The Maui Humane Society is always looking for ways to reunite stray animals with their owners. Now the organization has been selected as one of 25 shelters around the country to participate in a program called Network Neighbors to help more lost pets get back home. The program is launched by Best Friends Animal Society using Petco Love Lost technology.
“It is really meaningful to us, that we get to help save animals we don’t even know. It’s wild to think about how far it’s spreading.”
“For about the past year or so, we’ve had funding from the National Dislocated Workers Grant program to employ some of our local Lahaina wildfire survivors at our shelter,” she said. “This included team members who directly care for the animals. They contribute to the safety of the animals. One of our team members fundraises for the animals.”
“Right now more than ever, we need to get pets into homes and we host ‘Empty the Shelters’ events quarterly. And we see that during these quarterly events, about 1,000 pets are adopted each day. And since we started this program in 2016, we’ve had nearly 140,000 pets go to loving homes,” Schlacter said. Adoption fees will be reduced for cats and dogs at all of the Humane Society shelters from May 1 to 15.
Maui Humane Society has seen a surge in surrendered and stray animals during the pandemic — and they are asking for residents to step up during the holiday season. Before the pandemic, Maui Humane Society would hold 40 dogs during a busy streak. There are currently 95 dogs under their care.
The shelter is overcapacity due to the high surrender and stray intake rates that spiked because of the pandemic. There are currently more than 500 animals under the care of the Humane Society. That is 25% more compared to the same month last year.
