Location
Their Work
The Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley (ASWRV) is a no-kill shelter with innovative programs and superior community outreach. Founded in 1972 as Animal Hospice, ASWRV functioned as a placement network without a facility for 10 years. In 1982, it moved to its five-acre facility in Hailey, a small town in central Idaho. ASWRV typically has approximately 45 cats in residence and 43 dogs. They consume 15,000 lbs of food each year.
ASWRV’s goal is to safely house any adoptable dog or cat until a loving home can be found, regardless of whether the animal is elderly, disfigured, blind, deaf or missing a limb. The shelter helps facilitate more adoptions through their Pet Pals program. This innovative mentoring program brings in trained volunteers to work with individual animals in order to give them the extra attention and training needed to become more adoptable and to improve their quality of life.
ASWRV is also committed to reducing pet overpopulation through an active community spay/neuter program. The shelter offers monthly no cost spay/neuter clinics to pet parents in Blaine County throughout the year.
ASWRV works hard to place animals where they best fit, including service. Two community members have trained several dogs from the shelter to be scent dogs. One of those animals, Kya, is now working with local law enforcement daily as a drug sniffing K-9. Kya has been on the job of two and a half years. She is trained to scent methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Thanks to ASWRV, Kya is living a fulfilling helpful life, but when she came to the shelter as a puppy, her future didn’t look so bright. As a pit bull, Kya didn’t have much hope of being adopted. It’s only thanks to this shelter’s deep commitment to exhausting all placement options that Kya is serving the community as she is today.
ASWRV is much more than an impound facility and adoption center. They have established many programs which help the community in a variety of ways. They offer community education programs, dog licensing and record keeping, the Hikin’ Buddies program, a lost and found network, and training and behavior support.
ASWRV is truly making a significant impact in their area and improving life for countless members of their community through all their unique programs. SPCA International is proud to honor this committed team of staff and volunteers.
All of the animals pictured here are up for adoption. For more information or to apply to give these cuties a permanent home please visit www.animalshelterwrv.org.