Denver Animal Shelter hires social worker to help pets, owners

Denver Animal Shelter is helping pets stay home by offering support to owners struggling to get by. The shelter hired its first social worker to help address the number of animals surrendered to the shelter. 

Josie Pigeon has a master's degree in social work from the University of Denver with a specialty in human-animal-environment interactions. She's one of three social workers at animal shelters in the Denver metro area.

"A family who's having issues with finding food or financial assistance, or having issues keeping their home, their pets are going through the exact same thing," Pigeon said. "The easiest way to make a human connection with an individual is to talk to them about their pet first."

Pigeon says social work and animal welfare go together because social issues that affect owners also affect the pet, such as food and housing insecurity and gaps in education. 

"A lot of times if they are going to seek help, they're going to seek help for their pets first. That's where we're going to get them," Pigeon said. "Where the wonderful part is going to come is making sure that we're keeping families together."

Her goal goes beyond getting families short-term resources. She aims to help them long term too. If DAS can improve the quality of life for both pets and people, they believe this will help keep pets out of shelters. 

"We hope to do a lot more work in the area of prevention so that people don't even have to come to our doors," said Marissa Vasquez, DAS Manager of Community Engagement. "We definitely want to be there for the people and their pets because pets improve the health and the lives of humans." 

Pigeon joins Vasquez and a team of community navigators who go out into the community in search of those who need support. They identify the most vulnerable populations to help including the unhoused, seniors and people with disabilities.

DAS offers low-cost pet medical services, supplies, food, leashes, grooming and transportation to pet owners in under-resourced parts of the city. They've helped hundreds of animals this year, and there are currently another 150 animals on a waitlist to receive these free services.

"Our goal is to preserve the human-animal bond by providing support and services to those who need it," DAS Director Melanie Sobel said. "Animals are an integral part of the family and both people and their pets benefit when they can stay together. So we meet community members where they are, rather than waiting for them to come to us. We want to understand their situation and establish trust. This helps us learn what kind of support they need to care for their pets and the barriers that exist with animal welfare and human services systems. We help them with whatever we can to keep their pets at home, so they don't have to surrender them to a shelter."

DAS can currently help the following zip codes: 80219, 80204, 80223, 80216 and 80239.

There are both donation and volunteer opportunities available to community members who want to support Denver Animal Shelter.