It’s sad to see the behind-the-scene realities of animal rescue. This legendary no-kill shelter based out of Fort Lupton, CO helped so many animals in the area get loving forever homes.
Every Creature Counts’ History of Animal Advocacy
The shelter helped pet owners all over Colorado by offering low-cost spay and neuter services to beloved pets. Sadly, in late 2017, the shelter had to permanently close down due to the death of their owners/founders. Below is the heart-rending announcement the shelter posted on its main website to inform animal lovers, rescue advocates, pet owners, and their thousands of followers about their decision to permanently close the sanctuary.
Legendary animal rescue advocates Lisa and Sam Booker founded the shelter in 1992. Tragedy struck when Lisa Booker died in 2013.
Every Creature Counts was devastated, but co-founder and Lisa’s husband, Sam, kept doing what they did best and soldiered on despite losing his rescue partner – the homeless, abandoned, and hurt animals in their area have nowhere else to go so Sam kept the shelter open.
But something even more tragic awaits this shelter. Sam Booker passed away on January 18, 2016. The volunteers could not keep the shelter open now that their fearless leader and animal advocate was gone. The donations dried up. The shelter couldn’t keep the lights on. The only option, though grim and so sad, was for the volunteers to find other rescues for the remaining animals still in their care, and to stop accepting new animals for intake.
Closing Every Creature Counts was indeed a painful decision, one that took the volunteers several months of anguish and despair.
In its more than 24 years of existence, Every Creature Counts shelter in Fort Lupton, Colorado found homes for 49,600 dogs, offered low-cost desexing services to more than 155,000 dogs and cats.
Sam and Lisa Booker were true heroes to all the animals in Fort Lupton, Colorado and surrounding areas. They were the life and soul of Every Creature Counts rescue and shelter and without them, the shelter hobbled along.
I was looking to develop a website to focus on animal rescue and advocacy and was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time. When the domain name for Every Creature Counts was auctioned anonymously on the market, I was first in line.
I’ve since rewritten the content to focus on my rescue and foster advocacies for abandoned animals in the Southern Illinois area, as well as educating pet owners about the basics of raising a healthy companion animal.
In honor of the heroic Bookers and in remembrance of Every Creature Counts and every little furry soul they helped, please consider helping your local animal rescuers to keep doing the vital things that they do by neutering or spaying your animals, volunteering to walk dogs, clean kennels in the shelter, donate food or cash, or report cases of suspected animal abuse. Heck, even transporting animals to and from rescues helps tons!
We’re all in this together.
I had no idea this shelter closed. I am forever grateful for Lisa and Sam! Without them we would not have our forever Pepper girl. She is the best thing that has ever rescued us. She is now 7, so she was adopted in 2013… probably one of the last events for Lisa is what I imagine or one that would just show the love she had because Pepper came to us so easily but so caring and precise. So sad to think about but so amazing to realize what she did for so many. As well as Sam continuing the process! I remember someone, not sure if it was Lisa or not, emailing saying they would love to see pictures of “Sasha”, what she was called back then and I just never got around to it. I feel terrible now because I feel the love they had for all of these animals. Just for anyone who wants to know, she is amazing! She loves camping and runs SO fast! She will always come back when called though. She is a definite mama’s girl but listens to dad in the mountains. She even “talks” sometimes to the younger pups just to keep them in line. She is just so loyal and loving. Thank you all for what you did. I wish I could do more for you, or continue the love of animals that the Bookers had. ❤️
Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s always heartbreaking when a shelter is forced to close down. The animals suffer and neighboring shelters have to do the work that this shelter used to do. Pepper is lucky she found a loving home with you. Our rescue in Southern Illinois is overwhelmed with needy dogs and cats but thankfully, the shelter director has great connections with bigger shelters up in Chicago area where animals have a better chance of getting adopted.
Thanks to Every Creature Counts, we were able to find my fur baby who is now almost 6 (we got her when she was 3 months). They worked with us to get her healthy from Mange and they were very kind. We were super disappointed to hear of their closing 🙁
Thank you for adopting your furbaby and giving her a loving home all these years.
I just read your blog post about Every Creature Counts closing. They partnered with PetsMart in Louisville, CO at one time, and that’s where I found my cat Cooper (previously Chuck) in 2012. His nickname is “#1 kitty” since he was my first cat rescue, and he inspired me to keep rescuing and to start volunteering with a local TNR group. Thank you for YOUR continued efforts in the rescue world. Some of us would be lost without our furry soul mates.