YAKIMA, Wash. – The city of Yakima is hosting over 130 animal welfare professionals attending the Pacific Northwest Animal Welfare Conference. This marks the first time since 2017 that the event is being held in person.
The two-day conference aims to foster collaboration among industry professionals to focus on animal control laws and increasing access to spay and neutering services.
Sarah Hock from the Washington Federation of Animal Care and Control Agencies highlighted a significant challenge in the region.
“The increase of animals coming into the shelter has always been a much larger issue for Eastern Washington,” Hock said. “This is one of those times where we have to come together and some of our western Washington shelters can really look at how they can help by pulling animals from eastern Washington to help alleviate some of that burden.”
Hock emphasized that shelters should serve as a resource for injured and neglected animals, rather than a default option for pet owners.
“It becomes advocacy for pet-inclusive housing. It becomes an advocacy for access to veterinary care,” she said. “It becomes all of those where we are considering not just the pets, but the people on the other end of the leash and making sure that everybody is taken care of and pets can stay in their homes but can also be protected too.”
Hock also addressed misconceptions about why owners might relinquish their pets.
“People love pets. People love animals. It’s an emotional topic that people really get invested into,” she said. “There’s a lot of perceptions of, well, I would never do that right. Like I would never give up my pet. I think those are said from a place of privilege and from that lack of experience of having to have ever gone through that, right. They’re having to make the choice to re home their animal, to give up their animal for financial reasons or whatever their reasons are. That does not make that person a bad person.”
To support these initiatives, Hock suggested registering vehicles with a spay and neuter license plate. She noted that last year, their organization raised more than $40,000 for low-cost spay and neuter operations.
