Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

I know I am not alone when I say that holiday time always feels very busy and stressful to me.   The normal day-to-day stress of balancing work and home is already difficult, and when you pile on the expectations and duties of the holidays it becomes even worse.   But this year I am making the choice to do things differently and I challenge everyone to do the same.   I have decided to slow down and not get wrapped up in the chaos of the holidays but instead get wrapped up in the true message of this time of year, which is family, love and life. The Lynchburg Humane Society and most of the shelters in the area are seeing more animals in need of our services this year and less money coming in due to the economy.   Our Home 4 the Holiday promotion serves to encourage the community to help pets find homes before the end of the year.   This is the perfect time of year to bring home a new pet through adoption or foster care.   Even though the idea of putting ...

The Lynchburg Humane Society takes in every animal including those that are injured, sick, traumatized, under-socialized or too small to thrive on their own. Just the other day a 10 year old hound mix,we call Allie, came in on the end of a chain so heavy her head hung low from the weight. She suffers from untreated ear infections and is nervous of any physical contact. When we give her love she cringes in anticipation but then returns the favor with quick licks on our hands. She obviously suffered for most of her life in a neglectful situation and now we are her only chance at a normal life. Carmen was brought to us with active Parvo, a very deadly and contagious condition that her owner couldn’t afford to treat. We took on the responsibility to treat Carmen and after a very difficult few days, she pulled through with flying colors. She now is vibrant, full of life and living with her new family.  These are just two recent examples of the powerful impact our Second Chance Fund has...

I saw a poster recently that had a picture of a feral cat and it said, “I have been living outside for 7 years… I am not homeless.” The Lynchburg Humane Society made a bold decision this year to stop taking in feral (wild) cats, except in extreme circumstances.  While we still accept feral kittens for rehabilitation, we were euthanizing the adults; it was something that made the people trapping them feel good but did nothing to solve their problem. Studies and actual accounts in Lynchburg have shown that this method of trapping and killing is not effective.  Due to something called the “vacuum effect,” the cats that remain around the food source will continue to reproduce at an alarming rate in order to compensate for the cats removed.  For example, one local business brought us 11 feral cats last year when we were still taking them in.  This year they showed back up claiming they now had to bring us 15 feral cats.  Because they never removed the food source and...