Humane Society celebrates adoption record
The Dubois County Humane Society put 427 animals into new homes in 2014, more than doubling the 204 of 2013.
“We have been very active on social media and also all the website advertising our pets,” Andrea Hedinger, board president for the nonprofit said.
Photos are one of the most shared posts on Facebook and the humane society has excelled in posting cute pictures of cats and dogs as well as each animal’s story.
“Our photography has improved this year with the help of our volunteer, Janie,” Hedinger said. “We added a few more hours — still not nearly enough — and have tried to be accessible for appointments outside of our set hours.”
The Dubois County Humane Society located on Wernsing Road in Jasper is open for adoptions Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Office hours are Mondays and Thursdays 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The facility is almost always at capacity with animals and with the demands greater than their ability to house, the group utilizes volunteers in a foster program to help with the overflow.
“We try to always be at capacity so we are utilizing all of our space to help,” Hedinger said. “Most people are really great about temporarily housing a cat or dog until we can make room.”
The humane society can house up to 17 cats at a time but the large populations and slower adoption rates make them harder to handle.
“The cats are always an issue which is probably typically of all animal rescues. We can only safely house 15-17 cats at DCHS, so we work off of a waiting list and help the next person as we create room,” Hedinger said. “The dogs are typically adopted out faster and also easier to find fosters for, so we typically can provide immediate help or solutions to any strays [dogs] found.”
To assist in finding homes for cats, the Humane Society was able to lower the adoption cost for kittens to $5. Adult cats are still $55.
Besides finding homes and assisting pet owners, the humane society launched a partnership with Bloomington-based Pets Alive, a nonprofit spay/neuter and vaccination clinic. The humane society sponsors a transport to Bloomington each month for a low cost spay/neuter solution for residents. In 2014, the humane society had 981 animals spayed or neutered in efforts to curb the production of unwanted cats and dogs.
The transports from the humane society’s location in Jasper are scheduled for the first Thursday each month but they recently announced they will begin picking up animals in Holland in February. The new remote pickups will occur on the second Monday each month if they garner enough participation.
A transport is scheduled for Monday, February 9. Participants in that area of the county will be able to bring animals to the town hall to be picked up for transportation to the clinic in Bloomington. Paperwork and registration for this transport must be turned in by February 1.
Once registered, pets can be dropped off between 6 and 6:45 a.m. February 9 at the Holland town office and picked up the next day from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, participants can call town board member Melanie Barrett at 812-631-0651.
The cost for the service is $30 for cats and $60 for dogs; a $15 charge will be added if the animal is not up to date on its rabies vaccination.
Updated information about animals and the humane society can be found on the Humane Society’s Facebook page and website.
