Love is a four-legged word and Juneau Animal Rescue is seeking funds to give that love a new home.
Rick Driscoll, executive director of JAR, said on Thursday the shelter’s largest annual fundraiser is Saturday evening at Centennial Hall. Approximately 50 local businesses have donated to a silent auction with more than 200 individual donations. There will also be a dessert auction, live music by the Alyssa Fischer Trio, and a wine and beer tasting. Appetizers will be catered by Breeze In.
Tickets are $75 and all funds support the animals. Driscoll said at last year’s fundraiser he announced the need for a new shelter with the intention of educating the public. JAR is still in that phase.
“It was built with the idea of warehousing animals and today’s best practice standards are more about creating a shelter where animals can thrive until they’re adopted into their forever homes,” he said. “We need a bigger site, we need more acreage, and we need more modern facilities and more modern materials.”
The Juneau Animal Rescue building is slowly sinking. Cracks are seen on Feb. 13, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
The Juneau Community Foundation raised $16,000 so far toward a new shelter, along with a private $10,000 match donation. The shelter is also applying for grants from animal welfare organizations. All of the money is being saved and Driscoll said there’s not an exact goal just yet as they are still securing a location. He said he hopes a site will be chosen by late spring or early summer of this year.
“People need to know that there’s a place where it’s going to be before they want to give money to help the cause,” he said.
The current shelter meets nearly none of the key Association of Shelter Veterinarians Guidelines for cat, dog and other pet enclosures, according to a review completed by ASV in 2021.
The shelter was built 40 years ago and the foundation is sinking. Driscoll pointed at a crack above and below the door of an isolation room for cats undergoing intake or who are sick. The isolation room is directly across a room containing healthy cats who are kept isolated due to social behavior.
Driscoll noted that the entire shelter is under one circulation system. ASV recommends that each animal have its own air ventilation to avoid the spread of airborne diseases.
In the isolation room for healthy cats, Denji leaped back and forth through kennels connected by a sliding door. She may not get along with other felines, but she was eager for pets from Driscoll.
A cat says hello in an approved kennel by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians at Juneau Animal Rescue on Feb. 13, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
He said JAR bought the 15 ASV-recommended kennels for $30,000. These are considered best practices because cats can have separate living spaces for eating and bathroom use.
Small animals do not have their own designated space; their cages and tanks line the wall in the hallway across from general cat rooms and just before the entrance to the dog kennels. This causes unnecessary stress, Driscoll said.
“Dogs can sniff a ferret cage or a rabbit cage on their way to the kennel which undoubtedly creates some stress for those animals,” Driscoll said. “When we have birds like parakeets, the cages are directly across from the cat rooms. They’re in their cages, and the cats are staring at parakeets, and it’s a stressful environment for both. Cats are prey-driven toward birds. We do try to accommodate that and put blankets over cages, but it’s not an ideal situation.”
Aging concrete is difficult to clean and is chipping away in the dog kennels at Juneau Animal Rescue. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
The aging porous concrete in the dog kennels is chipped and difficult to clean. Additionally, the ASV recommended easier outside access for the dogs.
“We would love to have a kennel situation where there’s kind of like a guillotine door that lets them go to an outside area,” Driscoll said. “We could designate times to lift it and close it where they can go out. Also, safety for staff. Sometimes we have dogs that have behavioral issues. They’re angry dogs and they might have a bite history, and so it makes it more challenging for our staff to clean those kennels safely because they have to go into the kennel, take the dog out of the kennel and put it into another kennel before they can clean that cage.”
Driscoll said JAR met with the City and Borough of Juneau Lands, Housing and Economic Development Committee on Jan. 27. A motion was passed to approve JAR working with the committee to consider a 34-acre undeveloped property near Southeast Alaska Foodbank on Crazy Horse Drive. Driscoll said the shelter would be happy with 2.5 to 5 acres. He said the site is wet, but JAR hired an engineering firm to complete an evaluation, and it would be buildable.
“When we say we want to build a new forever home, we really mean forever, or at least a lifetime’s worth,” Driscoll said.
He said while the shelter’s current central location is convenient for people using its boarding and doggy daycare services, if it were to be built near Industrial Boulevard, they could then access dog walking trails and explore adding a dog park.
The community can learn more about the need for a new shelter online, or by chatting with shelter volunteers and board members at the event on Saturday.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
Know & Go
What: Juneau Animal Rescue’s Love Is a Four-Legged Word Wine and Beer Tasting and Silent Auction.
When: Saturday, 6–9 p.m.
Where: Centennial Hall, 101 Egan Drive.
Tickets: Tickets are available online until noon Saturday or at the door as they last.
Students with special needs from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé toured Juneau Animal Rescue and created cutting boards in a class to donate as part of the shelter’s silent auction this Saturday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
