Hello everyone! A lot has been going on over the last few weeks, and we wanted to just take a few minutes to update you on what’s happened and what we have in store for this spring and summer!

Of course, the big news is that SB 1712 has passed the House and the Senate and is now on its way to Governor Henry’s desk for his signature. Once this bill becomes law, it will make it more difficult for puppy mills to operate in Oklahoma, and it will crack down on the millions in unreported, uncollected sales tax dollars that should be coming from roadside and Internet puppy sales.

We are extremely happy about the success of this bill, and we know that its passage would NEVER have been possible without YOUR help. You guys responded to the call, every time. You called, emailed, wrote senators. You went to the Capitol and talked to people. You wrote letters to the editor. Everything you did culminated in this victory for animals in our state. We want to thank you, each one of you, with all our hearts for taking the time to make those calls and write those emails. It truly did make a difference!

Switching gears a bit, we have several adoption-related events coming up this spring and they are really cool! We hope to see you there, and since we’ll need to get as many animals into the program to prepare for these events, if you’ve been thinking about being a foster home, now is the time! We could sure use you! Contact caitlin@okhumane.org or 405-286-1503 for more information.

First up, tomorrow (April 30) is the LAST DAY of our penny war!!  The cats have taken over the lead once again! Someone brought in a jar full of pennies just for them.

Tomorrow is the last day for you to come show your support and donate to these amazing animals. Just think…that one penny you didn’t donate could’ve made all the difference. Do you really want the cats rubbing it in for another year??? Do you really want the dogs ruining the cats’ winning streak??? It’s all up to YOU!

Bring your pennies by our adoption center (7500 N. Western) before 7pm tomorrow night and put them in the jar of your choice, dogs or cats. Here’s how the Penny War works.

Then next up is our special cat promotion, Cinco de Gato! On Wednesday, May 5, only at the Adoption Center, all day, ALL cats 6 months of age and older can be adopted for ONLY $5! That’s a $5 adoption fee to take home a new forever friend. This includes all vaccinations, microchip, spay/neuter surgery and 1 month free health insurance. What a deal! Come meet our fantastic, beautiful, friendly felines who are looking for new homes on May 5.

After Cinco de Gato we’ll be gearing up for our huge adoption event, “Midnight Woofness: A Woofsummer Night’s Dream” to be held June 5-6 at the PetSmart store at I-240 and South Pennsylvania. More than 300 animals will be available for adoption, and that is our goal–to adopt 300 animals! We’ll have OK Humane dogs there (and a few cats), there will also be animals from the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter, Red Dirt Boxer Rescue and the Heartland Lab Rescue.

Midnight Woofness is a 48-hour mega-adoption event. That’s right, we’ll be there around the clock for two days, having adoption specials and promotions, to find homes for a lot of GREAT animals! We’ll be posting lots of live updates and videos and photos from the event, so stay tuned at http://midnightwoofness.okhumane.org.

Now, if we’re going to find homes for that many animals, we are going to need to get a lot more animals into our adoption program in the next month. So we need your help! Have you ever considered being a foster home? We are going to need lots more foster homes to make this event work! So even if you can be a temporary foster, or just want to try it out, this is the perfect time.  Please, if you can foster, please contact caitlin@okhumane.org or 405-286-1503.

Let me also mention that we are in dire need of bleach, laundry detergent and distilled water at our Southeast OKC clinic. All of these items are tax deductible, and you can drop them off at any of our locations (Adoption center, NW Clinic or SE Clinic), whichever is most convenient for you.

Every dollar NOT spent on supplies like this can go toward animal surgeries and care.

One other thing I wanted to point out is that the Central Oklahoma Humane Society is not a branch or arm of the Humane Society of the United States. We are not affiliated with the HSUS in any way. They are primarily a legislative advocacy and lobbying non-profit organization that works to enact humane, pro-animal legislation at the national level. OK Humane is a local non-profit organization, funded only through donations. We do not receive funding from the city or state government, or from HSUS or any other organization (except organizations and foundations that have awarded us grants). I just wanted to clear this up, because many people assume that we are a “local branch” of the HSUS, which is not the case. We do work with the ASPCA and are part of their Community Partners program.

Well, I think I have covered all of the stuff we’ve got going on for the next couple of months. Of course, we will be announcing the results of the Penny War here and through our social media, and we’ll be keeping you updated on everything else that is going on.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post here or send us an email through the web site. Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting OK Humane!