North Beach animal shelter reckons with rising numbers, need

Nationwide, animal shelters were rocked by the COVID pandemic, as people couldn’t be in close contact, resources were allocated to dealing with the issues of humans, and many vets closed.

North Beach PAWS, like many shelters, is still dealing with the aftereffects, seeing a record number of animals passing through their care. According to nationwide numbers provided by the shelter, 4% more dogs entered shelters than left them in 2022, the largest such gap in years, driven by an increase in births and a decrease in spaying and neutering rates.

“It was a record-setting year for the shelter last year,” said Jerry Knaak, public relations and marketing director for the shelter. “The sheer number of animals the shelter was able to affect, place, help — the numbers were astronomical last year.”

Who knows what Cher the cat is thinking about while staying at North Beach PAWS. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

More than 1,500 animals passed through the shelter, located just down the road from the turn-off to Ocean Shores. Founded in 2002, the shelter has gradually expanded over the years, and is looking toward the future, said Carol Jamroz, vice president of the board.

“There are not enough shelters in Western Washington to take care of what we have. We try to take care of the immense need in our county,” said Cindy Jamroz, who helps out with the shelter, in an interview. “No matter what horrible thing that animal has experienced, we’re going to do the best we can, and find it a loving home.”

Animals come for all reasons, from many places, Carol said, few of them happy. Many animals are surrendered or found abandoned because people get them and then simply can’t take care of them.

“There’s a lot of abandonment,” Carol said. “It’s life changes. People losing their homes. People losing their jobs. People losing their jobs and their homes. It’s all sorts of things.”

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Roman is a good boy who is currently a guest at North Beach PAWS.

Increased need

The shelter has expanded incrementally over the years, but they’re pressed keeping up with ballooning demand, Cindy said.

“We are just growing by leaps and bounds. We’re looking to see what we can do to expand,” Cindy said. “We’ve grown faster than we thought we would.”

One of the big things the shelter is looking to do is build a shelter for dogs, Carol said.

“We’re going to launch a project to build a dog shelter. The reason we’re going to do that is our limitations. We’re looking to build a much larger facility,” Carol said. “We’ve hired an architect. We’ve been working on a site plan, where’s the shelter going to go, where’s the best place for it. We’re working on the design and the site plan. It’s a 20-kennel facility.”

The current facility is an eight-kennel facility that was adapted from an existing structure. Dogs are considerably more space-intensive than cats, said Nanette Sparrow, who runs the dog shelter side of the organization.

“I have eight kennels. I currently have 18 dogs. I’ve had up to 28,” Sparrow said in an interview. “It’s a high-stress environment for the dogs. When a new dog comes in, it takes about a week for them to calm down and de-stress and I can see their true personality.”

May is probably a very good cat and is currently living at the shelter at North Beach PAWS. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

That expansion capacity will help open up a bottleneck imposed by limited capacity to host new dogs between taking in dogs and finding them homes that the shelter is currently dealing with, Carol said.

“People want to help dogs here,” Carol said. “There’s people who want to adopt them.”

The number of dogs the shelter is able to take in is climbing gently, while the numbers of cats taken in has increased by hundreds, cats having less requirements for individual space.

“Most cats we can put in a community room,” said Bonnie Baker, who works with the cat shelter. “For the most part they’ll get along with each other.”

According to the shelter’s numbers, they took in nearly 1,200 cats in 2022, with the biggest sources being Aberdeen, Ocean Shores and Hoquiam. Many were adopted locally, but dozens of them were adopted by people from Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia.

“This shelter started out as being very local. It’s not that way anymore,” Baker said. “At least half our cats come in from out of this area.”

Volunteers will sometimes even drive to a veterinary clinic that the shelter has an arrangement with to get dozens of cats spayed and neutered at once, Baker said.

“Because there’s such a shortage of veterinary care, to do volume, we have to go far,” Baker said. “We can take 40 or more cats up there to get spayed or neutered.”

photos by Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Mouse is a big ham, currently staying at the shelter at North Beach PAWS.

Volunteers and donations

The increasing number of animals passing through the shelter each year is also placing a strain on the all-volunteer operation, Knaak said. There are about 25 shift worker volunteers, said Pamela Moon, who manages the cat shelter.

“It takes a village to run the shelter,” Moon said. “It’s all volunteer.”

Volunteers come in all stripes, Knaak said.

“They come from all walks of life. Folks with full time jobs, part time jobs, retired, you name it. The common theme is the love for animals,” Knaak said. “The area is such a huge volunteer area. It is very active here.”

The shelter is always seeking more volunteers to help out, emphasized Carol. Volunteers are what enable the shelter to keep going.

“Our volunteers are — I have to say, they’re pretty extraordinary,” Carol said.

Louise (left) and Luna are very sweet pups who were left at the shelter at North Beach PAWS.

In an ideal world, Cindy said, they’d have enough volunteers to staff two shifts to help keep up with the growing need.

“We are just growing by leaps and bounds. We’re looking to see what we can do to expand,” Cindy said. “We’ve grown faster than we thought we would.”

Donations from the shelter’s presence at many county events, as well as the proceeds from the shelter’s thrift store-esque collection of donated goods for sale on Saturdays, help keep the shelter running.

“We run on donations,” Moon said. “The donations to the barn sale is what keeps us going.”

For more information about how you can help, check out the shelter’s website at NorthBeachPAWS.org.

Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.