TRACS powering on, despite economy

Danielle Switalski

In a struggling economy, nonprofit organizations that rely solely on private donations tend to be hit hard as people tighten their belts and watch their pocket books. However, the Thompson River Animal Care Shelter (TRACS) is weathering the storm and managing to stay afloat while continuing to accept any and all animals in need of a home.

TRACS is a unique animal shelter in more ways than one. Their primary difference between the majority of animal shelters is that they are a no-kill shelter. TRACS currently has 19 adoptable dogs and over 40 adoptable cats, but despite these large numbers, the nonprofit organization will not kill any of the stray animals that come through their door.

“We’re a no kill shelter so we keep them until they are adopted and it does get a little too much and we can’t find very many homes for cats, there’s just too many freebies out there so we have little bit of trouble finding homes for kitties so that’s why we have so many at a time,” said Wanda Thorp, the founder of TRACS.

TRACS was started in July of 2006 by Thorp, who began the organization out of her home. Since TRACS became incorporated in January of 2006, it has found homes for approximately 1,040 animals including finding homes for around 60 dogs that were found by the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office during an animal cruelty investigation.

Although TRACS relies solely on donations and community volunteers, Thorp said they have managed to stay afloat despite the dwindling economy. However, Thorp said the number of adoptions have reduced in the past year as people are watching their funds more closely and fewer people can afford an addition to their family.

“We’ve been hit, (by the economy) but not as hard as maybe some businesses because a lot of the people that support us are people that are retired and probably have a retirement income and send us a little bit of money when they can. These local supporters help us to subsist,” said Thorp.

TRACS relies on private donations of all sorts whether it be money donations or donations of dry food from places such as WalMart. It also relies heavily on volunteers. Because TRACS is a no-kill shelter, Thorp said the number of animals they can have at a given time can be overwhelming, and for her it is a nonpaid full-time job. On the positive side of that, they currently have around 30 volunteers who help take care of the animals.

This has been getting difficult, however, because the dogs have to be walked twice a day as the majority of them do not go to the bathroom in their kennels. As many of the volunteers are elderly, it is hard to find people who can walk the stronger and larger dogs.

“We are going to try and turn the play area into a (bathroom) area and let them out there but often they wont go potty there either, they don’t want to potty where they live,” said Thorp who added that they have a nine person board, which meets quarterly to try and improve the functioning of the organization. Thorp said they will try and figure out some way to get the animals out for bathroom use, without having elderly volunteers walk the stronger dogs.

The organization has had some help in the past three months with an organization called Experience Works. Experience Works is a national, charitable based organization that places and pays adults, 55 years and older, with low income who are able to work 18 hours a week at a nonprofit, community organization. TRACS recently received two of these paid volunteers to help out with the organization.

Thorp encourages anyone around the area who meets these qualifications to look into a position. More information can be obtained from www.experienceworks.org.

Thorp has no intention of leaving TRACS anytime soon, no matter how many animals they need to take in and find homes. The animals are all spayed and neutered before leaving the shelter and people interested in adopting a pet have a two week guarantee, where should it not work out, they can bring the animal back and be refunded.

Thorp said she had an epiphany of sorts one day back in 2006 and decided to start an animal shelter as there are was only one in Sanders County at the time located in Trout Creek, which only sheltered four dogs at a time. This shelter closed the same year TRACS began.

“It just occurred to me one day that I needed to do this,” said Thorp. “We started out of my house and we started taking dogs on a small scale and we had little kennels set up.”

In July of 2007, TRACS paid for a building from a company in Missoula that could no longer be used for human use. It cost TRACS around $3,000 to move the building, which is now large enough to house an increasing number of homeless dogs and cats around the area.

For more information on making donations to TRACS or adopting an animal please visit http://www.pet-tracs.com. Thorp said if people do not wish to make cash donations to the organization, every little bit helps as they are always in need of kitty litter and canned dog and cat food.