A Letter from Bridger Animal Hospital – Haystack Pet Resort Notice.

February 17, 2026

Bridger Animal Hospital and Haystack Pet Resort is a veterinary hospital and small animal boarding facility in Thayne, WY. The practice was opened in December, 2003 by Dr. Steve Carter, a mixed animal veterinarian from Cokeville, WY. 

Those of us who lived in Star Valley back then would remember our small little clinic located across from what is now the Phillips 66 gas station. The veterinary clinic had two small exam rooms, and a tiny surgical suite. 

At that time, the valley moved more slowly, and there were more veterinarians practicing medicine in Star Valley than there are now. And still, we found ourselves in a position requiring more space. This need led the practice to build a larger clinic and pet boarding facility. 

Haystack Pet Resort – a state-of-the-art boarding facility with heated floors, air conditioning, a flushable floor, and VIP suites that had Animal Planet playing on their individual TV’s – opened its doors in the Spring of 2006. Since then, we have thoroughly enjoyed providing the valley’s pets with a home away from home while their people travelled. We have fallen in love with countless dogs and cats over the years, treating them as our own. Whether our clients were travelling for joy, or heartache, good reasons, or bad, our dedicated pet resort staff provided a safe and loving place for their animals.

As the saying goes, “The times… they are a changing…” And while we have resisted this change, we know it has been inevitable. Our valley isn’t what it was 20 years ago. Our population has grown substantially. The veterinary industry has changed dramatically as well. With a country wide shortage of veterinarians, especially those who are mixed animal practitioners, it has been an incredible challenge to find veterinarians. With the added challenge of living in our remote area with very long winters, when we do find veterinarians, sometimes they don’t stay for long. Against our desires, we also had to stop taking new clients three and a half years ago. We simply didn’t have enough staff to see more patients and create new relationships. 

This is no secret: it is imperative that our community have more veterinarians. Because of this need, and our heartfelt desire to provide veterinary care to the people and pets of this great valley, we are making the difficult decision to close our boarding facility effective December 1, 2026. This will allow us to have more space to employ more doctors and technical staff, while satisfying a huge need in our community. This will also allow us to begin accepting new wellness clients. While we aren’t completely prepared for this step, we will be reaching it later this year.

We are happy to report that the number of pet sitting businesses in the valley has grown exponentially. The best option for pet care while an owner is away is to keep the pet in its regular environment. Pet sitters satisfy that need. 

We have a list of pet sitters in our valley available to anyone who is interested. They are also listed on our website at bridgeranimalhospital.com/star-valley-pet-sitters. It is our fervent hope that each of our valued and beloved boarding clients and their pets will find the perfect fit for their family in the next year while our boarding facility is still open. We want the transition to be as seamless as possible for all involved. 

Star Valley community, please accept our deepest gratitude for placing your trust in us for twenty years. We never take the trust bestowed upon us lightly, and we are just so thankful that we were able to serve you for as long as we have. We will miss all of our resort pets deeply, and ask that our clients please keep us in the loop about how they are doing. We want to do life alongside them, and closing our resort doors doesn’t change that desire.