Adams County Rescue Needs Help After Shelter Fire

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Story Published: Oct 19, 2009 at 3:55 PM PST

By Molly Kelleher

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OTHELLO -- A fire burns down a local animal shelter, now they need your help. The Adams County shelter was destroyed by a fire last month.

Action News takes a look at what it's going to take to get a new shelter back up and running and what's happening in the meantime with all those pets.

There's not much left to see, just a few burnt beams, singed decks and blackened gates.

The animals made it out OK, but the building couldn't be saved. The building was renovated just two years ago.

"We spent hundreds of hours out here and it was very hard to see two years of hard work gone in an instant," said Adams County Pet Rescue President, Jessica Fuhrman.

Now they have to start from scratch. The non-profit got a $7,500 emergency grant from Petfinder. Now they need to raise the rest.

Already, folks around the Othello area have stepped forward, but they need more.

Until they can rebuild the shelter, temporary solutions will have to do. The city of Othello is letting the rescue group put some dogs in their pound for now. But the other end of that is you, the rescue group needs more foster homes.

"This is our busy time of year — lots of drop offs. Puppies last week were dropped off here," Fuhrman said.

Dropped off is the nice way to put it, more like dumped. Two pups, Hannah and Greta were found chained up to a fence and left unattended.

There's no county animal control in Adams or Franklin counties, so rescue groups are the only ones taking in these dogs.

Now with no kennel of their own, the only answer is to foster out animals. Folks from as far away as Idaho are helping. Tri-Cities, Yakima, westside or eastside — it doesn't matter — they need your help.

The building may have gone but the problem hasn't.


Call 509-855-1402 if you want to apply to foster out pets. If you would like to donate money, send a check to the address below. Make sure to specify "rebuild shelter" in the memo line. Adams County Pet Rescue is a government recognized non-profit.

Adams County Pet Rescue
202 E. Curtis Drive
Othello, WA 99344

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