The word “tumultuous” doesn’t adequately describe the past several months for the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter (YVAS) in Billings, Montana.
The smoke from burning meth that began pouring into the shelter one Wednesday afternoon last fall set off a chain of events that saw YVAS staff:
• Spending hours in hyperbaric chambers.
• Conducting an emergency evacuation of more than 70 animals.
• Rushing a litter of kittens to another shelter in the state.
• Hurriedly placing dozens of pets into foster homes.
• Operating out of a few temporary locations.
While some aspects of what happened that day, now referred to as simply “the accident,” remain hazy, here’s what is clear: The city of Billings allowed 188 pounds of meth seized by federal law enforcement to be burned in the crematorium operated by the city’s animal control division, which shared a building with the shelter.
Subsequent investigations have revealed malfunctioning equipment and violations of Montana’s clean air regulation, with details buried in public records requests, making it difficult to imagine the city has heard the last of the incident.
But YVAS, at least, regained some sense of normalcy last month.
After deciding not to return to the former home that it leased from the city, the shelter moved into a new place that will be its home for the next few years before it raises enough money to build a new shelter.
“One of the most difficult parts was not having our team under one roof,” said Izzy Zalenski, community engagement coordinator for YVAS, of the four months when staff were scattered across a few different locations.
“Having the team split up, it was definitely hard,” she said.
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter) 
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter) 
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter) 
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter)
How Does Meth Wind Up In A Crematorium?
The most obvious question still doesn’t have a satisfying answer: Why were hundreds of pounds of meth burned in the animal control’s crematorium in the first place?
That question only leads to more questions, revealing just what a mess the whole thing was.
A spokesperson for the city of Billings didn’t respond to an interview request from Cowboy State Daily.
Montana law enforcement is no stranger to dealing with meth, which is by far the most commonly seized drug in the state and Yellowstone County.
The county accounted for more than 25% of the state’s 1,715 meth seizures in 2024, according to figures from the Montana Board of Crime Control.
A state investigation released in October found that the city’s use of the animal incinerator for drug burns was “permissible on a case-by-case basis.”
But Riverstone Health, the county health department that authorized burns of illegal drugs at the facility, said it wasn’t aware the drugs to be burned that particular day included meth.
While there had been reports of the police department using the incinerator to dispose of “evidence” and potentially “drugs,” though no details had ever been confirmed, as Triniti Halverson, the shelter’s executive director, laid out in a blog post.
“I can firmly and confidently say that, as the executive director, I did not know that they were disposing of extremely dangerous narcotics onsite,” Halverson wrote.
Evacuation And Hyperbaric Chambers
Looking back on all of the details that have come out about “the incident,” it might be easy to lose sight of what happened that day.
As Halverson detailed, YVAS staff wouldn’t learn until later that afternoon what type of smoke they and the animals had been exposed to.
Even then, reports about the amount of meth burned were subsequently revised from a scant 2 pounds to nearly 200 pounds.
An emergency evacuation meant that more than a dozen staff members were exposed to the smoke, as Halverson noted. Doctors recommended that each person exposed to the smoke spend three hours in hyperbaric oxygen changers for treatment.
The forced evacuation left the shelter without a home for more than a week, during which time the shelter would have typically seen about 60 animals, Zalenski said.
“We were racking our brains about what to do,” she recalled.
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter) 
The Billings animal shelter finally has a new home months after police flooded it with smoke from 200 pounds of meth burned in a shared crematorium. There still hasn’t been an answer to why the PD burned meth in an oven typically used for animals. (Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter)
The Heart Of A Lion
Perhaps ironically, given the circumstances that led to their displacement, the first offer of a home for the shelter came from Lionheart Cannabis.
The company, which has cannabis shops spread across Montana, stepped up and offered some extra warehouse space to YVAS for free and for four months. That’s where staff conducted adoptions and where stray animals were held until the move in January.
“It came out of the blue,” Zalenski said of Lionheart’s offer. “It truly was a relationship that bloomed organically.”
The generosity didn’t end there.
Lionheart also raised more than $2,000 for the shelter, while an anonymous family stepped up to donate the use of another warehouse space to store supplies in nearby Worden.
“We were all incredibly grateful and surprised with the community showing up and showing out like they did,” Zalenski said. “It definitely caught us off-guard.”
Silver Linings Playbook
While YVAS staffers were thrust into “a situation that no one ever expected to be in,” Zalenski said watching them navigate through so much disruption has been a gift.
“It was incredible to see how they were adapting every single day,” she said. “For a while, we had no idea what to do.”
As Montana’s largest-volume shelter — caring for 6,000 animals annually — the facility lost nearly all its essentials — food, blankets, and towels were discarded due to chemical exposure.
But the community more than stepped up with donations to replace these necessities.
While dogs were easily moved outdoors, the shelter’s cats required more logistics.
The shelter had about 30 feral cats onsite that were due to be spayed or neutered that day, along with a litter of 13 kittens that was being treated for ringworm, according to Zalenski.
Trailhead Veterinary Services in Billings jumped in to fix the feral cats, while Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter in Bozeman took in the kittens for the remainder of the lengthy process of treating their ringworm, she said.
Every animal was bathed — cats included — and within 48 hours, about 30 pets were placed into foster homes.
Now operating from a new location, the YVAS team can reflect on what Zalenski calls the "most silver of silver linings” from having the animal shelter being turned into a toxic and contaminated hazardous area.
“It truly has been such a gift to see our community band together for a common cause,” she said. “I didn’t know Billings was like this.”
Anna-Louise Jackson can be reached at: jackson.anna@gmail.com
