PERRY: Doggedly determined to keep homeless people with their pets

You don’t have to tell Jes at the Humane Colorado animal shelter how homelessness creates a unique crisis most people never even think about.

Jes and the other 2,000 or so fellow employees and volunteers of what used to be the Dumb Friends League think about it all day. Every day.

Of the 26,000 dogs and cats surrendered each year at the Leslie A. Malone Center in Denver and the other four centers across the state, most of them are in the shelter because of problems linked to homelessness and home insecurity, she said.

Every day, two broken hearts part ways at the shelter as a man, a woman and even a family pet their dog for the last time.

Sometimes, the cost alone of feeding and caring for a dog or cat becomes overwhelming when there’s already not enough money for rent or a car payment