Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

It is not unknown for people to be scared of dogs. Animal shelters throughout history were built on that fear. Dog catchers were employed to capture packs of nuisance dogs that were roaming and pestering communities. Pounds were built on the edge of towns near the dump to remove stray dogs from towns and in most cases, destroy them to prevent public endangerment.   Fast forward to now and shelters are referred to as centers, instead of strays we say adoptable, we don’t say animals we say pets, and dogs are family members. Getting a dog without a home into a family is a community effort and #adoptdontshop is a movement.  So how strange it is that the COVID-19 pandemic has made us fear being too close to people and has increased our desire for pets?  People want to foster or adopt pets, now more than ever! At the Lynchburg Humane Society’s Center for Pets there has been an increase of 85% more pets in foster care than at this time last year. The Lynchburg Humane...

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...

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 ...

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. ...

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 a...

The Lynchburg Humane Society is not responsible for the Pet  Center facility being built and has no part in the County of Pittsylvania taxes or tax increases.  The Lynchburg Humane Society was contracted to run the operations of the new shelter that was built by the County.   Donations to the Pittsylvania Pet Center goes to the Lynchburg Humane Society to cover costs associated with operating the shelter for the county, and as a private 501c3 organization, all donations are tax deductible.  All monies raised in Pittsylvania County are kept in Pittsylvania County. We maybe an “outside” organization but we hired local staff members except for the Shelter Manager who lives in Campbell County and the Community Engagement Supervisor who lives in Pittsylvania County but moved here from South Carolina.  We are saving and helping your pets in Pittsylvania County. We are working with your local vets to treat your community’s homeless anim...

We have been operating the Pittsylvania Pet Center for a short 8 months. We have been very transparent from the beginning that we will operate as a no kill facility, which means we do not euthanize healthy or treatable animals and do not euthanize for space, reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals or those considered a danger  to public safety. We will not apologize for that or change our views on that. We do not let animals suffer. We have also found ourselves in a situation where some of the community is already angry about the new facility being built. However, the building is there and we are now here to help the community with their pets,whether they need to surrender their pet or they find a lost dog wandering the streets in need of help. We have taken in several owned pets that needed veterinary  care that the person could not afford. The point being, we are here for the community. And with the large increase of intake we see that the community does...

We are so proud of all the wonderful support this community has given the pets in the area.  Because of many factors, including the resource of the new Pittsylvania Pet Center, we have seen 714 fewer pets lose their lives to euthanasia in Danville and Pittsylvania in 2017 compared to 2016. That is something to celebrate! The Pet Center not only saves lives, but it also helps place a higher value on the pets who reside in the region. We provide help to pets and to the people who love them.   Since July 1 st 2017, 639 stray and 515 owned dogs and cats have come into the Pittsylvania Pet Center. Of those, 892 went into homes through adoption, original owners reclaiming their pets, or by transferring them to another organization for placement. The PPC only had to euthanize 14 pets since the beginning of July, giving them a 98% save rate at this time.   These are just numbers; I want to tell you about a dog who was recently surrendered by his owner at the age of...

The Pittsylvania Pet Center would like to clear up some misinformation that has been floating around out there. Yes, we take in stray cats. No, we don’t take in healthy feral or wild adult cats; we instead offer free spay/neuter services and a free rabies vaccine. We do accept  mothers (both expecting and nursing), as well as unhealthy or injured cats of all types. If you have a healthy cat suddenly show up on your property, we might advise you to leave it alone and allow it to find its way home. This is because 66% of lost cats will go home if left alone, but only about 2% will find their way home if they are brought into a shelter. If it is unhealthy or injured, you should certainly bring it to the Pet Center so we can nurse it back to health.   Why do we promote Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)? The old ways of catch and kill are not working. There are still too many cats in the area living around food sources, and it is time we look at a different way of controlling the...

It’s the time of year when we reflect on what unfolded in 2017. It was a big year, especially since we started  managing both the Appomattox and Pittsylvania County shelters. I must admit  that taking on two shelters in one year, on top  of starting our No Kill Virginia initiative, was a little much at times. It caused the staff to be stretched thin, and there were a number of major challenges. Now that 2018 is here, we are glad that we have gotten over many of the bumps in the road, and we are ready to tackle any others that come our way. The Lynchburg’s Center for Pets took in 4,119 pets in 2017; that is 138 more than last year. We were able to help bring 638 pets to safety from at-risk shelters, and we found new homes for 3,188 pets.   In Pittsylvania, we had 1,075 pets come into the center between July 1 st and December 31 st . We had a save rate of 98%, with 742 pets being adopted into new homes, or being returned existing homes after they were ...

Recently, Paulette Dean with the Danville Area Humane Society wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County to justify their low save rate, and to place the blame on others. We know change is hard, especially when an organization opens up just down the road with very different policies and philosophies. The new Pittsylvania Pet Center offers the community a choice on which organization they want to help them with their pets. DAHS claims that they are seeing an abundance of pets from the county, which is contributing to their high euthanasia rates.  In 2017, DAHS received 811 fewer animals, and euthanized 649 fewer than in 2016. They euthanized 2,057 pets in 2017, which includes 93% of all the cats they took in; 1,599 in total. The new Pittsylvania Pet Center received in 1,084 pets and only euthanized 12 total since opening on July 1 st 2017. Which facility would you take your pet or found pets if you had a choice; the shelter that saved 98%, or the she...