When you think of an animal shelter what comes to mind? For many people the first thing they think of
is it is a sad, lonely and dark place for homeless animals. It isn’t normally a place that the community
is proud of or is willing to visit regularly.
The Idaho Humane Society is on a mission to change this
perception. We want the public to view
our animal shelter as a warm, caring and kind place where homeless pets in our
community our temporarily housed until they can find their forever home.
Twenty years ago across the country, shelter pets were
euthanized if they didn’t find a home in a few days. This was simply the reality of a stretched
budget, not enough space or adopters, and no vigorous spay/neuter efforts. Thankfully, our organization has evolved over
time and added programs to help get more animals adopted and we have ramped up
spay and neuter programs to reduce unwanted litters of puppies and
kitties. Luckily, we enjoy an extremely
pet friendly community that supports our mission. Our adoption rate for dogs is now at 98% and
for cats it is 75% - both are well above the national average. But there is still work to do.
The current shelter located on Dorman Street was built to
accommodate animals for a short term stay.
Since our organization never euthanizes an adoptable dog due to time or
space some of the pets that come through our doors end up living at the shelter
for well over 6 months. The dog kennels
are so loud and noisy that it is very stressful for the animals. Many of the pets are afraid when they come to
the shelter.
The community of Boise needs an animal shelter with more
space to give all pets a second chance and find their forever home. The Idaho Humane Society envisions a facility
where pets are housed in a “homelike” atmosphere that will help reduce stress,
sickness and the spread of disease. We
need more space to accommodate clients at our veterinary medical center that
cannot afford services and have nowhere else to turn. We need a facility where children can have proper
space to learn about the importance of compassion and being a responsible pet
owner.
We have been encouraged by our community to do better. We are lucky enough to be a position to move
forward with this life saving project.
Our hope is to get closer to finishing our campaign and build an animal
shelter the community will be proud of.
Will you join us in our efforts?
Please make a donation today to support the Designed to be Kind Capital
Campaign.
