Associated Humane Societies

Shelter facilities - the Associated Humane Societies, (ahs), strongly believes that wild animals should live free and uncaged. Popcorn park located at our ahs-lacey facility was established in 1977 for the sole purpose of providing a refuge to sick, injured, permanently disabled, abandoned, elderly, and un-releasable wildlife, farm animals, and exotic animals that would be unable to survive on their own. Popcorn park takes in animals from all over the world such as a three-legged fox from kuwait, a blind bengal tiger from a Maryland zoo, and patas monkeys from a research lab, to name a few. No animal is ever purchased or bred. Every animal that comes to popcorn park is housed in a habitat that is specifically designed to feel much like their native home. Visitors are welcome at popcorn park to view these animals and read the stories of how they came to live at the refuge. Zoo veterinarians are on staff to provide the popcorn park residents with medical care and wellness checks and if there is ever extensive medical care that an animal needs that cannot be provided on-site, arrangements are made for the animal to be transported to a specialty hospital that can provide that care.

Animal control - the ahs is contracted with several towns throughout new jersey to answer the calls of stray animals, free roaming animals, and injured animals, both domestic and wild. Ahs employs multiple animal control officers, (aco), that work round the clock to go out on these calls and rescue animals in distress. Our aco's often work with law enforcement organizations on cases involving the inhumane treatment of an animal and are responsible for removing those animals from abusive or neglectful situations and bringing them to the safety of our facilities.

Clinic - the veterinary clinics treat injured and sick animals on both a free and paying basis, as well as providing medical care to the animals at our shelter facilities. The clinics are staffed by multiple veterinarians and support staff, and treat 50 to 100 animals or more per week. In addition to providing veterinary services for the public, the clinics also hold events that contribute to the well-being of animals in our communities such as feral cat spay/neuter days and personal pet microchipping events. Our mobile veterinary unit travels to various lower income towns and offers spay/neuter services and wellness visits for those resident's pets. Our shelter veterinarians treat the hundreds of animals that are awaiting adoption and in some cases, provide extensive medical treatment to those animals that are the victims of extreme abuse and neglect. The shelter veterinarians also determine when an animal is in need of specialty care, and make arrangements with outside facilities to provide such care. They ensure that all pets are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped prior to being adopted.

The ahs prides itself on our involvement with educating the public on cruelty prevention and Humane treatment of all animals. We provide speakers for various venues such as schools and libraries, where we encourage the public to be involved with the animal community and promote spay/neuter of pets and Humane treatment of animals. We publish a regularly scheduled booklet titled the Humane news, which is distributed to thousands of homes throughout the country and is also available online. This booklet features animal stories from around the world, both Humane and inhumane. It features articles on our recent achievements that we have made through rescuing animals, and is geared toward influencing people to adopt pets rather than purchasing them, treating all animals with kindness and respect, and speaking up on behalf of an animal in crisis. The booklet also features animals at all of our facilities that are available for adoption and recent news on our animals that reside at popcorn park. In addition to the Humane news, we also utilize social media to spread the message of Humane treatment of animals and adopting your pets, as well as operating a website where all of the information on our organization can be found. The ahs also offers a wide variety of services to the public such as planning for your pets in the event that you are no longer able to care for them, and help with wills and bequests. Our share-a-pet program offer the public the opportunity to sponsor animals waiting for adoption. The ahs also maintains a zoological society, where individuals can sponsor animals that reside in popcorn park. Those individuals will receive updates, photos, etc., on their sponsored animals, as well as free admission to popcorn park and a subscription to our magazine, the Humane news. The ahs has established a vested interest fund, which provides bullet-proof vests for every working k-9 in the state of new jersey at no cost to the law enforcement agency. The ahs also offers memorials and we sponsor a wide variety of programs such as spay/neutering programs and tnr programs for feral cats.