DENVER — The City of Denver's animal shelter helped support dozens of unhoused residents and their animals during a pop-up clinic Thursday.
The Denver Animal Protection (DAP) community engagement team set up the clinic at New Directions, formerly known as the Best Western Hotel, located at 4590 Quebec in Denver.
To ensure the health and safety of the animals, the DAP team met with the pet owners who now reside at New Directions. They helped provide medical attention, vaccines and supplies for the pets.
Dina Weller, a guest at the hotel, brought her 4-year-old Chihuahua terrier Sparkle in to get her vaccines.
Weller said she and her dog have been through a lot together.
"She's stuck by me through everything. No matter what, she's there," Weller said.
Just a few weeks ago, they were living in an encampment in Denver. They recently moved into the hotel as part of Mayor Mike Johnston's House1000 Initiative.
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Marissa Vasquez with the Denver Animal Shelter said they're also helping out with pet food and supplies and connecting people with spay and neutering services.
"Transportation is a barrier that we want to be sure to address, and just making it as easy for folks as possible so that again, they can begin to build, and put together all the paperwork that they need to find permanent housing," Vasquez said.
She said they'll be back in a month to give pets the remainder of their shots.
"Our whole program is focused on that human-animal bond," Vasquez said. "And we want to keep those bonds intact, make sure that we're keeping animals out of the shelter, and that they can stay in their safe and loving homes rather than, you know, having to be relinquished to us."
While the city continues moving people into housing, they say they will offer more of these services to those who need it.
