Colorado animal shelter sees increase in animals, donations following animal rescue

By Gabriela Vidal

Click here for updates on this story

    BRIGHTON, Colorado (KCNC) — It’s inside the Riverdale Animal Shelter in Brighton, Colorado, where more furry faces have been popping up as of late.

“To take on something like this is definitely unique,” said Tabitha Gormley, Community Engagement Manager with the Riverdale Animal Shelter. “We took in over 100 animals from this case, and that is on top of our already busiest season or summer.”

Gormley says it’s been over two weeks since her team at Riverdale helped intake more than 100 animals that were rescued from a Northglenn home amid an ongoing animal abuse and neglect investigation.

“It was around 20 dogs that came in and around 80 to 100 cats that came in,” she said.

“It was extremely overwhelming. We were definitely not expecting it going into it,” said Chyann Warme.

Warme is an Animal Control Officer with the Northglenn Police Department who worked with area agencies to safely get those animals out of terrible living conditions.

“A lot of the cats, too, are feral, so they’re hiding in the closets and under couches, just pretty everywhere all over the house,” said Warme. “We spent several weeks setting traps, so we’re pretty sure we got them all.”

All of those animals are now either being processed or have since been put out on the floor here among the other adoptable pets.

“We do a behavioral and medical assessment to just get to know the animal and their individual needs, so from there it is a case-by-case basis depending on what the pet needs,” said Gormley.

Since helping Northglenn police rescue some of the animals in this case, there’s been tons of support pouring into the shelter from donations to food, and making it more possible for the animals to find their forever home.

“We’re seeing volunteer applications rolling in, and it’s just been really uplifting for our team during a busy and challenging summer,” said Gormley.

Gormley says they cannot share exactly how many pets are available and which ones are still up for adoption because of the ongoing investigation, but they are hopeful the community will step up to help any of their shelter animals.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.