Redmond animal rescue forced to relocate after building was deemed unsafe

The City of Redmond is tearing down the building for Motley Zoo Animal Rescue due to vital structural points, leaving the rescue heart with no residence.

Jme Thomas, the Executive Director of Motley Zoo Animal Rescue, stated structural injury was revealed inside the building over the summer time when engaged on repairing the air conditioner.

“As they explained to me, trying to fix the problems would lead to bigger problems and therefore, they had to make a tough call,” Thomas stated. “We know it’d pretty much be an entire rebuild, which we understand is not feasible, and frankly, we would never even imagine the city should do that for us. They just can’t favor us with city funds.”

The building is scheduled for demolition in January.

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“The City of Redmond did not neglect anything, nor did they hide anything from us,” Thomas stated. “They are just as surprised, disappointed, and frustrated as we are because they really love having us here. The building is just old.”

The building was bought from a personal proprietor, the preliminary landlord, in 2018 by the City of Renton. Thomas acknowledged that the corporate had an excellent relationship working with town.

Since its inception in 2009, Motley Zoo is primarily comprised of volunteers who use their spare time to assist animals discover everlasting houses. While the bodily rescue building is closing, the digital rescue companies Motley Zoo offers will nonetheless be energetic.

Foster-based rescues include a community of volunteers working of their spare time, coordinating the care and adoption of animals on-line. The animals are housed within the houses of volunteers, referred to as fosters, who deal with the animals’ particular person wants.

“Initially, we operated for five years virtually, which is what most foster-based rescues do,” Thomas stated. “However, going back to that kind of functionality now would be extremely crippling to our mission since we have come to rely so heavily on the facility and how it improves our capacity and efficiency. We are a better rescue because of this facility and what we’ve done with it.”

Besides daycare and typical obedience, Motley Zoo additionally offers rehabilitative coaching.

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“There are not enough behaviorists or organizations to take in all the dogs with fixable issues, so through our services, we help people keep their dogs and work with them effectively, but we need a regular place to work from even if that’s all we pare down our services to,” Thomas stated.

The relocation course of has already confirmed tough. Many Redmond building homeowners gained’t lease to Motley Zoo due to the canine, in accordance to Thomas. When property homeowners have been pleased with canine, costs have been unsustainable or zoning didn’t align.

“It’s the location that really makes the difference because of the symbiotic programs/system we’ve created,” Thomas stated. “It isn’t really ‘moving’ if we leave Redmond, it’d be starting over fresh in a new town. And likely more than a year before the services could be profitable again.”

But the time period “zoo” comes from the rescue’s willingness to soak up most animals — so long as they’ve the provides for them — together with smaller animals and occasional livestock alongside cats and canine. This flexibility solely makes it harder to discover a correct emptiness.

Motley Zoo has rehomed greater than 4,300 animals since 2009.

“The long-term solution to this growing crisis is not to house more animals (there could never be enough organizations to accommodate them either way), it’s to make more capable owners so they can keep the dogs they have,” Thomas stated. “Without our facility, we lose that capacity and the problem only grows.”