LAWRENCE HUMANE SOCIETY INC
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Mission Statement
The Lawrence Humane Society's mission is to nurture the human-animal bond by providing shelter, care, and advocacy for homeless and vulnerable animals, as well as resources for the pets and people in our community. We seek to be a national leader for medium-sized shelters, demonstrate how animal shelters can become an integral social service agency in a community, and create a future in which barriers don't exist in pet ownership.
About This Cause
The Lawrence Humane Society has been serving the city of Lawrence, Douglas County, and neighboring cities and counties since 1951, sheltering and caring for approximately 6,500 animals per year. Over the last half-decade, Lawrence Humane has been on a journey to overcome the previous barriers that contributed to unnecessarily low live-release rates, including building a new 20,000 square-foot facility designed to decrease disease-spread and stress, establishing an in-house veterinary clinic to ensure prompt care for shelter animals, and building capacity within the behavior department to allow for animals with behavioral challenges to get the support they need to be successfully adopted. Animals enter our care as strays, owner surrenders, cruelty confiscations, and transferred in from other shelters. While we are located in Lawrence, we are the only animal shelter serving the entirety of Douglas County. Moreover, in the spirit of being good neighbors, we often serve pet owners in surrounding Kansas counties as two counties do not have any kind of animal shelter program and the other two counties are rural and have low-capacity animal shelters. In 2023, our live release rate was 94%. We never euthanize for space and only do so when it is absolutely medically or behaviorally necessary and when all possible interventions have not been successful. In 2023, we adopted out 2,920 animals, returned 521 lost animals to their owners, and transferred out 30 animals to rescue partners. To best serve as many animals as possible, Lawrence Humane has grown our foster program extensively and in 2023 we had 1,169 animals cared for in 412 active foster homes. Our Foster Care Coordinator works diligently to prioritize which animals need out of the shelter as quickly as possible, works with the medical and/or behavior team to understand the animals' needs, and finds the best possible foster homes for those animals. Our mission is to nurture the human-animal bond by providing shelter, care, and advocacy for homeless and vulnerable animals, as well as resources for the pets and people in our community. We believe that every pet is deserving of a home and every human is deserving of the love of a pet. We seek to be a national leader for medium-sized shelters and demonstrate how animal shelters can become an integral social service agency in a community and create a future in which barriers don't exist in pet ownership. As such, we have made enormous strides in the last few years to serve our community in more holistic ways outside of just being a place where people go to either surrender or adopt animals. We believe that the future of animal sheltering is the work that happens outside the shelter, so we actively partner with other community organizations and social service agencies, including - but not limited to - our local food bank, mental health center, housing and homelessness organizations, and organizations serving children and families. It is especially important to us that cost not be a barrier to pet ownership as we know that wealth is not an indicator of an owner’s ability to love and care for a pet. Through our Crisis Pet Retention (CPR) program, we seek to help pets and people stay together through poverty, houselessness, job loss, and other systemic issues and inequities. We offer lost-cost spay/neuter surgeries, microchipping, vaccinations, dentals, and specialty surgeries such as amputations, enucleations, wound repair and more to the public, and through the CPR program we subsidize the cost for any pet owner who may have trouble affording it. In 2023, we provided 1,646 spay/neuter surgeries and 148 specialty surgeries for publicly owned pets. Through the CPR program, 808 animals from 546 households were provided subsidized, essential veterinary care through Lawrence Humane’s veterinary clinic. We also host monthly low-cost and subsidized vaccine and microchip clinics for publicly owned pets and in 2023 served 655 animals from 380 households through these clinics. Lawrence Humane serves as the primary pet food pantry in Douglas County and we distribute pet food, cat litter, and other essential pet supplies to pet owners struggling to afford these items. We distribute over 10,000 lbs. of pet food per month, with a total of 102,900 lbs. of pet food distributed to low-income pet owners in 2023. Furthermore, we provide temporary animal boarding for pet owners who are experiencing physical or mental health crises, houselessness, domestic violence, or other such challenges. We work with pet owners, landlords, social service agencies, and Lawrence Humane foster families to keep pets safe while their owners are able to secure housing and/or employment, with the goal of reuniting them with their pets. In 2023, 64 animals stayed at Lawrence Humane for crisis pet boarding, with boarding time ranging from a few days to 9 months, 79% of whom were reunited with their owners. Moreover, we support low-income pet owners with the cost of pet deposits and pet rent so that pet ownership is not a barrier to accessing safe, affordable housing. In 2023, we assisted 15 households who cumulatively owned 25 pets with pet deposits and pet rent for a total of $3,530 in assistance. In addition, due to Lawrence Humane’s advocacy and grassroots organizing efforts, the city of Lawrence passed an ordinance in May 2019 allowing TNVR within city limits. As such, we partner with the city and animal control and have a robust TNVR program led by trained volunteers. In 2023, we TNVR-ed 75 community cats and found homes for 71 working barn cats. Outside of our immediate community, as our shelter capabilities have grown, we have subsequently increased the number of animals that we are able to transfer in from rural and smaller-capacity shelters and rescues. This allows us to be a good neighbor and allows our transfer shelter partners in rural Kansas and Oklahoma to save more lives in their communities. In 2023, Lawrence Humane took in 930 transfer animals. Lastly, as of May 2022, Lawrence Humane has taken over animal services for rural and unincorporated Douglas County. While the police department is still in charge of animal control for the city of Lawrence, we have two field officers to assist with all animal-related issues outside of city limits. We approach this effort with the same service-first, non-judgmental mindset that guides our CPR program, aiming to assist people and not be immediately punitive. While this program is still new, we have already seen its impact as people in rural Douglas County are now more forthcoming in regards to animal-related issues in rural spaces as they now have confidence that the issues will be addressed in a timely and non-judgmental fashion.