It was a sunny afternoon at Craig’s Healing Heart Totem Park, and eight-month-old brown lab mix Moki was busy playing a game of fetch. He energetically ran alongside two picnic tables before darting back to owner Kelly Jenkins. She reached for the main attraction – a short, wet stick.
Jenkins, and Moki, are weekly recipients of the Ketchikan Community Cats Program’s pet food pantry, which distributes pet food and supplies to those in need. Despite the name, it’s for both cats and dogs. The pantry expanded to Prince of Wales Island and Metlakatla during the federal government shutdown last fall.
“When they made the announcement that food stamps, the SNAP program, was going to be curtailed, I then realized that potentially we were going to have a number of people who have pets who were going to be really adversely affected,” said Ketchikan Community Cats Program lead Margaret Cloud.
Cloud said she was worried that some pet owners in southern Southeast’s rural communities would have to surrender their furry friends because they could no longer pay for food and supplies. Only a handful of stores on Prince of Wales Island and Metlakatla carry pet food, and Cloud said it’s often more expensive than it is in Ketchikan. She also said it can take up to a few weeks to get shipments of pet food to the island.
“I felt it was really pertinent that we be able to get some food over there to have available for people who were seriously struggling and really didn’t know what they were going to do,” Cloud said.
The Ketchikan Community Cats Program started nearly a decade ago as a way to help stray and feral cats in the area. It’s since morphed to facilitate vaccinations and spay and neuter services for all pets, in addition to the formation of the pet food pantry. The organization became a 501c3 nonprofit about a year ago.
The nonprofit relies on a small army of volunteers to bring pet food and supplies from Ketchikan to Prince of Wales. Most of it comes by way of ferry, which is then dispersed across the island. Cloud estimates that roughly 40 pet owners on POW, from Craig to Thorne Bay to Naukati, have received food from the pantry.
Christina Wiesner is a volunteer in Craig. She’s delivered dog and cat supplies to about 20 people in the area, sometimes driving to the ferry terminal in Hollis, 30 miles away, to pick up supplies. She said she got involved with the program because she was in need of help.
“I know if I need help, there’s a lot more people on this island who are going to need help too,” Wiesner said.
Jenkins was one of those people, who reached out to Wiesner for help in December. Jenkins lives a more subsistence lifestyle and often supplements Moki’s diet with salmon. But she said she had a baby over the summer, and her family didn’t catch enough salmon to last through the winter.
Jenkins said the food products she’s received through the pantry are high quality. She’s also accepted pet treats and medication, which she said is hard to come by on the island. She said she once had trouble finding a flea pill on POW for her dog.
“Winters are harsh if you didn’t get enough deer and fish through the summer,” Jenkins said. “So, it’s been a blessing this winter for our family.”
Jenkins’ appreciation for the program goes beyond the pet food pantry. She said Weisner assisted in getting Moki neutered through the Ketchikan Humane Society’s SNIP program, which helps cover the cost of spay and neuter services for pet owners in need. Jenkins said there’s few spay and neuter options on the island, and Moki was brought to Ketchikan and fostered free of charge.
The Alaska House of Representatives introduced a bill this legislative session that would establish a statewide spay and neuter assistance fund. That bill has not yet advanced to the Senate.
Cloud, the Community Cats program coordinator, said there’s a strong need for programs like these in rural Alaska where veterinarian and pet food options are limited. And she hopes the program will grow, both in pet supply donations and volunteer force.
“This is a win-win for everybody,” Cloud said. “It saves money, it keeps pets in their homes. It helps reduce the overpopulation by getting those cats and dogs altered, gets them vaccinated, so we have healthier pet communities. All of this is a win for our society.”
Cloud says the pet food pantry accepts more than just dog and cat supplies. They’ve distributed everything from chicken feed to gerbil food.
Pet owners in Craig and Klawock can pick up pet supplies from the pantry at the Prince of Wales Chamber of Commerce.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
