The Bloomington Animal Shelter
Bloomington Animal Shelter 9/11/23
By: Josephine Buckley & Kinley Butler
The Bloomington Animal Shelter is one of the most caring, happy, and cutest shelters throughout all of Bloomington. They have dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and even rabbits throughout their fun-loving environment. After talking to one of their amazing managers, Jenny Gibson, we learned a lot about the shelter that we didn't know before!
The history of the shelter has dated back a long way, and it has improved greatly since when it first started with the Monroe County Humane Association. It started in a tiny space with just a couple of rooms, with no spay or neuter clinics. The kennels were so bad that a dog actually kicked the door open. As sad as it is, around 50-60% of the animals brought into the Humane Association back then were euthanized. However, the Shelter has changed so much since then. Only around 4-7% of animals brought into the shelter are euthanized, only because of terminal illnesses such as cancer. The building today is made up of 3 different buildings, has been renovated from the bad kennels, and there is even more space for behavioral work and such!
We talked to Jenny Gibson, one of the awesome managers at the shelter, and we loved her! She has been working at the shelter for 19 years, and has loved every minute of it! She started as a secretary, and now she is one of the managers! She LOVES big dogs, and owns a cat at home. Her favorite thing about the shelter is interacting with volunteers, and just getting to hang out with animals all day!
The Shelter has improved a long way since around the 1950's. Not too long ago, the shelter was introduced to 69 dogs from a hoarding situation, with 31 puppies born after being brought to the shelter. About 5-6 dogs are still left from the situation, waiting to be adopted.
Jenny’s biggest advice for somebody who wants to work with animals is to “Do what makes you happy.” There’s many different occupations that you can go into that have to deal with animals, so just explore the different fields, and then see what you want to do! She also suggests volunteering as much as you can, because it gets you experience with many different types of pets and behaviors, so you’ll be used to most things by the time you go looking for a job.
In conclusion, the Bloomington Animal Shelter is amazing and we loved our time and experience there! There were so many adorable animals, and all of the workers were so nice to everybody, and we hope looking at some adorable animals made your day!
