Nevada Humane Society sees Carson City shelter adoptions, fostering soar a year into pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has left people without many activities outside of their homes in the past year. Since March 2020, folks have been under social distancing guidelines and capacity restrictions, forcing a work-from-home status quo for many. On the upside, the pandemic has also brought more pet adoptions and people wanting to foster animals without permanent homes.

Greg Hall, CEO of the Nevada Humane Society, said the adoption demand out of the Carson City shelter dramatically increased during the lockdown period of last spring and into the year. People are spending more time at home, and therefore are able to care for a new pet.

“The number of animals (in the shelter) has dropped because there’s been such a great demand for adoptions,” Hall said. “People are battling for animals, so it’s almost like we’re doing our job too well, I wish we had more animals to adopt out.”

Adoption numbers skyrocketed in the last year alone, totaling in 1,347 animals, with 733 cats, 558 dogs, and 56 small animals being among them, according to Hall. The average length of stay for animals in the Carson City shelter was only seven days.

Hall and his staff, at both Carson City and Reno shelters, worked diligently during the beginning of the pandemic to ensure new protocols were put into place. According to Hall, this included forming an internal COVID task force, closing shelters to public access for adoption viewings, and suspending operation clinics.

“The reasons (for these changes) were two-fold: one was that there was a limited supply of PPE and the second was just for the safety of workers,” Hall said. “We had a unique condition where we had a surplus of PPE, so we actually donated that PPE to Renown and we still had enough to complete our tasks.”

Hall said the organization came up with new policies and procedures to safely do spays and neuters in-house after leading animal welfare veterinarians recommended a halt of all medical operations in the interest of the ongoing pandemic.

“That was a really great change to our shelter operation compared to most of the rest of the country,” Hall said. “We didn’t have to send unspayed and unneutered animals out into the public and then try to track them down to do a surgery later.”

Additionally, Hall and his staff pivoted to a curbside, appointment-based adoption solution, where patrons were able to make appointments for pick-ups online based on the visuals of animals the Humane Society provided on their website.

“We were ready, willing and able to evacuate the shelter if we had an outbreak (of COVID-19), but fortunately we didn’t,” Hall said. “I feel like one of our successes of COVID was staying ahead of the curve, no pun intended. We were always one step ahead and our staff really answered the bell on that.”

As for returning to normal operations, Hall said the Nevada Humane Society is following updated CDC and state-sanctioned guidelines and will continue to do so until it is permitted to reopen the shelters fully.

“We really understand that the public has had to be patient through this,” Hall said. “There’s nothing we would love more than to have them come into our shelters, but we do need to stay safe. Overall (adopters) have been very understanding about why we’re doing it.”

Until regulations are lifted, Hall said the Humane Society is still going forward with their annual Maddie’s Day adoption event, hopefully to be held in June. This event is organized by Maddie’s Pet Project, which is funded by the Lake Tahoe-based Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation.

“We love Maddie’s Day,” Hall said. “Maddie’s Pet Project has been one of the best programs we’ve ever had at our shelter. Last year we adopted out all of our available animals in Reno and Carson City, which is the first time that’s ever happened, to my knowledge, in our history.”

More information about Maddie’s Pet Project and upcoming events can be found here. Information about Maddie’s Fund, which supports the adoption event, can be found here.

Fostering pets during the pandemic has also become popular among Carson City residents, with over 600 emergency fostering volunteers in 2020, according to Hall. Foster families of shelter animals help out with a variety of circumstances including injuries, medical conditions, socializing, and behavioral fixes, as well as the standard companionship.

In the spirit of fostering (quite literally) new relationships, the Nevada Humane Society held a "Dog Wedding" on Saturday at the Carson City shelter.

“The history is we have two dogs, Lightning Liam and Oh-Da-Babay who were in foster care, with a foster family, and they just became best buddies,” Hall said. “They weren't related and they came in at different times, but we’re hoping that since they’re so bonded, if we get them married, we have a great chance of getting them adopted out as a bonded pair.” Go here for the video.

Additionally, the Nevada Humane Society is currently promoting their March into Microchipping event, happening March 15-31 for Carson City residents. According to Hall, this event is possible through grant-funding by Carson City.

“We do the work for them (Carson City) by contract, but they’re amazing partners and they support us in many ways that are not just through the contract,” Hall said. “They provide us with a lot of promotional and emotional support. We’re really excited to be able to do this for Carson residents.”

Pet-owners can take advantage of this free microchip servicing towards their pets with proof of Carson City residency. Microchipping assists animal control units in the field by scanning a pet and bringing them back to the owner without having to bring them to the shelter.

“It’s absolutely the best way to keep track of your pet in the terrible situation that you might lose your pet,” Hall said. “If the pet comes in and is picked up by animal control or it’s brought to our shelter, all it takes is a scan and it has all of the owner’s information.”

Along with microchipping, Hall and his staff are excited to introduce a new service called Finding Rover, funded through their grant partner, the Petco Foundation. With facial recognition technologies, Finding Rover’s software allows people to upload photos of their pets for an easier way to track them in the instance they are lost or run away.

“If your pet is picked up not only by the Nevada Humane Society but any other organization, the software assists in identifying that pet and getting it back to the owner as immediately as well,” Hall said.

According to Hall, this partnership with Petco Foundation began on March 1 and the subsequent software will be integrated into shelter management beginning April 1.

In 2021 so far, the Carson City shelter has adopted out 245 animals, among the animals being balanced with 124 cats, 106 dogs, and 15 small animals. The current population of the shelter is 34 animals with nine available for adoption and even three baby guinea pigs.

“What I want to highlight is how happy we are with the community and how much support we have,” Hall said. “It’s just such an animal friendly landscape that we have in Northern Nevada and Carson City in particular, the demand is just great. We hope we can continue to provide them with adoption options.”

More information on how to adopt in either the Carson City or Reno location can be found here.
Information on fostering shelter animals from the Nevada Humane Society can be found here.