Franklin County Humane Society was founded in 1977 and has provided spay neuter, rescue and adoption help for the animals in our community for 40 years.
During the early years volunteers fostered animals in their homes as we did not have a facility. At the same time the Humane Society tried to improve conditions for the animals at the County Animal Control pound in order to stop the killing of 90% of the animals taken to the pound each year. We did not have the funds to open our own shelter and our requests that the County hire a shelter manager and our offers to manage the pound were turned down multiple times.
In 1999 we decided to raise funds to open a low cost spay neuter clinic as spay neuter is the most effective way to reduce the numbers of animals that end up abandoned at shelters and pounds each year. We opened our Planned Pethood Clinic in July 2000 in a rented building and were the second spay neuter clinic to open in the state. In 2003 we bought a house and land on Route 220 and moved the Clinic there.
We continued to press for improvements at the County pound but in 2006 the County Board of Supervisors turned down our offer to manage the pound once again and announced they would rely on volunteers rather than hire a Manager. We realized that we needed to be the organization to help the animals going to the pound and we announced plans to raise funds for a no kill shelter.
In 2007 we opened our Purrfect Treasures fundraising store and completed our campaign to raise funds to build the Adoption Center by the end of that year. The Adoption Center opened in April 2009.
The numbers of animals that the Humane Society takes in each year has increased steadily while the numbers taken in by the pound has decreased. The Humane Societyâs adoption, rescue and spay neuter programs and the cooperation between the Humane Society and the County pound staff has reduced the kill rate at the pound.
The Humane Society now takes in 80% of the animals in need in our community and provided care for 2,420 animals at the Adoption Center last year. This is a complete reversal from the days when 90% of the animals taken to the County pound were killed. This is how vital the Humane Society is for the animals in our community.
Though our programs have reduced the kill rate at the County pound down to 23% (204 animals) that is not good enough. The majority of animals killed at the County pound last year are outside cats and we have been working on programs to help outside cats and are providing free spay neuter for the pets of qualified residents.
This month we are celebrating #FCHS Rocks: 40 Years Strong. Our Planned Pethood Clinic has provided over 55,000 spay neuters and our Adoption Center has provided care for over 15,000 animals in need. The Humane Society does not receive any government funding and relies on donations, grants and fundraisers to provide services.
