by Cathy Davis
Twenty-eight years ago when we first started writing Pet Talk, the purpose was to bring you a list of animals available for adoption at the shelter, to help promote adoption and to find homes for these beautiful deserving animals.
Twenty-eight years ago this was a different world. People had little idea of where the shelter was, how to reach us, what our hours were.
The building was small, the facility primitive. We had no town contracts and lived on donations only, so had no budget for any improvements to the building, no funds for staffing, and to be honest, we had such limited space and so many animals coming in that 28 years ago the Houlton Humane Society had to euthanize animals almost on a weekly basis if they were not adopted, just to make room for the animals that continued to pour in.
I can remember one day a car drove up and a man had a litter of puppies in his trunk. He said if I didn’t take them he’d just throw them out in the woods. It was 20 below zero. Later that day, a farmer came in with a potato barrel that he rolled into the building. It was full of feral cats. When he took the lid off, the barrel cats came springing out of it, bouncing off the walls, careening off the ceiling. It was just awful.
In 28 years, there have been a lot of changes in the world in general. We are now all connected on “social networks,” we can put photos of our animals on Facebook, we have regular newspaper and television coverage, and we have a huge network of friends and volunteers who assist with fostering and fundraising. Adoptions are way up and thanks to our spay/neuter education, the numbers of puppies coming in to the shelter are down to almost zero.
In 28 years, we have gone from an over-crowded small facility that had to euthanize for space to a state-of-the-art shelter, not too big for the area, but just the right size, that does so well in placing animals in new homes that we no longer euthanize for space, ever, and we help other shelters who are not so fortunate.
In 28 years, we have transitioned from a low-budget volunteer-only operation to a combination of wonderful volunteers and paid staff, allowing us more staff time for cleaning, caring for the animals, and ultimately adoption consultation.
Some of this transition was due to the decision to formulate a contractual relationship with towns so that we had some dependable income on a monthly basis. We provide a service that is mandated by state law and it became impossible to do it for free. It costs money to heat the building, to insure the building, to maintain the building, to plow the yard, to feed the animals, to pay the vet and to turn on the lights. It costs money to haul away the garbage, buy kitty litter, bleach and laundry detergent.
Much of the transition was due to hard work and dedication, board members who have served for 20 or more years, some for 30 or more years, following in the footsteps of hard-working individuals like Richard Lawlis and Sharon Clark who gave their hearts and souls to the care of the animals, and continuing their work. Board members who shared a common goal, saving as many animals as possible, knowing in their hearts that we can’t save them all, but working to save all we could.
Twenty-eight years. I can look back only that far because that’s when I started. Many can look back much earlier than that and remember the days of the old barn at Burleigh Heights and the remarkable work those folks did with so little.
Yes, it’s a different world today. Thanks to social networking, our adoption rate is about triple what it was three years ago. Our director and staff do an awesome job of taking care of the new animals coming in, making sure they are quarantined and seen by a vet before going into isolation for a mandatory waiting period (in case they break out with any signs of disease that might not show their first few days) and then finally into the community room. They know the personalities of every animal and work as a team to find just the right home for each cat, dog or bunny.
Houlton Humane Society is no longer the town’s best kept secret. We are now a hub of activity on a daily basis, visited by many, including groups of school children, residential care agencies, adopters and donors. The phone starts ringing at 8 a.m. and is still ringing at 9 at night. Nobody gets a minute to sit down and staff routinely works straight through their lunch hours.
All for the animals. Bottom line. They need us, we are there for them. We need you, you are there for us. Incredible how that works. It’s been working like this since February 11, 1952. Your donations have kept us going – half our budget is paid by donations. With your help, we will be here to celebrate another year and save even more animals. Thank you for partnering with us on this journey.
