2021
Impact Report

Nevada Humane Society’s Life-Saving Mission Extends Beyond Shelter Walls

Living in Northern Nevada, wildfires have become commonplace with summertime weather in recent years. In 2021, the Caldor and other wildfires hit close to home-not only causing evacuations but creating an immediate need to care for pets affected by evacuation orders in our community.

On August 30, 2021, our CEO Greg Hall, received an urgent call from Carson City directing Nevada Humane Society (NHS) to quickly get to Fuji Park to set up, run and care for animals that were displaced as their owners were forced to evacuate from South Lake Tahoe. Within two hours, our team had the site up and running and began to take in pets.

Over the course of the next seven days, we cared for nearly 60 pets including dogs, cats, a parakeet, and a turtle. Together with volunteers and our community partner Carson Animal Services Initiative (CASI), we managed the evacuation site around the clock. We worked hard to ensure the pets were walked, fed, cared for and loved as they were in a new environment and uncertain about how long they would be away from their families as the fire raged on.

When Red Cross relocated from the Fuji Park evacuation site to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center after two days, we encouraged Carson City to keep the Fuji Park site open. There were no other options at that time for people and pets to be together as some owners remained at the park and camped to be close to their animals.
For the duration of the evacuation, our staff members, dozens of volunteers and the CASI team worked around the clock at our Fuji Park evacuation site providing compassion, care and love during a stressful, emotional time.

When the Fuji Park evacuation center closed on September 5, 2021 and all pets had alternative housing solutions, Washoe County Regional Animal Services requested our assistance with their evacuation site at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center around the clock. We took our first shift on September 4 and remained onsite until the closing of the Convention Center evacuation site on September 8. We helped care for these pets by walking dogs, checking animals in and out of the site, cleaning and caring for the animals, and coordinating and helping with general inquiries.

Sun Valley Dog Rescue

Our community was devastated when more than 40 dogs were abandoned in Sun Valley Regional Park in the summer of 2021.

In response to this tragedy, we all came together to rescue, provide care and find happy homes for these neglected dogs in need. We are grateful for the animal lovers in Northern Nevada who stepped up to help by supporting us in ending animal cruelty and saving pet lives.

This rescue was especially challenging because the dogs were traumatized and reluctant to approach the people working to help them. Our partners at Washoe County Regional Animal Services (WCRAS) worked tirelessly over a two week period combing the 340-acre park to find and safely capture all the abandoned dogs in need of help.

“No animal deserves to be mistreated or abandoned. There is support for people who find themselves overwhelmed with too many pets. They can be surrendered and cared for; there is simply no excuse for abandoning them.” – Greg Hall, CEO, NHS.

After spending five days at WCRAS, the standard holding period for all stray animals, the 40+ dogs were transferred to our Reno Shelter for continued medial care, socialization and to find happy homes.

As a result of the outpouring of community support, these sweet dogs were adopted very quickly. As soon as they became available for adoption people were lined up and eager to give them loving homes. Due to what they’d been through, these pups needed calm environments and homes that could be patient with them while they recovered, and we were able to find them amazing adopters!

Our Fosters. Our Heroes.

Our Fosters. Our Heroes. Our Foster Program helped over 2,100 pets in 2021. Our foster volunteers take in pets that are too young, too sick, or just too stressed to be in our shelters and care for them until they are ready to find forever homes. Laura, one of our dedicated foster volunteers, is one of the amazing people who helps pets that otherwise wouldn’t have a fighting chance to overcome immense challenges.

Laura adopted her rescue pup from Nevada Humane Society so fostering for us was a “no-brainer.” She signed up right in the middle of our kitten season, and was given an amazing mama cat and her tiny three-week-old babies as her first foster pets. One reason that Laura is able to work fostering into her daily life is because she owns her own small business, Devonwoods Flowers. The kittens that need round-the-clock care accompany her to work, and her business community has been extremely supportive and involved with her foster experience.

“It has been so much fun watching my employees and customers engage with my fosters. I have customers who stop by just to see the kittens and find out how they’re doing.” – Laura, Dedicated Foster Volunteer. Some of Laura’s first few foster experiences included medical cases. A litter of foster kittens that she was bottle feeding ended up being ringworm positive. Laura learned to enjoy what she called their “spa days” together, and has cared for many ringworm kittens since. A few of her friends and customers have adopted her ringworm babies and she shared it is so rewarding to see them become ringworm negative and hear updates on them.

“Adopting from a rescue is so important, but when you foster the impact you make on animals in need is so much bigger and far reaching than is possible when you adopt a single animal from the shelter. I of course have dogs and cats that are my forever family who I love dearly but through fostering I’ve been able to have a real positive impact on over 30 kittens and cats in just one year. It’s incredible and humbling to think how many kittens I’ll get the chance to love and help heal within my lifetime. Fostering is something that will always be a part of my life.” – Laura, Dedicated Foster Volunteer.