At 10:30pm on June 4th I really began to panic. Our whole team of staff and volunteers had been setting up all day for our Mega Adoption Event “Midnight Woofness”. The event was scheduled to kick-off at Midnight on Friday night and go around the clock until Sunday evening. The goal was to adopt 300 animals in under 48 hours.

PetSmart Charities had funded the event and the pressure was high to hit our goal. It occurred to me on Friday night that maybe a midnight kick-off was crazy and who in their right mind would come out to adopt a pet in the middle of the night?!

I walked out in the parking lot to have a look at 11:00pm and to my surprise there were approximately 100 people in line. Victory!!! By Midnight there were several hundred people in line and we knew we had a hit on our hands. At kick-off time adopters flooded into the event and collectively the partner groups performed 100 adoptions in the first 2 hours!

The entire event was such an incredible experience with total adoptions of 388 by Sunday evening! The event was filled with wonderful families that made the right choice in adopting a shelter pet. “Midnight Woofness” is yet another example of how the Oklahoma City community is embracing our mission to end needless euthanasia in our City.

“Midnight Woofness” set a national PetSmart Charities 48-hour adoption event record. People are now excited to adopt a shelter pet and it is up to us as the animal welfare community to continue giving them great venues to do so. Maintaining the momentum that adoption is the better option is our job.

So, you had better look out because we have an even BIGGER adoption event scheduled for October!

Christy Counts
President / Executive Director
Central Oklahoma Humane Society

Did YOU know that the Central Oklahoma Humane Society adoption center also has pet supplies and food for sale?

That’s right! We have lots of dogs and cats available for adoption, but you even if you can’t adopt, you can support homeless animals in Oklahoma City by purchasing collars, leashes, clothing (for dogs and people!), toys, food, treats, beds, crates and any other supplies you can think of at our OK Humane Retail store!

It’s located at our adoption center, at 7500 N. Western Ave. in Oklahoma City. We’re open 11 am to 7 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday. (We’re closed for cleaning on Mondays).

So stop by to purchase any supplies you need for your dog or cat, and help Oklahoma animals at the same time!

The OK Humane Place Spay & Neuter Clinic has hosted four low-cost vaccination clinics since opening our doors in June of 2009. During these vaccination clinics we have been able to provide our services to 869 dogs and 167 cats.

These clinics benefit us and the community in several ways. Our clinics are available for people to get their animals vaccinated at an affordable price.

The more animals we have vaccinated in our communities helps to cut down on the number of zoonotic diseases we see. So it is not only beneficial to our furry friends but also to ourselves.

Our vaccination clinics are also a wonderful fundraiser for our clinic. To this current day our clinic has been able to spay and neuter 6,436 animals.

We appreciate all of your support!

The OKC shelter has a bonanza of animals being turned in this summer, and we are trying to transfer as many as possible into the OK Humane adoption program via our foster homes.

All of these puppies and kittens are eating more food than we have budgeted for! We really need your help to keep feeding them. We’re in need of Purina One Dog, Puppy, Cat, and Kitten dry food in addition to Purina Pro Plan dry Cat and Kitten food.

The reason we ask for those specific brands is because that’s what all of the animals in our adoption program eat; and it’s important to maintain consistency in diet, especially for the babies.

All donations are tax-deductible. If you can donate a bag or two, please bring it to our adoption center at 7500 N. Western Avenue in OKC.

You could also set up a recurring monthly donation of any amount you choose.

THANK YOU for your help!!

Donation Options

$10/month : $10.00USD – monthly $20/month : $20.00USD – monthly $25/month : $25.00USD – monthly $30/month : $30.00USD – monthly $50/month : $50.00USD – monthly $100/month : $100.00USD – monthly

by Leslie Smith, Dogtime.com
Link to original article

Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security announced last month that it plans to train 3,000 dogs over the next five years to help keep Americans safe. The Department is looking for Labs, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and other “breeds with prior approval” to help FEMA and Customs and Border Patrol agents in their work.

Great, I thought. Shelters are loaded with these breeds — many right in the age group they’re looking for: one to three years. As I read further, however, I learned that the Department is not going to enlist shelter dogs for this task. Instead they’ll pay millions of dollars to breeders to “create” what we, in essence, already have.

The worst part: Only 20% of the bred dogs will qualify for the Department’s programs. That means the remaining 80% — around 12,000 dogs — will need homes, adding considerably to the number of homeless dogs already waiting to be adopted.

Urge Janet Napolitano to reconsider her decision to add to the millions of animals in shelters, many of whom will ultimately face euthanasia. Ask dog-loving congress members for their help in influencing Napolitano. (Please keep your emails short and respectful; see below for examples.)

Let’s take the fight to the national level on behalf of shelter dogs across this country.

Email:

Janet Napolitano

Barack Obama

John McCain

Al Franken

Dennis Kucinich

Sample letters (feel free to cut and paste):

Dear Secretary Napolitano,

On behalf of the millions of shelter animals nation wide, please reconsider your decision to contract breeders to provide dogs for Department of Homeland Security programs. There are millions of shelter dogs across the country, some facing euthanasia or months in a tiny kennel, who fit your required breed, age, and temperament criteria. Please don’t ignore the potential of these animals – according to experts, shelter dogs can be just as successful in this work as those who are bred – or the moral obligation we have to them. They deserve the chance to not only serve our nation, but to live.

Sincerely,

(your name)

Dear President Obama [Senator Franken/Congressman Kucinich],

On behalf of the millions of shelter animals nation wide, I kindly ask you to urge Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to reconsider her decision to contract breeders to provide dogs for Department programs. There are millions of shelter dogs across the country, some facing euthanasia or months in a tiny kennel, who fit the breed, age, and temperament criteria required for such training. Please don’t ignore the potential of these animals (according to experts, shelter dogs can be just as successful in this work as those who are bred) or the moral obligation we have to them. They deserve the chance to not only serve our nation, but to live.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Snapshot of the Coolest Job Ever!

By Adriane and Shelby, OK Humane Spay/Neuter Community Liaisons

A typical week for a Spay/Neuter Community Liaison is filled with adventure. Our mission is to reduce the number of unwanted pets that find themselves at the OKC shelter by filling all the surgery slots at the NW Clinic. Consequently, reducing the number of accidental litters that are born. We accomplish this by juggling 3 main tasks: solicitation/education, urban transport, and trapping feral cats.

Exploring the city while spreading the word about spaying/neutering and vaccination services provided by the Humane Society is our most important task. Generally we spend three of our five working days going door knocking at businesses and private residences within the top four designated zip codes. There are many days that we are well received. We have even been called “the answer to their prayers” more times than we can count. One of our greatest rewards is when we knock on a door and are suspiciously greeted but are then treated like an old friend after a few minutes of conversation. Then come the frustrating days when we aren’t so openly accepted. We use these experiences to fuel our fire. Days such as these encourage us to work even harder to educate on the benefits of spaying and neutering. There are also days that leave us heart broken and deflated after witnessing cruelty first hand. Thankfully, these days are rare, but we have been able to educate the owners about changing their ways more often than not.

Urban transports are like a scavenger hunt; we load up the van and go from stop to stop picking up our prizes, which are dogs and cats we take to the clinic for surgery. Persistence is the key for some of the animal owners we meet. It has taken as many as six follow -up visits before some owners have allowed us to pick up their pets. Most of the owners, however, are truly thankful for these services because without us they would never have been able get their pet to the clinic. Their gratitude makes the trek completely worthwhile.

Interacting with the community is how we find our favorite prize: feral cat colonies. In our few short months of working, we have found many colonies ranging in size from 3 to 30. We spend one or two days a week aiding managers who are not physically able to trap or do not have transportation to get the cats to the NW clinic. Our favorite manager is a very elderly and poor lady who has the biggest soft spot for cats. She spends 80% of her income on cat food for cats that she cannot even get close enough to pet. When we first met her, she thought that we were there to take all the cats away and condemn her house. After explaining that we were only there to help, she said we had renewed her belief in God’s angels. She lost her husband of fifty years less than a year ago and the cats she takes care of are all she has left in this world. We love the opportunity to help control the feral population while helping the managers keep their beloved colonies.

Ours is a challenging adventure that takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotion and to places that we never before could have pictured ourselves. It is, however, a truly rewarding job. We both agree that it is hands down the coolest job we have ever had.

I hope that all of you are staying cool and enjoying the summer! We are trucking along here at the Adoption Center as well. July can be a slow month for adoptions, but we are making the best of it. We’ve had more kitties go home with a buddy as a result of the 2-for-1 Cat and Kitten Special, which we are so excited about.

This week we even had two adult cats adopted together! One of them is our sweet Esme who has been in Cat Room 3 for a good bit of time. We will miss her, but we’re so happy for her to have a new life in a great home.

We have done 28 adoptions this week in all, which is awesome!

We also welcomed our newest employee, Holly, to the Adoption Center staff!

Lastly, we are running low on tall kitchen trash bags. As you can imagine, we use a ton of them! We would greatly appreciate having some donated if you could grab some the next time you are at the store. All donations are tax deductible, of course!

From Lexie, Adoption Center Manager

Drew & Doran

These two wonderful young ladies, Drew & Doran, sold cake, lemonade and cookies to raise money for Rita’s Angel Fund (to provide vet care for very sick and injured animals). What GREAT young people we have in OKC!

There are so many ways you can help the animals at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, no matter how young or old you are, how much or how little time you have! Maybe you don’t have time or room to foster. Maybe you don’t have money to donate. No problem!

Check out some fundraising ideas to see if any of them appeal to you, or just fill out our volunteer application and we’ll find a way that you can help that best utilizes your talents and time!

We sure appreciate ALL our volunteers, and especially the wonderful kids who have so much compassion for animals!

Add twice the love to your household through July 31 for a total adoption fee of only $75!

This special applies to cats and kittens of any age.

Meet OK Humane cats at these locations:

Adoption Center
7500 N. Western Ave.

PetSmart stores:

Edmond (1921 S Broadway)

Moore (2100 S Service Road)

Rockwell (8357 N Rockwell Ave).

The 2 for 1 promotion is good at all locations.

For additional details or questions, please call (405) 286-1229.