Animal outreach facility wants to help locally

There is a facility in Moses Lake that receives dogs, cats and other animals, as well as non-game birds, when people don’t know what to do with them.

Camron Derting, administrator for Grant County Animal Outreach, appeared before the Grand Coulee City Council last month to let people on this end of Grant County know of their services and willingness to help people who have animal problems.

If you have an animal (pretty much any animal) that you want to get help for, the Moses Lake facility is there to help, Derting pointed out.

“We would like to serve more people from this part of the county,” she told the council here.

When the facility in Moses Lake receives an animal, it is checked for any health concerns, namely shots, getting spayed and neutered back to health for adoption, or to be passed on to rescue operations throughout the state for adoption.

Probably the most bizarre incident Animal Outreach has handled was a 900-pound boar. It finally found a sanctuary in Prosser, making parties at both ends of the transaction happy.

Animal Outreach is financed through donations and through adoptive services. It costs a person from $100-$300 to adopt an animal.

The nonprofit firm receives animals largely from the public, but also from animal control operations. The goal is always to find homes for the animals, Derting noted.

Animals ready for adoption can be seen on the firm’s Facebook page, and through several websites, principally, Petfinder.com.

There, you can see a picture of the animal and know that it has been taken care of and is healthy for adoption.

“We are a no-kill facility,” Derting said.

The firm has handled about 2,000 animals so far this year.

“We handle a lot of special-needs animals,” Derting stated, all with the goal of getting them healthy and ready for a new home.

“We are always ready to help out where needed, and would like to have more contact with people from your end of the county,” Derting said.