Lost and abandoned pets to get new Tri-Cities shelter — and new folks in charge

Rebecca Howard wants people to have the same connection with their animals as she had with her Doberman, Neo.

“I immediately adopted him. I don’t know how to explain it. He changed my life,” she said. “He was my dog. He was just the most amazing dog that I ever had.”

Though Neo died in 2017, his legacy and name are living on as the central image of Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation.

The foundation, led by Howard, Dr. Julie Chambers and a board with a broad range of animal expertise, took over operating the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter this month. They provide animal control services for Kennewick, Pasco and Richland.

And the change comes just as years of work finally paid off in a recent agreement with the cities to put $6 million toward an updated shelter, which took in over 3,000 dogs and cats last year.

Pasco city officials are working on designs for the new building which will be going up behind the current shelter on 18th Avenue.

Zach Ratkai, Pasco’s administrative and community services director, said they expect more action on the new building starting in 2021. They are hoping to have room for about 60 dogs and 90 cats.

While the shelter serves all three cities, Pasco has the primary responsibility of finding a nonprofit to run it and has been organizing the design of a new facility.

Calls for a new shelter date back to at least 2011, and the three cities agreed to work on a replacement after a 2016 study confirmed the need.

The current location includes three buildings. The main 7,000-square-foot metal building dates to the ’50s. And two outbuildings were added in the ‘70s.

It was operated as a Humane Society shelter until Animal Control took over 20 years ago.

Maintaining the buildings is a constant struggle, Howard said. She credits volunteer Julie Webb’s efforts with helping to get the project moving. Webb led #NothingFancyJustFunctional, a Facebook group that supported getting a new shelter.

Having the new shelter means giving both the animals and the staff a safe space.

“You can tell the building here is very run down. We need a lot of things. We just need that safe environment for the animals,” Howard said. “Having the new shelter is going to give the animals the opportunity for that outside time without exhausting all of our resources.”

Taking over the shelter

Howard steps into the director’s position after 14 years at the shelter, starting as kennel staff and spending the past seven years as the animal control officer.

She is replacing Debbie Sporcich’s Chicle Animal Foundation, which operated the shelter for two years.

“The shelter is my home. When I first started at the shelter, it was a job to help support my family,” Howard said. “I had two small daughters at the time. I always loved animals. I didn’t know that I was going to make it a career, but moving up throughout the years, it just became my passion.”

When she became an animal control officer she understood the impact the shelter and control services can have. The position allowed her to educate the public and motivate people about the importance of spaying, neutering and taking care of their animals.

Along with Chambers, a chiropractor, who is handling the financial side of the operation, she formed Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation earlier this year to bid on the shelter contract.

They also recruited a board of experts who include former directors of the Pullman animal shelter, an expert in animal science and a certified veterinarian technician.

“I’m pretty proud of them, so I know that any issue comes up and I don’t know what to do or I have no idea where to go, I can reach out to them,” Howard said.

The three cities agreed to pay the foundation $875,000 for the year to provide animal control services. They rely on grants and other fundraising to cover other shelter costs, such as veterinarian bills and vaccines.

Last year, the shelter took in 1,317 dogs and 1,794 cats, according to the Chicle Animal Foundation’s statistics.

Of those the majority were strays. Most of the dogs were returned to their owners. The majority of the cats were transferred to another shelter.

Howard wants to continue some of the great programs that were started in the last two years under Sporcich, including ones to spay and neuter stray cats and a program to provide spayed and neutered barn cats.

This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM.