Cache Humane society saves high percentage of dogs in their care

All dogs may very well go to heaven--but officials at the Cache Humane Society don't want to be the ones to send them there.

  

Throughout the last year the Cache Humane Society has raised its average placement rate for dogs to a new high of 97 percent. This number well surpasses the 90 percent mark necessary to be considered a “no kill” shelter.

“We are working hard to place our dogs,” said Roland Bringhurst, the director of CHS. “We are working closely with other shelters to get them placed.”

For instance, Bringhurst said that if the shelter has a Labrador retriever that doesn’t get placed in Cache Valley, he can send it to Montana or Idaho and it will be adopted within a day.

“It’s about putting the dogs where they have the best chance of getting a home,” Bringhurst said.

Cath Manrique, the volunteer and fundraising coordinator at the shelter, said there are many ways in which a dog can be adopted or put in the best position to find a home. So far this year the CHS has transferred 70 dogs to rescue partners -- most of them in Utah.

“We work a lot with rescuers who are part of the Best Friends coalition partners,” Manrique said. “We also work closely with animal rescue transportation organizations such as Dog Is My CoPilot.”

This year the Cache Humane Society has transferred in 194 dogs from other shelters. 

“We’ve been doing a lot more transfers into CHS within Utah this last year compared to previous years,” Manrique said. “The majority transferred in have been from a very high kill rate shelter in California. Sometimes it’s from overcrowded shelters, other times it’s because another shelter is unable to care for the health or behavioral issues, but we can handle them.”

Manrique said the CHS recently saved a dog named Roxy who had a dysfunctional leg. The shelter she was in could only euthanize her because of her health. The CHS stepped in and saved her by amputating her leg. Roxy ended up being adopted at the shelter.