N O R T H B AY P E T S
HSSC’s
th Anniversary!
When Ruth Finley and a group of prominent Santa Rosans joined together to incorporate the Humane Society of Sonoma County in 1931, could they have imagined how long-lasting and far-reaching their legacy of love for the animals would be? This year, as we celebrate our 90th anniversary, we are inspired to reflect on our beginnings — and draw parallels between then and now.
E A R LY
S
A new decade saw HSSC starting to formalize partnerships and strengthen our networks to save more animals. By 2013, we signed a landmark adoption agreement with Sonoma County Animal Services which doubled the number of animals we took in from their facility and resulted in a dramatic decrease in communitywide euthanasia rates.
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Our large-scale rescue of 64 Finnish Lapphunds from a hoarding situation in January 2014 gave us a glimpse of what happens when our community rallies together on behalf of animals. In addition to extensive dental procedures, medical care and intensive grooming to remove severe matting, this group of dogs required lengthy behavioral rehabilitation. Thanks to incredible support from our volunteers and donors, we were able to provide the treatment and care needed to help these dogs heal their physical and emotional trauma. And, best of all, we were able to adopt every one of them into loving homes! This same year, we were awarded the animal care contract for the City of Healdsburg, partnered with North Bay Animal Services. We operated out of modular offices at Bacchus Landing Way while we completed construction on our permanent facility.
1931–2021
With the support of our volunteers and donors, we were able take in homeless animals from Lake County Animal Control (LCAC) when they needed to make room for animals displaced by the Valley Fire in 2015. The event also forged a strong partnership between HSSC and LCAC, establishing a pipeline for transfer of animals from their care to ours whenever they become too crowded.
Thanks to compassionate support from Healdsburg’s tight-knit community of animal lovers, we were able to celebrate the grand opening of our Healdsburg shelter in 2016! We adopted nearly 300 animals out of our new facility in its first year. This year we also achieved a 96% lives saved rate for animals coming through our shelters.
The 2017 Tubbs Fire was another pivotal event further proving our community’s ability to come together as a force for good. Our relationships with other local animal care agencies and rescues were strengthened as we worked together to reunite lost animals with their families and to get veritable mountains of donated pet food and supplies to impacted pet owners and evacuation sites. In addition to triaging medical care for animals injured in the fires, we held free clinics to serve the urgent needs of pet owners displaced by the fires. By 2017, we had achieved a 98% lives saved rate — a marker that we have been able to meet every year since!
By 2018, investments we’d made in our infrastructure and improvements we’d made in our processes were starting to pay off. Coinciding with increased intake initiatives to help more animals from our community and beyond, we focused on improving pathways to adoption and decreasing length of stay to get animals into loving homes faster! By mid-2018, we saw a 23% increase in the number of animals we were taking in – many of whom were at-risk of euthanasia at overcrowded shelters.
