Improvise. Adapt. Rebuild.

Improvise. Adapt. Rebuild. 🐾

After careful consideration, Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter (YVAS) has made the difficult decision not to return to our former building on Monad Road and will be ending our lease agreement with the City of Billings.

This decision follows the September 10th incident in which smoke from the crematorium—used by the FBI to destroy methamphetamine—was forced into the shelter due to a “negative pressure issue.” The contamination sickened more than a dozen YVAS employees, who were transported to the hospital for treatment.

Subsequent testing and reports from Northern Industrial Hygiene recommended that the entire building, including the HVAC system and all contents, be professionally cleaned in accordance with the Standard for Professional Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration. To date, the City has not addressed these recommendations or provided a timeline for remediation. Additionally, the City later confirmed that multiple other substances—including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, fentanyl, and drug paraphernalia—were also incinerated that day.

“YVAS will not expose our employees to the possibility of a repeat occurrence of the events of September 10,” said Executive Director Triniti Halverson. “It is unconscionable that the City is even considering continuing its practice of using the animal crematorium to incinerate dangerous drugs, especially when the Montana Highway Patrol operates an incinerator designed specifically for that purpose within Yellowstone County.”

For these reasons, YVAS will not grant an extension of the 30-day Notice to Cure, nor will it renegotiate any lease agreement for the Monad Road facility.