Colorado Or Bust

Tuesday, March 20th 2007, 3:32 pm

By: News On 6

For the past four years the SPCA in Bartlesville has quietly been supplying adoptable dogs and cats to Boulder, Colorado. The program is about to expand and the News on 6â€™s Rick Wells reports the SPCA could use a little help.

At the SPCA in Bartlesville, animals that are not adopted here go to Colorado for another chance at a new home.

"How many animals have we sent them? Since we started four years ago, we have sent 518 animals," said Anita Stepp of Washington County SPCA.

That's dogs and cats, puppies and kittens. Boulder has an effective spaying and neutering program. Itâ€™s so effective it has resulted in a shortage of adoptable strays so they take them in from other states.

â€œI've made ten trips to Boulder so far," said SPCA Volunteer Driver Mike Nobles.

Nobles is a Tulsan who is one of several volunteer drivers. Every three weeks or so they load up about 20 dogs and cats and drive all night to Boulder. Because programs like this usually run on good will and volunteer labor, the future is always precarious.

â€œEvery trip you wonder, well who's gonna pay for this one, or how we gonna do it," said Nobles.

But he says they've had donations from all over the country to keep the program going. The Zarrow Foundation has donated. Doenges Ford gave them a good deal on a van that they still have to pay for, but it'll provide a safer round trip, and the program is expanding. Next week they'll take a load of dogs and cats to Denver for adoption.

"It's a good story up here,â€ said Nobles. â€œThese people do great work, great work."