July 2024 Pet Of The Week Sponsor: Engineering Solutions

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Engineering Solutions Sponsors Pet Of The Week To Raise Awareness For Animals In Need.

Brian Koerner, RHSPCA Board Member and owner of Engineering Solutions, knows how important it is to put Rockingham Harrisonburg SPCA’s animals in the public spotlight. He’s been an integral part of RHSPCA’s lifesaving mission since 2021 and has seen the impact of newly implemented programs and campaigns. In recognition of these efforts, Brian and his team at Engineering Solutions stepped up to sponsor the Pet Of The Week segments airing on WHSV for the month of July. Brian stated “Engineering Solutions recognizes the great work that RHSPCA has been doing over the last six years. Intakes have risen and the organization has stepped up and found ways to help find animals great homes, while at the same time drastically decreasing the number of animals that are euthanized.”

When asked why RHSPCA is an important part of the community, Brian replied “RHSPCA helps educate and promote animal wellbeing. RHSPCA is constantly improving the services it provides to our community.” In particular, Brian pointed out the Barn Cat program and Community Cat program, which have been integral parts of ethically gaining control of the outdoor cat population while providing homes for cats that would not do well indoors.

Engineering Solutions has been helping with some exciting upcoming renovations at RHSPCA, we could not be more grateful for their hard work and dedication to our cause! Many thanks to Brian and the team at Engineering Solutions for all of their efforts to promote and support RHSPCA and its animals.

Engineering Solutions was founded in 2004 and provides structural engineering design and project management services to industrial, commercial, residential, and institutional clients. They like to support non-profits in the community and take an active part in doing so through sponsorships as well as donating their time and expertise to projects. Be sure to check them out for any of your engineering needs!

 

Cheddar’s Second Chance: A Have a Heart Fund Success Story

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Grilled Cheese Mania challenged their patrons to match their $500, and donate to Have a Heart Fund with RHSPCA. They did it! You can too…

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Stumpy’s Second Chance: A Have a Heart Fund Success Story

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Sadly, an infection left Stumpy an amputee. Fortunately, our community who joins together to donate to animals, Stumpy’s surgery was possible

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Lexi’s Second Chance: A Have A Heart Fund Success Story

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Lexi the black lab was struck by a car. An animal help fund set up by the Rockingham Harrisonburg SPCA collects donations to help Lexi.

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January Shelter Scoop

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Dear Friends,

We had a terrific month of adoptions with 164 cats and dogs finding new homes. This was great for our feline population which was reduced from 200 cats and kittens to 138 in shelter. However, we are continuing to see high dog intakes, a trend that unfortunately has carried over from last year. Pet ownership is becoming increasingly more expensive and for some the cost of care for their pet is getting out of reach. 

We first started seeing an increase in dog intakes towards the end of 2021. It was apparent by the Spring of 2022 that this increase was not an anomaly, as national groups like Shelter Animals Count were also reporting increases in shelter intakes. This increase has been attributed to rising cost of pet ownership (cost of supplies and veterinary services), access to affordable pet friendly housing, and people returning to work as workplaces opened back up.

The reasons ascribed to the increase were consistent with what owners surrendering their pets to the RHSPCA shared with us. We also saw an increase in stray intakes and a reduction in dog reunifications despite the even heavier emphasis we placed on efforts to reunite pets with their owners. Not surprisingly, we did not see an increase in returned adoptions. This is because of the care taken when matchmaking pets with potential adopters by our staff and volunteers.

One major initiative for us this year is to reduce intake of animals to the shelter. Felines account for two thirds of all intakes to the shelter. Our Community Cat Voucher program was incredibly impactful last year and was directly responsible for the deferral of 80 feline intakes and the spay or neuter of 500 felines in total. In 2023 we plan to partner further with local groups to further reduce the number of free roaming community cats.

Intakes to the shelter can be reduced by providing resources to pet owners needing help. We will continue to provide medical and behavioral assistance to help pet owners keep their pets in the home and assist with finding new homes for those unable to keep them any longer. Dog intakes have continually risen over the last two years and we must proactively start addressing the concerns leading to this.

We expect to have these programs underway by July 1st of this year. I would love to hear from you if you are interested in supporting these two projects or if you would like to learn more about them. This is a big undertaking, one that I am confident will yield great results with the continued support of our donors, volunteers and staff.

Sincerely,

Huck Nawaz

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Open Your Heart & Home To Animals in Need

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December Shelter Scoop

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Dear Friends,

As we bring in the new year, our 50th, I would first like to thank each of you that made our end of year fundraising campaign successful. Thanks to the generous support of donors we surpassed our goal of raising $75,000 and will enter 2023 with the financial support needed to build upon our success.  

There was a lot to celebrate in 2022 but our greatest impact was made by saving the lives of over 3,200 animals. We ended the year with a live release rate of 94% last year. This was no easy task since we had 3,200 animals come into our care, an unprecedented increase of 600 animals over the year before. We are fortunate to have a supportive community full of volunteers, fosters, adopters and donors like you that share our vision for creating a community that values animal welfare.  

Last year was our most impactful year to date. We found adoptive homes for 1,829 animals.  Over 1,000 animals benefited from temporary placement in foster homes. Our dedicated volunteers donated 11,000 hours of their time and we helped reduce the feline overpopulation by getting 500 outdoor cats spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.  

This will be my fifth year with the RHSPCA and I am still in awe of the generosity and support of our donors and the dedication of our staff and volunteers. I am excited for us to further expand our programs and services this year as we continue to fulfill our mission of decreasing pet homelessness through advocacy and adoption. Together, we will make sure that our 50th year is our most successful year as we continue to proactively address the causes of pet homelessness in our community.

With gratitude,

Huck Nawaz

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Don’t Buy into Animal Cruelty – Adopt Don’t Shop.

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Pam Miller knew better than to purchase a puppy from a pet store. She knew that pet stores very often get the puppies from puppy mills and there was no way she was going to support such a thing. This is why when she was ready to add another dog to her family, she chose to adopt Arlo, a then six month old puppy who was rescued from a puppy mill in West Virginia. What Pam didn’t realize was the extent of the psychological trauma that dogs from puppy mills carry.

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