The Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe had to close their doors in mid-March. But, the shelter is now open to the public on a limited basis.

"We are going to be here Monday through Saturday to facilitate adoptions here at the shelter, by appointment," said Erin Ellis with the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe. "The animals will be online on our website and Facebook page, you can take a look at what we have available and give us a call to set up an appointment and meet with one of our adoption specialists. We're still doing virtual adoptions by Zoom if people are more comfortable with that."

They haven't seen many pets surrendered during the pandemic, so that's helped the shelter save other animals from all over the region.

"A lot of the shelters we transfer animals from, the underfunded, underresourced shelters are starting to see many animals come in," Ellis said. "And so we are getting those pleas again to start taking pets from other shelters where otherwise they'd be euthanized. That's where our last group of cats came from, it was down in LA, we brought over 20 cats and kittens and they're ready for adoption."

Right now they want to make sure that pets in good homes stay there, so the pet pantry is open for help with things like food and litter. Donations are a big help right now.

"The easiest way to donate is to just drop it off at the shelter," Ellis said. "It's open 7 days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can come to the shelter, open the front vestible door, leave the food, and anyone who needs food can come and do the exact same thing to pick that food up. They can also drop off and pick up at our office in South Lake, and we have distribution sites in North Lake Tahoe, Sierra county and here in Truckee."

They've given out more than 7,000 pounds of food since March.

"It's everyone helping everyone just to get through this," Ellis said. "Our community members have always helped each other, they're just doing it in a bigger way right now, which is great."

For more information, visit their website or Facebook page. 

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