CONNECTICUT, USA — The Connecticut Humane Society is taking on its mission unlike ever before.
“The Connecticut Humane Society has been around since 1881 and we have never experienced anything of this magnitude,” says executive director, James Bias.
Bias started on the job just as COVID-19 hit, “Our three facilities in Waterford, Westport, and Newington aren’t designed with physical distancing features in mind, So many of our pets are in foster homes.”
The non-profit is adapting as it moves forward expanding pet food distribution to community partners and reworking the way it responds to clients.
“Just for everybody’s safety our medical clinic in Newington is still operating but it is curbside pick up, we are not bringing clients, just the animals into our clinic, and then just our food bank has gone crazy with a request for need,” he said.
Fox 61 Morning News regular Susan Wollschlager works at the Humane Society too. Wollschlager says the team has had reason to celebrate despite a challenging few months.
“Our good news here at the Connecticut Humane Society is that adoptions have been so steady,” she said.
The way adoptions are being handled has changed. “Adoption counseling sessions are now over the phone, Instead of in person, so we are trying to do as much beforehand online and over the phone as possible,” says Wollschlager.
As far as what comes next Bias says - flexibility will be key. “Good question as far as what does the future hold, I don’t know if we are going to see spike up in need, what we will continue to do is modify our operations for everybody’s safety while maintaining our mission and making sure the pets are taken care of,” said Bias.
For more information on adopting dogs like Tiny, you can click this link.