Siskiyou Humane Society: Dedicated Staff Maintains Fear-Free Shelter for Animals

Many adorable canine companions are available to foster or adopt at Siskiyou Humane Society.

Mount Shasta native Riley Whitherell loves animals. She decided after college that she wanted to work at the Siskiyou Humane Society (SHS) in her hometown. She applied for a secretary job at the shelter in 2021 and got an interview, but when she didn’t hear back, she refused be to be discouraged. She took the opportunity to introduce herself to the board when it met at a hotel where she was working, speaking enthusiastically about working at the shelter. One board member said, “We need that energy at the shelter” and Riley was hired. Riley worked her way up from customer service associate to canine program director. She is now in charge of assuring the health, care and feeding of dogs, keeping the kennels clean, increasing public awareness of dogs up for adoption and arranging transport of dogs to larger partner shelters such as the Oregon Humane Society in Portland.

Connecting community with companion animals

SHS is a private, nonprofit animal shelter, community-funded by private donations, gifts and local grants. SHS, working with the cities of Mount Shasta and Dunsmuir, provides shelter for stray, abandoned or surrendered dogs, cats, and even more exotic companion animals such as rabbits and domestic birds. They even once took in a pet pig.

The shelter was closed to the pubic during the pandemic, but since then “We’ve been working to bring the public back to the shelter,” says longtime SHS board member Linn Tyhurst, “increasing our volunteerism and community connections, and creating a more welcoming environment.”

In addition to providing opportunities to adopt loving companion animals, SHS offers vouchers and financial support for spay and neuter services, and low-cost microchip and vaccine clinics. Some free pet supplies are available at the shelter at 1208 Mount Shasta Blvd, and pet owners who are struggling to care for their pets can find more supplies and access to vaccine clinics at the community pet resource center in Yreka, which is open to the public for free pet supplies every Saturday.

Fear Free animal care

Dedicated staff and volunteers keep the shelter running smoothly and help expand facilities to shelter more animals. Since becoming director of the Canine Program, Riley has made many changes to the facility, both physically and procedurally, to improve the animal residents’ environment and their adoptability. For instance, she instituted a training program for the dogs in which any visitor to the kennel can participate. Visitors are given a handful of dog treats and instructed to only give treats to dogs who sit quietly in their kennel. Amazingly, now when visitors enter the kennel area, barking ceases and all the dogs sit quietly waiting for their treat. This simple reward program makes the dogs more friendly and adoptable.

Breanna Fisher is Riley’s counterpart in the cat department and works just as hard to make sure the shelter cats are well-cared for and prepared for adoption. All shelter employees are Fear Free Certified. During certification, trainees learn how to reduce or remove anxiety triggers that can cause pets to become fearful at the shelter, in transport or while undergoing veterinary care. For instance, cats are either kept in roomy “condos” (for cats who don’t get along with other cats) or in large rooms filled with scratching posts, climbing platforms and cat trees. All areas are kept clean, there is plenty of room for each animal to move about and noise-reduction strategies are employed to reduce anxiety in the animals.

Volunteers make the difference

“I love to see how the community supports us,” says Linn. “The volunteers help socialize the animals and help out with tasks around the shelter.” One volunteer, who has been helping out at SHS for over 20 years, built beautiful outdoor shelters for the “community cats” who live on the SHS property. These insulated and easily cleaned shelters provide the feral cats with a warm, safe and comfortable place to sleep or seek refuge. SHS makes sure there is plenty of food and water available to the cats and that they are spayed or neutered and healthy. Some of them have even become domesticated enough to be adopted.

Many ways to help shelter animals

Finding homes for every shelter animal and helping owners to keep their animals in their homes is the main goal of SHS and they invite the public to come to the shelter between 12:30pm and 4pm seven days a week to visit and adopt animals. Riley loves helping dogs who are “cast off” find homes. “I get really attached to the dogs and when a dog has been here a few months, it’s hard to see them leave. But I know they are going to have a good life when they leave here and are adopted.”

If you can’t take on the responsibility of an animal, there are many other ways to be involved with and enjoy the healing effects of animal energy. “You can come here and spend an hour making an animal’s life better”, says Linn, “By sitting with the cats, or walking a dog or playing with the kittens or puppies. It’s fun for the volunteers and it helps socialize the animals and reduces their anxiety, making them more adoptable.”

The shelter’s most pressing needs, according to Linn, is for financial support and for foster families to care for animals until they can be adopted. As with every organization, costs have risen dramatically in the last couple of years and donations have not kept up with increased expenses. If you would like to help the Siskiyou Humane Society continue to provide shelter for companion animals who look to us for stewardship and care, you can make a donation online. Pet food and other pet supplies, (used pet supplies in good condition are accepted), can be dropped off at the Adoption Center (1208 N. Mt Shasta Blvd.) 12:30-4:00pm seven days a week, and the Yreka Pet Resource Center (109 N Broadway St) Saturdays 10am-3pm. Apply online to volunteer. Sisikiyouhumane.org.