To say that this year at the Humane Society of Macomb has been eventful would be an understatement.ย The staff and leadership have been busy making lasting improvements for the animals and the shelter.
We started by hiring and training our staff to have better relations with the public. We now have an adoption coordinator, volunteer coordinator, and a trainer/rescue coordinator on staff.
Our walls have been painted a brighter color in most of the shelter which will continue into the next year and the public area has been made wheelchair accessible. Our outdoor kennels have new roofs and new horse and sheep feeders were built to replace the older ones. An electric water bucket area was created in the barn to avoid freezing through the winter.
Our cats and dogs have been separated on opposite sides of our shelter to reduce animal stress levels. Music now is pumped into all animal areas in the shelter to further soothe the animals while they are here. We have also separated our happy new-family adoption area from the sadder owner-surrender area to allow the emotions to be respected in each case.
Most importantly, our save rate in the shelter has improved drastically to over seventy-five percent. We received the coveted Most-Improved Limited-Access Shelter Award in August from the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance for our accomplishments toward our goal of becoming a no-kill shelter. We look forward to reporting an even better save rate for 2016.
Our open house in September was a huge success and over one-hundred fifty people came to see our achievements and share in a day of fun and education. Since then, we have hosted our first TNR class with All About Animals to learn how to control and protect our outdoor cat communities.
Our website and social media sites have had a major facelift and have become a source for announcing our animals for adoption, as well as educating the public with pertinent pet information. Our new volunteer station allows the public to sign up from home for numerous activities that will benefit the animals.
We are working to help Roseville transition back to the county by housing their stray animals and helping to find their owners. We have had numerous successful offsite adoption events to help our animals find their forever homes.
We are so grateful to the public for helping us become a humane shelter that the people of Shelby Township can be proud of. We look forward to another great year of change and improvement for 2017.
Thank you for your care and support,
Ken Kempkens
Interim Director
Humane Society of Macomb