HHS Adoption Story Makes Headlines
Shelter Manager Natalie Francis showcased her wriiting skills when she entered the Iams' "Home for the Holidays" essay contest and won a prize of $500 for the HHS! Natalie told the story of Maggie, an 8 year old shepherd mix who she found one cold morning tied to the shelter's driveway gate by a short leash. Maggie, frightened and cold, had become so tangled overnight that the shelter staff had to use scissors to cut the poor girl free. Her sad story turned happy with the shelter staff working hard, they gave Maggie the best holiday gift of all- a family of her own.

Third Annual Gala
The HHS raised just over $15,000 on Feb. 3, 2007 at the Gala, which conicided with our 25th year anniversary! What a way to celebrate! There were 200 people in attendance at the event, held in the Holiday Inn with dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions.

First Ever Strut Your Mutt
The HHS raised close to $1,200 on October 8 at the mutt march. We had a modest group of walkers- about 18, but all enjoyed themselves on their 3 mile walk through downtown.

It's Romper Room at the HHS

We had so many kitten all in seperate cages that Natalie decided to make the second caged cat room into a cage-free kitten colony. Kittens only under 4 months of age are allowed, they are vaccinated and FIV/LEUK tested before they can enter. Hopefully this will encourage people to come in and visit the kittens, too. So far, the reviews have all been great! The kittens having a blast and in the afternoon, as you can see, they sleep.

We Love You AAACU
Alpena Alcona Area Credit did a quarterly fundraiser for the HHS, it included selling dog bones at the teller windows and collecting donations of pet supplies. They presented a check for $849.33 to the HHS in October.

In October, Citizen's Bank presents the HHS with a check for $315.00 and a box full of food and products just for the animals. This was all from a fundraiser they did in September.

Thanks Bolenz!
Their summer 2006 watch battery repairs resulted in a huge donation of $800 to the HHS.

128 Shelter Pets get "Fixed"
Beginning Monday, 10/17/2006 MSU vet students and 2 MSU staff lead by Dr. Valerie Chadwick set up a mobile spay neuter clinic in an airplane hangar and completed 128 spay/neuters for animals of NE MI. Ninety six shelter and rescue animals benefited from rabies and feline leukemia tests. Local Veterinarians Dr. Ryan Knight and Dr. Danielle Knight also stopped by to support the effort. It is estimated that all of the services delivered saved the participating organizations $12,800.

County Reduces Funding, Increases Euthanasia
In November 2005, Alpena County announced that due to serious lack of funds in the county budget it would no longer be bringing animals to the Humane Society, but will be holding strays for up to 10 days at the county facility and then euthanizing all unclaimed animals. Because of budget issues the county-run Animal Control facility cannot provide veterinary services, but will euthanize animals in need of medical attention. If you lost your dog, please call the Animal Control Officer directly at (989)-354-4128. Dennis is the Animal Control Officer who picks up strays and he runs the county's holding facility. Though Animal Control does not offer regular viewing hours to the public, you can request to see if your pet is there. It is important that you back call often! Please also visit the Humane Society facility and website just in case your lost pet made it to our shelter.

Kitty Independence Day
On November 5th, we had 22 cats go to new homes!

Feline Pine
In September 2005, we began using Feline Pine in our litter boxes. It's highly absorbent (less odor), cleaner, less dusty and safer than the clay we had been using, environmentally friendly and inexpensive.

HHS Starts Food Bank Program - Fall 2005
Now that we are feeding Science Diet, we can still accept donations of food, but we are sharing those donations with local families who need help providing food to their pets.

HHS teams up with Science Diet - Fall 2005
Science Diet generously offers to provide food for all shelter animals.  The HHS needs only to pay the freight - the food is free. This means our pets will get quality food, and perhaps, more importantly, consistency in their diet. Thanks Science Diet!

A Dog-Jubilee at Riverfest 2005
The first ever Pet Games/Dogs in the Park had a huge turnout of participants and spectators. There was the agility competition for novices, the agility demo where "pro" dogs got to show off on an advanced course, a frisbee toss competition, and the pet show where a basket of tiny kittens won the judges hearts to earn the plaque and title for "Cutest." Winners in all events received engraved plaques. It was a great day all around.

Fur Bowl 2005 a HUGE Success!!
Friday the 13th was a great day for the HHS with about 130 bowlers coming out to play and bringing about $10,000 (yes, ten thousand!!) in donations! Thanks to everyone - the bowlers, the donors, the volunteers and Thunder Bowl Lanes for making it happen!

Cat Community Phase One. April 10, 2005.
Home Depot has built us a special cat room so our long-term cats won't live in cages anymore. They have lots of space in the sunny room to play, and new screen doors!

Here are several of the cats enjoying the new Home Depot walkway within minutes of installation.	This is the fabulous cat-tree created and donated by Karen Klimczak of Cat Tree Creations. You can see how much they love it!

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Better Digs for Cats and Dogs - Spring 2005.
Coming soon, a kennel sponsorship program which will allow animal-lovers to make the life of a shelter pet of their choice even better.

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Pre-Adoption Spay and Neutering - Spring 2005.
Thanks to a terrific cooperative program with MSU, we are spaying and neutering more of our pets before they get adopted. This means more relaxed, contented and healthy pets at the shelter, a 100% guarantee that these pets will have no unwanted litters, and that their adoptive families won't have to pay for any of the surgery. It's a good deal for everybody involved.

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New Clothes Dryer - March 2005.
Finally we have a brand new super-capacity clothes dryer donated by County Commissioner Tom Male! Barb Knotts, a regular volunteer who does tons of shelter laundry is thrilled - now full loads get dry in minutes! This means we can wash and use more towels and blankets every day.

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New Driveway - April 2005.
After a long, wet winter our driveway was looking pretty bad. Wayne Frantz is donating the time and materials needed to grade and re-gravel it. Thanks Wayne!

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On-line Donation Option - March 2005.
Now you can donate on-line via Paypal using your bank account or credit card.

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Valentine's Gala. Perfectly Lovely.
On Feburary 12, 2005, we held our first gala ever. With the help of donated decorations from Wedding Shoppe, the civic center looked stunning. Over 200 guests showed up in their finest for a night of dining and dancing. Volunteers from Powerhouse, all dressed in suits and sparkling gowns provided valet service and coatcheck. The live and silent auctions were fun for bidders and spectators and the event netted over $14,000 for the shelter! What a smashing success.

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December's Good News
Adoptions are UP yet again. Our first ever Adopt-A-Thon was attended by many pet seekers and 3 rescue organizations: us, Lifelines for Canines (from Hale), and Elk County Animal Shelter. Many lucky dogs, cats, puppies and kittens found new homes. Several pet owners brought their own pets just to try out Janet Olsen's agility course. Paul from Paul's Pet Care Services offered grooming help to attendees and more than 20 volunteers (and the entire shelter staff, too) devoted the better part of their Saturday to work the event.

We had dogs out at the mall on 2 Saturdays while people were getting photos with Santa, and for the first time, we had dogs with the Salvation Army bellringers- the animals that went got adopted.

Thanks to Animal Kingdom and Cash and Carry Feeds, we had remote adoptions of cats at Animal Kingdom. The cats were at the store, and store employees cared for the cats and handled the adoptions, too. Cash and Carry donated a Cat and Kitten discount feed care package for the new adoptive families.

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November's Good News
Between November 1 and November 22 we took in a whopping 43 animals and had placed 3 different dogs in foster care - all of which were adopted by the end of the month. Also by November 22, we had found homes for 24 of our pets, once again averaging more than one a day! (to compare, in 2001 we placed 11, in 2002 we placed 13, and in 2003 we placed 2). Things are improving constantly!

The Valentine's Gala was still in the planning stages, with committees actively working to get sponsors and prize donations.

Our November fund raisers were successful and included the Civic Center craft show, the Halloween No Show, Blue Jean day (by FIA), the Nieman's sign, and sales of the Pet Calenders, bookmarks, and our new HHS license plate frames.

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October's Good News
In October of 2004 we found good homes for 33 of our pets. We took in 30 new animals, including 10 from Animal Control. We had 9 lost pets which we returned to their owners. Cynthia, Natalie and Alisha all attended educational seminars to further their expertise in shelter management, animal care, and adoptions. Cynthia announced a plan in which she hopes to have all of our animals spayed or neutered before they go to their permanent homes, and she intends to have this in effect by February of 2005.

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Halloween Costume Event A Success
Everything went well! The hall of the Center Building was packed with kids, families and dogs in costume and everybody had fun with it. We had 20 costume entries and raised $161 for the shelter. We sold raffle tickets, pet calenders and had many trick or treaters watching the costume parade.

People brought dogs dressed as fairies, super heroes, ladybugs, pumpkins, kings, witches, and hot dogs, too. Our overall winner was a dog-owner combo of a 50's girl walking her poodle in a poodle skirt.

Volunteers included Erica Kelly, Kathy Mc Veety, Dr. Mary Ann Carlson, Joy from Staples, Michelle from National City Bank, Karen Hebert from the City of Alpena, and Cathy Gilbertson from 1st Federal. They all worked very hard and made the event what it was.

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Adoption Fee Increase
Our new fees, as of October 27th are $60 for cats and $110 for dogs. This includes the vaccinations, vet visit, microchip and grooming for dogs, FIV/leukemia testing for cats, 30 days of pet insurance for all animals and either a full spay/neuter or, if adopting and unaltered pet, a coupon for $25 off the surgery. The total adoption package value for dogs is $170, and for cats is $117. The adopter saves $60 on the adoption.

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Special Needs Dogs Find Homes
In October alone, we treated/placed the following special needs pets: 
      Roo, a Mini-Pin who needed expensive hip surgery.
      Rookie, who spent a week in the animal hospital hooked to an IV
      Hoss, A.K.A. Buck, who received leg surgery to replace a dislocated pin

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Dedication of Dog Room

 

On Saturday, October 16th, visitors packed the halls of the HHS to honor Michele Sherill-Mix for her compassion and care of the animals of the Huron Humane Society. County Commissioner Michael Nunnely led the dedication ceremony with a touching speech about Michelle's charitable and loving spirit. Many of Michelle's family and friends attended the event in her honor. The ceremony concluded with a group prayer and a tour of the newly dedicated dog room.

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Freedom Path Becomes Official
October 16, 2004 marked the official ribbon cutting and inauguration of the Freedom Path, a dog walking path designed and built by 18 year old Shaun Burnham. Burnham, who worked at the HHS in the work-release program invented and implemented his design after he heard a visitor express a desire for a walking area. Cutting the ribbons were Alpena's Mayor John Gilmet and Jerry Fortier, Alpena Township Trustee. Sgt Jerry Broad who heads up Alpena's Inmate Work Program, and Matt Gillard, the 106 District House Representative took "Rookie" on a the first lap around the path. 
 

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Community Chip Day
On October 9th, we microchipped our first pets and are now including Microchips in the adoption of every shelter animal. We are also offering the service to the public for a bargain price of $30. It takes just minutes and could save your pet's life.

Go Girls!
On Saturday, September 18th a group of 4th-grade girls from All Saints Catholic School raised $200 for the shelter. After seeing the Alpena News Insert about the HHS, the girls decided to hold a bottle drive. These ambitious girls planned and executed the entire event themselves, from the organization, to the collection and even to the delivery of the donated funds. Of course their families helped with the driving! What an impressive group of dedicated and well organized girls! Way to Go!

Bike Winner

Tracy Freeman won the bike raffle of September's Pets to Go Show. He and his mom also helped handle and transport pets to and from the mall.

September's Good News
In September, we found good homes 24 of our pets! We have also had several in foster homes. We received our AVID Microchip equipment and have added more services for the pets and people of Alpena.

Want to see who still needs a home?
Show Me Adoptable Dogs
Show Me Adoptable Cats
Take Me to Petfinder

August's Good News
In August, we found good homes 38 of our pets and took in 54 new ones!