Dog rescuer looking for a place outside city

A Grand Coulee woman who has tried to salvage a “dog rescue” operation, but was prevented from doing so by the city, hopes to relocate outside Grand Coulee so she can continue her work with animals.

In a notice to the city Dorothy Harris indicated that she is now in conformance with the number of dogs she has (three) and currently is no longer operating her “rescue” operation.

“I actually don’t have any rescues for the first time in over 30 years,” Harris informed the city.

Harris has been in a struggle with both the planning commission and city council to convince them that the services she provides by taking strays and getting them ready for adoption was good for the city.

The planning commission and city council pushed back and repeatedly stated that the issue wasn’t whether Harris was doing good, but rather that she was doing so in a residential area in violation of a city ordinance.

Harris and her sister-in-law, Deneen Harris, had worked together on much of the “rescue” work.

In an email message to the city, Dorothy Harris stated that she hasn’t given up. She said that she has asked a real estate broker to look for property outside the city of Grand Coulee so she could continue her work.

She had stated to both the planning commission and city council that over the years she had taken in and relocated over 400 dogs. “I take animals that are turned loose and get them healthy and ready for adoption,” Harris said. That includes shots and other health needs, she added.

In a public statement, Harris advised the city council last week that she was in conformance with the planning commission’s and council’s demand that she get her dog total down to three.

“It breaks my heart that I had to take some of my dogs to the Spokane Humane Society before they were ready,” Harris recently said.

Harris said she “couldn’t take the stress anymore.”

Over the course of several months, Harris had suggested that city officials work with her and change the language in the city’s ordinance so she could continue the work. Nothing happened on that because the city was focused on the operation being in a primarily residential area.