Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

What I Now Know.... When joining the Lynchburg Humane Society as their new Executive Director last month, I thought I knew A LOT about this community shelter.  After all, I was from Lynchburg and had adopted many of my family's pets from LHS over the years.  I knew that the shelter had once been housed in a cramped cinder block building back behind the City Stadium, and that the community had rallied around the need for a new facility - - -  coming together to build a beautiful new building on Graves Mill Road in 2015.  I had visited this new facility on numerous occasions, sometimes with a goal of selecting a new family addition and other times simply wanting to have cuddle time with those pets waiting to be adopted.  I knew that that I always left these visits feeling uplifted by the wagging tails of the dogs and the purring and "biscuit making" of the cats.  Like I said, I thought I knew a lot. BUT... Since working with our staff and volunteers for the past six w

Kittens...482 of them! Yes. you read that number that correctly. Since July 1st, the Lynchburg Humane Society has taken in 482 kittens under the age of 6 months. Of those, 260 were under 8 weeks old. We see day old kittens who need bottle feedings every 4 hours to litters of 6-week-old kittens who just need a little time to grow. The shelter is not a hospitable environment for a tiny unvaccinated kitten because of all the viruses and illnesses that can be present. Our foster program is instrumental in saving these precious lives. Since kittens are not able to be adopted until they are 8 weeks old, the foster program allows us the freedom to use the space at our Center for a pet that is ready for adoption. It also gives the kittens a jump start into socializing, staying healthy and learning what home life is all about. And another bonus - foster parents are really great at finding homes for their kittens! We have been asked about what affects kitten season and how do we handle it. S

In 2016, the Lynchburg Humane Society took the pledge and decided to lead the charge in creating a No-Kill Virginia (NKVA). “No-kill” means every healthy and treatable pet is saved. It is estimated that 15,000 pets were needlessly euthanized prior to 2016 throughout Virginia. This life-saving goal of saving all healthy and treatable pets in the state of Virginia is becoming reality. Since the Lynchburg Humane Society started focusing their efforts on saving pets from at-risk shelters, mentoring and training other shelters in the state, and helping make spay/neuter accessible in communities that didn’t have the resources, 10,850 fewer pets were euthanized in Virginia. Virginia has raised their save rate from 80% in 2016 to 86% in 2018. The goal is to reach a save rate of 90% by 2020. Virginia is making great strides in saving healthy and treatable pets. The Lynchburg Humane Society transferred in over 300 cats from Amherst and Campbell Counties. Amherst County raised their

The Lynchburg Humane Society had an action-packed 2018. It was a record year for pets coming into our Center, adoptions, fostering, and saving pets from at-risk shelters.  As an organization we saved 6,973 pets! We helped 761 pets in at-risk shelters who faced euthanasia if we didn’t intervene and bring them to our Center. This included many orphaned and newborn pets, pregnant and nursing moms and pets who needed medical treatment. We gave these pets a chance at life and finding a home.  We had many adventures, some were heartbreaking, but all were life-saving and worth every moment to give so many pets a chance at wonderful, loving lives.  Our team saved pets from Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, working around the clock, driving hours to the flooding shelters and bringing 30 pets back to the safety of our Center.   We were called upon by the state to help make room at a shelter in the eastern part of Virginia  as they were dealing with a large hoarding case coming in

Rumors really crack us up or make us super frustrated. This Tuesday morning we got a phone call that made us all laugh out loud.  One of our partnering vet clinics in Chatham has had a few of their clients share that they heard the State Police was at the Pet Center assisting David Smitherman with removing animals on Monday, July 30th. A few clients suggested it happened last Thursday.     We had one dog leave the Pet Center on Thursday through adoption. Monday we did transfer 11 dogs and 14 cats to the Lynchburg Center, which we featured on facebook Tuesday afternoon.  We also transferred to the Lynchburg’s Center 7 cats and 6 dogs from the Appomattox shelter.  This year the Lynchburg location has seen 375 pets transferred internally from the other two facilities.  Why?  Why not?  This past weekend Lynchburg adopted out 71 pets.  Pittsylvania only adopted out 12 from Friday - Sunday.  Pets are not getting adopted as quickly in the other counties so when we have space and w

We are coming to the end of our fiscal year (July 1 - June 30th) and we have had a wild year.  With the added responsibility for the Appomattox and Pittsylvania shelters this year along with our No Kill Virginia initiative (NKVA) and the greater volume of needs from pets, we have worked harder than ever and it has all been worth it.  We have certainly learned a lot and one thing we have learned is that we are so lucky to have such a special giving community that uplifts us not only to save pets in our own area but enables us to help those in less fortunate areas that don’t have the same level of support. Because of you we are now the largest no kill organization in the entire state of Virginia, helping over 7,000 pets in the past year. Many of you might have read that we decided to discontinue the contract with Pittsylvania County due to the financial drain on the organization.  Donations and revenue in that area have been less than we thought we could bring in and because the