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CT Humane Society Celebrates 125 Years
By Tamara Sevigny
The Connecticut Humane Society is proudly celebrating their 125th Anniversary this year. Up until 1965 they rescued thousands of children from abuse and continue to rescue thousands of pets each year from neglect and abuse. In addition they also offer humane education programs.
As they celebrate their 125th Anniversary they have a lot going on throught the year. One major accomplishment coming this year is the opening of the animal sanctuary in the Waterford location. The sanctuary will be for hard to place pets so they can live in a more "home-like" environment. While still available for adoption while living at the 63-acre sanctuary they are much less stressed or depressed from being in the shelters.
The sanctuary is scheduled for opening in March and will include a dog park, clinic, redesigned cat exercise area, new shelter and homes, which will house up to 15 pets each. Not all features will be available this year, but the first step in the sanctuary will be to open the first home this March.
This and each summer the Humane Society offers Humane education programs for children ages 9-12. The programs teach the responsibility of pet ownership, care, grooming, training and other responsibilities of owning pets. The programs also cover the responsibilities and aspects of caring for horses.
The Humane Society also offers after school programs for inner city students in the Hartford area. They partnered with OPMAD (Organized Parents Make A Difference) to begin this program last year. The 10-week program teaches elementary students the basic responsibilities to pet ownership. Topics covered include basic pet care, veterinary care, training and respect for all animals.
Their behavior training programs are also growing rapidly this year. Volunteers are being trained to modify unwanted behavior with positive reinforcement out of shelter pets to make them more adoptable. This program has so far proved to be a great success. Many dogs are getting adopted faster out of the shelters with fewer returns.
The Humane Society sees 10,000 pets a year and with only 75 employees they do a wonderful job of finding these pets homes, and fast. It generally takes 6 weeks to get a pet into a new home once it reaches the shelter. But no pets are given a time limit. Once a pet is in the shelters for 120 days they will then go live in the sanctuary once it opens.
The Connecticut Humane Society is a private, non-profit organization that receives no federal, state or municipal funding and they are not affiliated with any national Humane organization. There are four branches of the Humane Society. For more information contact the Newington Headquaters, 701 Russell Road, Newington at 800-452-0114 or email info@cthumane.org. Or one of these branches:
Waterford Branch:
169 Old Colchester Rd., Quaker Hill, 860-442-8583
Bethany Branch:
788 Amity Rd., Bethany, 203-393-0150
Westport Branch:
455 Post Rd. East, Westport, 203-227-4137
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