02/06/2026
To interested parties:
My name is Holly Davison, I have dedicated 16 years of my life to the animals at the Fort Morgan Humane Society. Friday, January 23rd. We received a document from the city manager stating the city was terminating our agreement. We were given 60 days to vacate. In the document there was no mention of what would happen to the shelter, and no reason for the termination.
Though it was not stated, I knew the shelter would return to the police department to operate.
From the start of this mess there were many mistakes made from both sides. Since we were given no explanation for the termination and no indication of what would happen with the shelter we went with what information we were given. We regret that our post was misleading and many people thought there would no longer be a shelter.
It was after our message was posted that we received the reason for the termination of the agreement.
We received no warning this was coming from the city council or the police department. This was unprofessional and mean spirited. You just simply do not treat people this way. Though it is indicative of our current failing society.
I will be the first to admit there have been problems at the shelter.
To address our criticisms.
The staff is rude:
Over the years we have had some excellent help that stayed for several years. Some of them were a bit of a whack-a-doodle, but they did a great job cleaning, loved the animals, and were willing to work with the pay. It is difficult to find people who are willing to do the work for the pay, so I have always overlooked idiosyncrasies, as long as they loved the animals. Unfortunately their people skills were lacking and they had difficulty with the public.
We have bad days and regrettably are not always pleasant when someone comes in. Though this is no excuse, when we have bad days, they are very, very bad. Other times people think we are mean when we do not give them what they want. Then they take to facebook to talk about it.
The length of stay for an animal. :
THE GIFT OF TIME
We have been criticized because we keep animals too long. We are constantly trying to transfer or adopt. We have several shelters, foster based rescues, and breed specific rescues with whom we partner. The city thinks we should expand the shelters we transfer to. We are very selective about the shelters we work with. When one is suggested I first check their euthansia rate on the PACFA's website. Some of these shelters have a euthansia rate of 50%. This is how I look at that..if we send them 4 animals, 2 of them are not going to find a home. We love our animals. We transfer them to give a better chance to find a home, not to be killed.
Some animals take longer to transfer due to behavioral issues. When we have a dog with behavior issues we apply to a specific shelter. The waiting list for that shelter's behavioral unit is lengthy. The Gift of Time.
Some animals enter the shelter with severe health issues, often it takes a very long time to get these animals healthy. Melman, a dog that came to the shelter in rough shape due to severe allergies that had not been treated. Once on medication he was a healthy dog. It took a long time to get him healthy. Then we had to find his forever home. The adopter had to understand Melman is going to need pills (apoquel) or shots (cytopoint) the remainder of his life. It took many months, but we found his forever home.
The Gift of Time.:
Pontiac was a huge tomcat that came in with a large open wound in his neck. It took a long time, a lot of treatments and surgeries to get him healthy. All the time he would allow us to drop medicine in his ears and keep his wound clean. He liked to go into the playroom with the kittens. They jumped on him and played with his tail etc. while their mothers were sunning themselves in the window. It was quite the picture. After a year and a half he was adopted by one of the vets that had treated him. She volunteers at a retirement home. Pontiac goes with her and serves as a therapy cat.
I need to stop right now before this turns into a novel Finally Home, Tails of Adoption from the Fort Morgan Humane Society.
Cleanliness of the shelter:
There were negative comments about cleaning. The city council toured a few weeks ago. They came when we were in the middle of cleaning, then went on to tell the chief of police that conditions at the shelter were "atrocious". I have no doubt they were.
As far as the smell. We have at least 30 litter boxes and 20+ dogs. After the morning cleaning the shelter may smell like a flower garden after a gentle spring rain. Then, 5 minutes later a cat uses the litter box and three dogs need to p**p. Our icky HVAC system does nothing to help the situation.
I know the front area gets cluttered, we are extremely limited on storage space. We do the best we can with what limited space we have.
Shelter infested with parvo
The shelter is not "infested" with parvo. Yes, we have had parvo in the shelter, as do many other shelters. A while back we had 2 cases of parvo come in, one right after the other. The parvo was spread in the back of a patrol car. A dog with parvo was picked up and 2 days later another dog went in the back of the same car and contacted parvo. Since then the patrol officers clean the back seat after dropping off a dog, and they do so before leaving the parking lot, we help them.
We have always kept disease from spreading. Our staff looks to make sure the animals are healthy. They notice behavior changes. They notate when the animal is not eating, lethargic, or their p**p looks or smells off.
In the 16 years I have been there we have only had one outbreak of kennel cough. We have been told by many shelters that we are lucky.
Two years ago we lost a lot of cats. There seemed to be nothing we could do to stop it. The vets were working with us but we could not get it under control. It was due to the building's HVAC system. A system we have been begging the city to take care of.
The "shelter has $350,000 dollars".:
OK, I will admit this comment cheered me up, because I thought it was so funny. Every single year we go through a 2 or 3 month period, usually at the end of the year, where we financially struggle more so than the other months. Like every other board member I have bought dog food and other necessities with my own money. We pay for items we need for fundraisers with our own money. Right now I have about a thousand dollars worth of tchotchkes in my basement for a carnival we were going to have this spring. We have donated thousands of dollars so we can meet payroll. This year I have paid several thousand dollars for vet bills. I am not saying this for accolades, but to illustrate how hard we have worked to keep this shelter open and that we do not have a lot of money. As a shelter, we have literally lived paycheck-to-paycheck.
Our fees are high:
Our fees start at a donation (for older dogs) to $350 (for puppies) and everything in between. The cost to adopt a cat or kitten does not cover the cost of the vetting provided.
Our operating costs are $200,000. The city pays a little over $60,000 for our services. The other $140,000 comes to us through grants, fundraisers, adoption fees, and donations
We do not allow the public to see the dogs:
We started this after I transferred animals to MaxFund. They do not allow the public in the back. Why? When people go in the back the dogs go bananas. Some of the dogs are growling and lunging at the kennel doors. People do not see the dog at their best. A picture of a dog laying in the grass with a toy in his mouth shows much better.
The kennel area is stressful. Imagine having anxiety attacks one after the other. That is what these dogs go through when a stranger walks past their kennel.
Even though we tell people not to stick their fingers in the kennels. They do. They have ignored signs that we put on kennel doors of new dogs that are vicious. One time I made a giant sign that said "Don't be du***ss. Keep your fingers out of my kennel or you might draw back a bloody stub". Yes, they still stuck their fingers in the kennel gate.
We have had people open kennel gates and allow dogs to run
We have had children running up and down the isles screaming and banging on the kennel doors. I could go on and on with the issues.
That being said, we did start to allow the public in the back because we wanted to improve our relationship with the public. This is the first time I ever made a decision that was NOT in the best interest of the animals. It still bothers me that I made this decision, because it is not in the interest of the dogs.
We do not accept surrenders:
We do accept surrenders when we have the space. Under certain circumstances will always accept a surrendered animal.
Summer is a terrible time. It is normal for us to take 10 calls a week from people wanting to surrender their pets, oftentimes these calls are for multiple dogs. We have 25 kennels. We also get calls at the beginning of December from people who are getting a puppy for Christmas and want to "get rid of" their current dog.
When people take to social media to complain about one thing or the other they are hurting the animals. When the public reads these comments they may be less likely to come in and look at our animals. So that is less opportunities for an animal to find a home.
Our greatest positive:
Our current staff is amazing. They perform a very difficult, dirty job for very little pay. They love the animals and give 150% to the animals. The animals need consistency in a very confusing and very stressful environment. They need people they can trust and people who love them. Finding people like this has been a challenge over the past 16 years, and once we find them we are grateful.
In the end it is going to be the animals that suffer. You have no idea about the work and what a treasure good employees are to have for the animals.
Holly Davisson
