Lawrence Humane Society

Shelter operations: the Lawrence Humane Society accepts and provides temporary care for stray animals found within the city of Lawrence, ks and douglas county; animals seized by animal control; pets relinquished by their owners; and animals transferred from other animal welfare agencies lacking time, space, and resources to find positive placement for their animals. During their stay, animals receive daily essential feeding and cleaning, and exercise and enrichment. Of the 3,792 animals housed at the shelter in 2022, 582 animals were reunited with their owners, 2,812 animals were adopted to new homes, and 44 animals were transferred to other agencies for placement. Lawrence Humane achieved an overall live release rate of 94% for 2022, meaning that 94% of animals who entered Lawrence Humane had a positive outcome. Animals are never euthanized for space or length of time in the shelter, and only does so when it is absolutely medically or behaviorally necessary. In 2022, the animal services division of the Lawrence Humane Society was established in order to provide field services to the unincorporated douglas county. Our team of two animal services officers (asos) respond to animal-related calls previously handled by the douglas county sheriff's department, including calls for animals-at-large, animal attacks, nuisance animals, stray animals confined, ill or injured animals, and animal welfare checks. Asos also provide support to sheriff's deputies on cruelty cases and vicious animal cases that require affidavit to district court. Lawrence Humane asos lead with a support-based approach and seek to find non- punitive approaches to enforcement whenever appropriate by providing education, resources and follow-up.

Community engagement: the Lawrence Humane Society has made enormous strides to serve our community in more holistic ways outside of just being a place where people go to either surrender or adopt animals. We believe that the future of animal sheltering is the work that happens in - and for - a community and we actively partner with other community organizations and social service agencies to serve our entire community. In 2022, Lawrence Humane received 656 applications for assistance through our crisis pet retention (cpr) fund, which assists community members with pet deposits/pet rent; essential pet supplies (pet food, litter, crates, etc. ); basic, essential veterinary care (spay/neuter, vaccines, microchips, etc. ); emergency and specialty veterinary care; behavior consulting; and temporary boarding for pets whose owners are in crisis, all in order to keep people and pets together through poverty, job loss, loss of housing, and physical and mental health crises. In total, 491 animals from 348 individual households were treated at Lawrence Humane for essential, preventative care (spays/neuters, vaccines, microchips, flea/tick treatment, dentals) for a total of 37,153 in care provided. Eight animals from eight individual households had their emergency and specialty care paid for at private vet clinics for a total of 2,002. Fifteen families who collectively owned 21 pets were assisted with pet deposits, pet rent, and/or pet fees for a total of 4,800. And 57 animals utilized temporary crisis boarding, 78% of whom were reunited with their owners. 2022 was the first full year for Lawrence Humane to be the community's primary pet food pantry. In the past, our pet food pantry played a supplementary role to the community's primary pet food pantry. However, when that pet food pantry closed in fall 2021, Lawrence Humane stepped up to fill the need. In 2022, Lawrence Humane distributed 60,810 lbs of pet food and 6,643 lbs of cat litter, ensuring that pets were never surrendered due to a pet owner struggling to afford food.

Veterinary care: the Lawrence Humane Society employs a veterinary team to evaluate and treat animals in our care, as well as ready animals for adoption. In 2022, the Lawrence Humane veterinary team performed 1,954 spay and neuter surgeries on shelter animals to ready them for adoption. The veterinary team also completed 117 specialty surgeries on shelter animals such as dentals, amputations, mass removals, wound repair, etc. Additionally, the veterinary team performed 1,017 low-cost spay and neuter surgeries for publicly owned pets, along with 64 specialty surgeries and dentals, and 44 owner-requested euthanasia procedures for senior, ill, and injured pets. In 2022, Lawrence Humane continued to offer monthly low-cost pet vaccine clinics for publicly owned pets, as well as offering additional clinics during march 2022, the inaugural national pet vaccination month. In total in 2022, Lawrence Humane provided 16 low-cost and subsidized pet vaccine clinics, serving 672 animals from 393 unique households.