Animal shelter launches in Carlton County

A new animal rescue group operating out of Carlton County has registered with the state as a nonprofit organization, and could begin fostering lost or stray dogs and cats in a matter of weeks.

"We're 30 or 60 days away from taking our first official animals for rescue," said Erin Thompson, a board member of the new Carlton County Animal Rescue.

Thompson met with 16 others Tuesday at the Cloquet Public Library as part of the group's monthly meetings. It has been gathering since October 2021, but some recent meetings have failed to attract an audience.

Thompson was pleased to see the enthusiastic reception.

The group gathered to outline next steps and a long-term vision for the organization, including the prospect of fundraising for a permanent animal shelter, estimated to cost roughly a half-million dollars.

The county doesn't have a permanent animal shelter, and local law enforcement can hold animals for only a few days under the right circumstances.

"We have to rebuild our relationships with the local city and county police," Thompson said.

The crowd of guests featured two other board members for the new animal rescue, along with a city official from Moose Lake, a local veterinarian representing the profession, and area residents - everyone expressing concern about a growing problem with stray and feral cat colonies appearing in places throughout the county, and more stray dogs than anyone can recall.

"Our Chief Juntunen has expressed a lot of concern about strays," said city of Moose Lake administrative assistant Taylor Hansberry, referring to police chief Darren Juntunen. "I would love to help spread the word."

Cloquet last had an animal shelter in 2018, when a series of unfortunate financial hurdles led to the Friends of Animals Humane Society folding and closing its doors that summer.

Thompson explained the new animal rescue has about five or six people trained and ready to foster animals, with a goal of adding a handful more trained foster caregivers who have space appropriate to care for animals.

The crowd was pleased to learn the new shelter won't be taking animals from outside the county's borders.

"I'm really excited it's going to be local animals," said Dr. Christine Wickenheiser, a Cloquet-based veterinarian.

Wickenheiser described Minnesota veterinarians as being inundated by animals being rescued from states that euthanize strays. It's a valuable service, she said, but it's one that can perpetuate disease and parasites, and generally increases the workload for local pet-related agencies.

"We're overwhelmed," Wickenheiser said. "Keeping it local will help the local vet community to keep up."

Thompson introduced a host of committees, each populated by a board member and in need of volunteers to fill out rosters and work toward incremental progress. Committees include foster programming, partnerships and collaborations, fundraising and grants, education and a building committee.

The fledgling animal rescue operation was welcomed by everyone in attendance, and is already receiving applications on its new website - ccarescue.com - from people who want to help.

"We desperately need a shelter, and foster, and all kinds of things to help different animals lost or found," Cloquet resident Stephanie Youngman said. "I'm so excited to see the people here tonight."

A flow chart on display during Thompson's presentation showed a path that "starts small" with fostering animals and moves toward renting space, finding land and building a shelter, and, ultimately, expansion.

As it stands, the county is relying on a host of smaller enterprises to wrangle a growing problem with strays and even animals being surrendered by their owners. The main service, a Facebook site called Missing Pets in the Northland, is operated by a handful of volunteer organizers who use social media to help owners locate lost and missing animals and perform their own rescues when required.

Stray animals that haven't been spayed or neutered are making the problem worse.

"We feel the effect every single day at the clinic," said Wickenheiser, of the Cloquet Animal Hospital.

Thompson explained that Carlton County Animal Rescue would like to partner with other groups on spay/neuter clinics and other endeavors such as microchip clinics.

Carlton County Animal Rescue has $2,000 in its account, and is eager to begin raising more, including money to help sustain the work in the near term, in addition to long-term fundraising.

Thompson described her own involvement, having fostered more than 100 dogs.

Among volunteers, Thompson said the new animal rescue would like to add volunteer specialists, including people with legal experience, veterinary backgrounds, financial backgrounds, and grant-writing experience.

Meanwhile, Moose Lake's Hansberry was looking for another kind of volunteer, one indicative of the current situation.

"If anybody would like a 62-pound pit bull, let me know," said Hansberry, who is fostering the animal.