DINOSAUR TOWN SAYS NO TO EXTINCTION

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

BOZEMAN, Montana––With much less fanfare than in San Franciso, the
Humane Society of Gallatin Valley in mid-1995 introduced no-kill animal control to the
city of Bozeman, a college town of 22,600 best known for its dinosaur museum.
“The challenges were almost overwhelming,” recalls board member Bruce
Jodar. “The staff worked until they were ready to drop as the number of animals in their
care skyrocketed. In the end, the response of the citizenry turned the tide. People came
from all over the county to adopt a pet from Montana’s only no-kill shelter. Hundreds of
animals who would have been killed in the past now share loving homes.”

Unlike the San Francisco SPCA, HSGV still holds animal control sheltering
contracts, housing animals for both Bozeman and Gallatin County. Also unlike the
SF/SPCA, HSGV wasn’t able to precede the switch to no-kill with a 10-year neutering
drive. Indeed, it only became able to neuter all animals before adoption in March 1997.
“Last year we received 1,807 animals,” HSGV secretary Ganay Johnson
reports,” a high number for a town of that size. “Of those, 1,305 were adopted, 276
were strays reclaimed by their owners, and 228 were euthanized.” The euthanasia rate
of 10 animals per 1,000 human residents is about twice the San Francisco ratio, but half
the U.S. norm, and about a third the norm for rural communities.