Dubois County Humane Society celebrates 50th anniversary, pet clinic success, unique adoption
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The Dubois County Humane Society has a lot to celebrate this September.
The shelter at 426 Wernsing Rd. in Jasper has been operating for 50 years. An event was held Saturday at Market Street Park in Huntingburg to mark the occasion, and a raffle fundraiser continues until the end of the month.
In addition, DCHS opened a new pet clinic this year at 529 W. 9th St. in Jasper. The facility, which has been steadily booked since February, offers spay, neuter and wellness services such as vaccinations and microchipping.
The organization also recently grabbed attention on social media when four senior dogs came into the facility together and were adopted as a group within days. The shelter’s intake post was shared more than 800 times, and the adoption post received nearly 2,000 likes.
“They couldn’t have had a better life than what they did with their previous owner,” said Tori Easley, adoption coordinator and dog kennel manager. “And then they hit the lottery twice because their new owners are exactly the same. Their entire lives are about their dogs. That’s what these guys went into, and that’s what they came from.”
About DCHS
DCHS is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization founded in 1974 that provides care for homeless animals in the area. Kelly Eckerle, executive director, told Inside INdiana Business the no-kill shelter was initially built out of cinder blocks on junkyard property.
The organization doesn’t receive tax dollars or public funding and relies on community support to stay in operation. In recent years, the first phase of a capital campaign allowed the not-for-profit to increase cat housing and program space. The second phase contributed to the debut of the shelter’s medical clinic earlier this year.
“We have already surpassed 1,500 surgeries, and we started in February,” said Eckerle. “That’s folks from all over Indiana and out of state as well. So the reach of that impact is pretty significant.”
On Saturday, the shelter’s 50th-anniversary celebration included live music, food trucks and exhibits of the facility throughout the years. Raffle tickets for various items remain on sale at DCHS and Bungalow Bar in Huntingburg through September 30.
“We secured a vault, and we have been filling it up over the last year with incredible prizes,” Eckerle said. “We’ve got [St. Louis] Cardinals ticket vouchers in there. We’ve got Ruoff [Music Center] vouchers in there. All kinds of big stuff, small stuff, family memberships to different places, and then $7,000 cash.”
‘Adoptions are definitely down’
DCHS is participating in Bissell Pet Foundation’s Empty the Shelters event during the first half of October. The foundation is sponsoring reduced adoption fees at more than 360 organizations in 43 states.
“Our nation’s shelters are facing an overcapacity crisis, with 322,000 more pets entering the system than leaving this year. Adoption is needed now more than ever to save lives,” the foundation said in a social media post.
According to the ASPCA, shelters are dealing with capacity issues because of “longer-stay animals, ongoing staffing shortages and not enough adoptions.” Eckerle said DCHS can relate to the adoption issue.
“Adoptions are definitely down. Economically, folks are not in a position to care for animals,” she said. “It’s expensive to take on a little life, and folks are struggling to get groceries right now.”
Local shelters are also struggling to handle animal intake, according to Eckerle.
“We have seen some shelters around us close down, so our surrender list has grown. We used to be able to intake dogs as soon as we got a surrender form, but we’ve been operating off of a waitlist for probably about a year and a half at this point. We are always on a waitlist for cats. Unfortunately, the stray cat problem is just monstrous,” she said.
Surrendered seniors
A few weeks ago, DCHS was tasked with a special intake case when a pet owner surrendered four senior dogs to the shelter.
“We’d normally try to find fosters for them, but there were four of them,” said Easley. “We made our office their home. We set it up to where they were comfortable, with ramps to the bench and their beds everywhere. We tried to make it as comfortable as we could for them because their life got turned upside down.”
The shelter wasn’t expecting to place all four dogs in the same home. However, when the story was posted on Facebook, the organization was surprised to receive applications for the group. Jess Reller, an applicant who already had four dogs, said she had to work up the nerve to talk to her husband about the surrendered seniors.
“I knew it was a crazy ask,” she said. “I just could not stop thinking about it. It pulled on all of my heartstrings. And then, eventually, I showed [my husband] the post and read it to him, and he was like, ‘Wow, I’m surprised you didn’t ask. I would have said yes.’ And three minutes later, the email was sent.”
After a meet and greet with Reller’s pets, the four senior dogs left the shelter and joined the family.
“First night, everyone was pretty exhausted from all the changes. Two of them slept out in the living room. The rest were in bed with us. Night two: we had all eight in bed with us,” Reller said. “With every almost hour, they’re showing us new personality traits and getting more comfortable.”
Easley said the shelter’s job was easy because the group was well taken care of by the previous owner.
“We didn’t have to do any teeth cleanings for them because they had already been done,” she said. “All of them were spayed and neutered, so we didn’t have to put any money into them. Which is one of the reasons we could waive their adoption fees is because we just housed them the entire time that they were here. [The previous owner] sent them with food, meds, dog bowls, beds, ramps—literally everything for them.”
How to help
October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. DCHS regularly features animals on Facebook and Instagram along with listing adoptable dogs and cats on its website. When it comes to adoption, Reller advocates for older pets.
“You get a lot of amazing benefits from adopting senior dogs. They don’t have a teething phase. You’re never gonna lose a shoe. Most are potty trained, but there are going to be accidents, so just be patient. You get the comfy, loungy, cuddly part, and you don’t have to deal with the puppy stage. It’s kind of nice,” she said.
DCHS also need volunteers who are 16 and older and willing to commit to a routine schedule at the shelter.
“Volunteers are the heartbeat of the work that we do here. We have a very small, limited staff, and everything else relies on our volunteers,” said Eckerle.
Monetary donations are always accepted to help prepare animals for adoption, and the organization maintains an online wish list of supplies.
“Everything that we get comes from the community that supports us, and it comes from the grants we apply for. So when we run out of bleach, we start begging our supporters for bleach. It’s always down to the little details. We rely on our community to help us,” Eckerle said.