‘Anything helps’: County humane society works through heavy influx of summer animals

The posts pop up on social media feeds one after another these days.

One might be seeking more volunteers. Scroll down a few posts and see another with a picture of an old pet that needs a home in which to enjoy the final years of its life.

Animal shelters everywhere need help, and the Trempealeau County Humane Society is no different — the shelter recently was approaching max capacity and was in danger of not being able to take in any more pets needing homes.

They are through the thick of that rush, but the reality of today is that there are pets everywhere that need homes, perhaps more than in recent memory.

“Right now we’re doing pretty good,” Trempealeau County Humane Society Director Heather Johnson told the Times last week.

The COVID pandemic created national issues with pets needing new homes after people flocked to breeders or humane societies looking for pets to keep them busy at home. Now that most of those people are back to in-person work, that time has dried up.

Summer usually sees a higher number of surrenders and strays also because people are busier then, Johnson said, adding that it’s “prime” kitten season as a fluffy office cat walked across her desk.

“A couple years ago it was COVID. A lot of people were home, so what did they do? They went out and got cats and dogs, and now they are back to work full-time or they aren’t working from home anymore, so they realize they don’t have time for their pets,” Johnson said.

Pets are expensive, and people sometimes overlook what it takes to own and afford a pet.

“They adopt by saying, ‘Oh this is the cutest cat I’ve ever seen so I’m going to take him home’ and then they realize he eats a lot or costs a lot, and sometimes I feel like people don’t think about that.”

The humane society currently has around 30 pets in its care. Two dogs are available for adoption as of last week at the shelter while others are in foster care or completing obedience training.

The humane society tries to stay under eight dogs in the shelter at a time so they have the ability to accept strays. They aim to be under 20 cats to avoid spreading diseases.

Pet owners should spay or neuter their pets to help reduce the number of stray animals, and the humane society has programs to help residents pay for such procedures. The shelter also donates food to people with stray cats and helps them spay or neuter those animals, too.

Online applications are required to collect information from potential adopters to make sure people are ready. Since April 1, the shelter has been home to 45 dogs and 38 cats. They’ve adopted out 38 dogs and 33 cats in that time.

Adoption fees were lowered for a summer special to help promote adoptions, too, she said. Such fees cover vaccinations, a medical assessment, spay or neuter if needed and licensing. The fees are not based on making a profit, Johnson said.

People can apply on the humane society website to be foster families for adoptable pets.

“It gets the dogs in a home setting where they can socialize, have a normal life versus being in the shelter. We have a lot of volunteers that come in during the day, but it’s still not the same as being in a home.”

“If you can’t have pets you can’t have pets, but if you can foster that’s great. If not, come volunteer or take a dog for a weekend, almost babysit to get them out of the shelter.”

When the humane society approached full capacity a few weeks ago, it caused some concern because it meant the shelter was in danger of not being able to accept strays or help shelters in even worse shape in other states such as Texas or Oklahoma.

Trempealeau County is a non-profit humane society that is a no kill shelter, meaning full capacity leads to pausing intake, not euthanization. 

But when the shelter can’t put pets in their shelter and hopefully into homes, pets elsewhere could face that tough reality, Johnson said.

“I just want to make sure people know that there are animals that don’t have homes, and if you can help out by fostering or adopting, that would be great. But even if you can’t you can volunteer, you can donate,” Johnson said.

“Anything helps, really.”