back west to meet up with Lancaster.

That turn at KHS would cost the shelter some of its parking and dog runs.

As Nelson talks about the project, a hound dog howls from one of the walking and play areas that KHS would lose to the road extension.

“It takes a chunk off our field,” she said, looking toward the expanse of green.

It won’t impede the KHS building, where animals —including an overwhelming number of cats and kittens — are housed just to the north of the outlined turn east.

“Will it affect our operation? It’s hard to say until they start getting into it,’ Nelson said.

Melissa Cleveland, Hayden community and economic development director, said the city is working on right-of-way acquisition.

“It's planned to be a pretty regional roadway. It will get busier over time,” she said in a previous interview with The Press.

Meanwhile, another expansion is aimed right at KHS.

The Coeur d'Alene Airport leases the land to the humane society and is looking at a runway extension. The taxiway would be about where KHS sits, meaning it would have to go elsewhere.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Nelson said.

She does know this: KHS needs to raise another $1.56 million — soon — to reach its goal of $6.5 million so it can begin construction on a new facility. It plans to build a 24,000-square-foot shelter on a 10-acre parcel north of Hayden Avenue on the west side of Atlas Road.

Bottom line, it needs more space — a lot more — to help more animals.

For instance, it has 100 kittens in foster care and 28 available for adoption. It has 13 cats waiting for homes and another dozen under medical supervision.

KHS can’t take more adult cats.

“We are over max capacity right now,” Nelson said.

David Espen, cat technician, was busy Friday trying to get the attention of cats and kittens so he could take their pictures for the KHS website and help them get adopted.

That was a lot of felines to photograph.

“Aren’t they sweet?” he said. “Look how good they are.”

Nelson is hopeful that donations to the capital campaign, which have stalled, will increase as life returns to normal and people hear more about the timeline facing KHS to build a new home and help more animals.

Its second virtual telethon is set for 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 6, broadcast live on Facebook. Last year, it raised nearly $25,000.

She points to kennels stacked against walls in the cat room, and they are occupied, some with litters of kittens. Because the kittens are taking up more kennel space, that leaves fewer slots for cats.

And that’s despite about 10 kittens being adopted in the past few days.

“We just don’t have the space, so the need for the new building is greater than ever,” Nelson said.