Humane Society of Greene County helping area animals find new families
German shepherd Buddy goes home with his new loving family.
Courtesy of Greene County Humane Society
Brandy is a 5-month-old domestic short haired female cat with unique dark stripes. She will become more beautiful as she grows.
Courtesy of Greene County Humane Society
Rowdy appears to be a Sheltie mix. He is very active and needs a home with lots of safe space to run and romp.
Jason, who wished not to release his last name, said his new pet, Stevie, is a wonderful companion.
By Holly Hendershot
Animals are constantly rotating in and out of Humane Society of Greene County’s shelter.
Jane Gapen, Humane Society of Greene County director, takes solace in knowing, however, that every animal that comes to her facility leaves with a new family.
Gapen said her facility has about 27 kennels for dogs and five rooms for cats. She said before the coronavirus pandemic hit Southwestern Pennsylvania in March of 2020, the humane society’s spaces were always completely full of animals.
Now, they only fill about half of the available spaces, she said.
Over the past year, Gapen said Humane Society of Greene County has been adopting animals out faster than ever before, as more people worked from home and had more time to spend with their pets during the pandemic.
Throughout 2021, Gapen said that trend has continued.
Humane Society of Greene County has seen a slight decrease in the past month, but the adoption rate is still higher than previous years.
“For all the horrors of COVID, one bright spot is that the shelters can’t keep animals,” said Gapen, who added she hopes the higher adoption rate will continue throughout the summer.
One question Gapen said she is often asked is whether she thinks animals will be returned to her facility once people are no longer required to work remotely.
Gapen is optimistic, though, because of the humane society’s extensive application process a flurry of animals will not be returned.
“Our adoption application is set up so that we really investigate our adopters,” she said. “It’s a long application. We check loads of references, we talk to them at length and sometimes we go to their homes, so we try to adopt to folks who we know will keep the animal for the full extent of its life.”
The humane society receives applications from many places, including from out of state, but typically Gapen said the animals go to local homes.
Gapen said anyone looking to return an animal should bring them back to the humane society so a new home can be found. She said a return has only happened once so far in 2021.
The humane society houses more cats now than the rest of the year, as spring is the season most kittens are born She said it’s not uncommon to get 11 or more cats in on a single day of the week.
Gapen said the humane society recently finished an outside kenneling project for the cats to play in. There is a door to each cat room that opens into outdoor play areas with toys and places to climb.
Gapen said puppies, kittens and small dogs are most likely to be adopted quickly. Tabby cats and Bulldogs are among those that are more difficult to adopt out.
Before 2020, Gapen said animals that were sick or new-born that needed extra care were typically fostered out to loving families until they were ready to be adopted
Gapen said there is no timetable for those activities to resume.
The Greene County Humane Society currently has four staff members. Volunteers have not been allowed to enter the facility because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Before COVID, we had loads of kids from Waynesburg University come down,” she said. “We had lots of people from the community come in. But since then, even our staff numbers have been reduced.”
Without volunteers, the staff works harder than before, Gapen said.
Staff members are dedicated to making sure the animals, who are spending more time in the facility’s outdoor exercise areas, receive the attention and socialization they need, Gapen said.
Gapen said the humane society hopes to begin allowing volunteers to return to the facility later this year.