By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – As triple-digit temperatures continue this week, pet owners in Pima County face limited options when seeking refuge at cooling centers.
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Only eight of the county’s 48 cooling centers are pet-friendly, meaning residents who arrive with a dog that is not a service animal will be turned away.
John Truman, who visits cooling centers with his 100-pound golden shepherd mix, Bartok, said the lack of options forces pet owners into an impossible choice.
“Well, it’s rough because it puts you in a position where you have to make a decision between a commitment that you made to another soul and what’s functional for the next couple of days,” Truman said.
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Jennifer Wishnie, an associate professor of practice at the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, said the situation is common among pet owners seeking heat relief.
“People, their pets are their family, and they won’t come without their pets if they have them,” Wishnie said. “So they really need a place to be able to take their pets where they can have some heat services or heat resources.”
Wishnie and her team are meeting with existing pet-friendly cooling centers to identify what works, what resources are needed, and what barriers exist. The goal is to use findings from those eight centers to work with the Pima County Health Department to identify additional locations suitable for expansion.
“Whether that’s a church with a basement that has the capacity or another shelter that has the capacity — and to then learn what we’ve used to form best practices or recommendations,” Wishnie said.
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Salvation Army made pet policy permanent
The Salvation Army began allowing pets on a temporary basis during a previous summer but made the policy permanent after observing its impact on shelter use.
“We thought, why not just allow our guests to keep their animals as well because we saw that community members didn’t want to get a bed if their pet couldn’t come with them,” said Annelise Brokaw, the Salvation Army’s social services director.
Truman said the sentiment is widely shared among pet owners.
“People would rather be homeless than be without their pet or without their loved one, and it’s 100% true,” he said.
Wishnie said her team plans to deliver recommendations to the Pima County Health Department in early fall, with the hope of increasing the number of pet-friendly cooling centers by next summer.
The list of existing pet-friendly cooling centers is below:
- Casa Paloma Drop-In Center
- Caridad Community Kitchen
- Pima County Justice Services Transition Center
- Primavera Foundation – HIP Drop-In Center
- Salvation Army Hospitality House
- Sister Jose Women’s Shelter
- St. Francis Community Services, Ward 3 Community Room
- Ward 6 Chill Space
All other cooling center locations only allow service animals.
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