Dear Editor,
Regardless of where the new animal shelter gets located, I hope that the decisionmakers for this venture will visit the Nevada SPCA at 4800 W. Dewey Drive in Las Vegas before they finalize their plans.
The facility is clean, bright and quiet, and the procedure they use makes so much sense: the reception area has chairs and tables and a play area, and at the counter there’s a touchscreen where you can look at pictures of all the animals and read a little bit about them. You tell one of the volunteers which dog you want to see and they bring it out to you on a leash. You can visit there, or go out onto a patio or into a fenced yard to get acquainted.
There’s no walking past rows and rows of cages with barking, howling, frightened dogs. The volunteers have had a lot of interaction with the dogs and can give you little tidbits of information about them as well, like whether they know any commands or if they get along with their kennelmate.
In a hallway are boxes and boxes of free dog toys, leashes, collars that have been donated – some used and some new. When our adoption was finalized (for $75), we received his vaccination records, two new stainless food bowls, new toys, a new brush, samples of the food he’s been eating, and coupons for various things. He had also been recently neutered so there was no need to subject the dog to that process immediately after bringing him to a new home.
There was a separate room for cats, exotic animals and birds, which I did not venture into.
Another important feature is that they are open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Monday through Thursday their hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays are often the only day folks can take the whole family to look for a new pet. Founded in 1982, Nevada SPCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization.
This was a remarkable experience and one I hope Kingman could give to individuals looking to adopt.
Kit Kudukis
Kingman
