West Columbia Gorge Humane Society

West Columbia Gorge Humane Society (WCGHS) is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, animal shelter located in Washougal, Washington. 

WCGHS operates a small spay/neuter clinic located inside of Columbia River Veterinary Specialists (CRVS).  Through our clinic, we are able to spay/neuter every animal that comes into our care.  Spay/neuter is a critically important piece of our mission to save lives.  By spaying and neutering we are able to help minimize pet overpopulation and keep the number of animals entering shelters down.  

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic shutting down essential services including veterinary care, many animals were not spayed/neutered.  This has had a negative residual effect on animal populations, especially with our community and feral cats.  What’s worse, post-pandemic, we are experiencing a shortage of veterinary services and accessibility - and the costs are high, which is distressing for animal rescue groups like us who are already struggling with the high costs associated with animal care and adoption preparation.  

WCGHS’s goal is to keep our spay/neuter clinic running so that we can provide high quality, low cost spay/neuter surgery for the pets in our care and for our animal rescue partners who are also in desperate need of this resource.  By providing this low cost service, we are able to help ourselves and others save more lives during a time when every animal rescue organization across America is experiencing a capacity crisis.  

In 2022, when we opened our clinic in CRVS, we held clinics 42 days and spay/neutered 747 animals.  In 2023, we held clinics 86 days and spay/neutered 1,216 animals. In 2024, with your help, we plan to increase our impact by holding 100 clinic days and helping 1,500 animals.  

Currently, we are only licensed to perform surgery on animals owned by 501(c)(3) nonprofit rescue groups.  We are not open to the public at this time. However, we are in the early stages of applying for licensure through the State of Washington to be able to serve low income pet owners, so that they too, can have access to high quality, low cost spay/neuter surgery for their pets.

All funds donated to our GiveBIG 2024 campaign will go toward continuing to provide these much needed, lifesaving services. Thank you for supporting our mission to save lives and provide resources to keep pets and their people together.    

About Us

Established in 1994, our programs and services are carried out by a small staff and over 100 volunteers who are dedicated to the welfare of animals in need from our community and beyond. Thousands of pets and people are the recipients of our compassionate care and assistance each year.

Mission: To save the lives of pets and provide resources that keep pets and their people together.
Vision: Our vision is for all pets to live healthy lives, in loving homes.
Values: WCGHS embraces and fosters a culture of kindness, respect, compassion and integrity towards all pets and people.

WCGHS is focused on bettering the lives of both pets and their people in our community. 
This is why we are committed to these tenets of socially conscious animal sheltering:

1. Finding placement for every healthy or treatable animal.
2. Ensuring unwanted or homeless pets have a safe place to go for shelter and care.
3. Assessing the medical and behavioral needs of unwanted or homeless animals and ensuring these needs are thoughtfully addressed.
4. Aligning shelter policy with the needs of the community.
5. Alleviating suffering and making conscientious decisions regarding euthanasia based on the health and safety of the animal.
6. Enhancing the human-animal bond through proper matchmaking and post adoption support.