HUMANE SOCIETY

What we already knewWe didn’t know much about the humane society when we selected it as our inquiry project. All we knew was the basic information. We knew that the humane society took care of cats and dogs and help them back to better health and most workers at the Humane Society was volunteers. Also we knew the Humane Society put up dogs and cats for adoption because Eric almost adopted a dog from WHS. Since we knew very little we had to do a lot of research to do.

What are the different jobs at WHS?

Adoption counselor: The Adoption Counselor is responsible for all front desk service with particular attention to encouraging adoptions.

Behavior counselor- The Behavior Counselor is responsible for assisting in temperament evaluations for dogs and cats, updating dogs available to be socialized, adoption client interviews, education and training of volunteers and staff

Foster clerk- The Foster Clerk is responsible for recruiting all foster caregivers and arranging placement of animals with foster caregivers. They are also responsible for the follow up and support of foster caregivers

Emergency dispatcher- The Emergency Dispatcher will be responsible for the monitoring of and response to the emergency for WHS. This is the only full-time position.

HOW WAS THE HUMANE SOCIETY FORMED?

The Winnipeg Humane Society is one of the oldest community service organizations in Winnipeg and the oldest and largest animal shelter and welfare organization in Manitoba. Founded over 115 years ago, the organization has come a long way. Originally formed as the “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Women, Children, and Animals.” The shelter consisted of Winnipeg citizens from businessmen, to lawyers, to progressively minded women. As other agencies were formed to support women and children the WHS reorganized with the goal of focusing on animals.

Everyone benefits from the Winnipeg Humane Society. The WHS receives approximately 9000 animals a year, their capacity is around 400 animals and it is full almost all the time. To be more specific, the animals benefit because they are rescued from the streets and animals that are abused by their owners. These animals are either returned to their owners or are adopted by the right families.The volunteers also benefit from the WHS work because they love animals and they help save the animals and give them shelter and medicine and a new family. It also gives the volunteers confidence to keep doing their job and lets them know that their helping change the world. The people that donate to the organization also benefit because they know that they donated their money for a very good cause, and they helped change thousands of animals lives.

Who benefits?

What do they doThe Humane Society of Canada or HSC works to protect dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits and small animals, livestock, lab animals, wildlife and the environment. They carry out hands on programs to help animals and nature, mount rescue operations, expose cruelty through hard hitting undercover investigations, work to pass laws to protect animals, support animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centres and spread the word about how to help animals and nature through humane education.

Why do we need the Humane society

The humane society will always be needed because animals will always need help. In only one year the human society of Winnipeg receives about 9,000 animals which include stray animals, wildlife, and owner relinquished. Many more animals need help worldwide but Canada is lucky enough to have the humane society to protect the animals that are being abuse in other parts of the world.

Fast facts on the WHS•The WHS does not receive government funding, they only rely on donations to keep their doors open. •The WHS has over 700 volunteers and operates on a 7 to 1 volunteer/staff ratio. •The WHS clinic performs over 6,000 spay and neuter surgeries annually. •The WHS receives approximately 9,000 animals each year, which include strays, wildlife, northern community animals and owner relinquished. Not all shelters accept all animals. •The WHS visits over 300 schools each year and also provide children and teen programming, and spring and summer camps. •The WHS Animal Protection Officers perform over 2,000 investigations, emergency cases, and rescues annually. •The WHS runs innovative programming with therapy dogs such as “See Spot Read” - a children’s reading assistance program. •We offer dog obedience and puppy socialization classes. •We care for nearly 400 animals at any given time. •The WHS offers financial assistance for spay/neuter to those in need through the SNAP program. •The WHS veterinary team help control the stray dog problem by setting up spay and neuter clinics •The WHS has over 200 foster families to help them take care for those animals not quite ready for adoption.

What we learnedSince not knowing much on the humane society to begin with, we learn lots once we started researching. We learned about many activities and aspects of the Humane society and how they promote the welfare of animals. The Humane Society does far more than take care of cats and dogs. They rescue and protect animals from abusive owner, run program to raise awareness of animal abuse, take in more all more than just cats and dogs, and do all these without any government funding. We also learned that the Humane society of Winnipeg is very involved in the community visiting over 300 schools a year and has over 700 Winnipeg volunteers working there. This inquiry project was very education and were glad we chose to pay it forward to the Humane Society!

SourcesAdopt a Dog, Adopt a Cat, Animal Welfare - The Winnipeg Humane Society." Winnipeg Humane Society. N.p., Oct.-Nov. 2008. Web. 06 June 2013.

"Animal Planet." Animal Planet. N.p., 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 06 June 2013.

"Welcome to the Humane Society of Canada." Welcome to the Humane Society of Canada. N.p., 15 Sept. 2003. Web. 06 June 2013.

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