An important goal for the Rogue Valley Humane Society is leading Josephine County, Oregon to becoming a no-kill community. By reaching out and educating the public about the importance of pet sterilization, demonstrating the tremendous impact on the Counties municipal shelters euthanasia reductions and working with veterinarians to reduce their fees so that we can accomplish more spay-neuters for our low-income population, we are definitely moving in the right direction. Since 2012 we have sterilized over 3100 dogs and cats. We believe that a no-kill community is achievable!
On a day-to-day basis, the health of the cats and dogs in our care is our primary concern. We have developed strict sanitation and infectious disease policies and protocols. Our canine isolation has been completed and is in full operations. We have completed our in house surgical suite to expedite waiting times for surgeries.

As a non-profit organization, we strive for accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility so that the Rogue Valley Humane Society continues to be financially healthy so that we can serve the people and pets of Josephine County, Oregon. We have two board members who are experienced and successful grant writers to help us achieve our goals in caring for the animals in our facility and developing programs to benefit our community.

Our strategies for achieving a no-kill community and helping low-income pet owners involve working with larger humane organizations, like Best Friends Animal Society, the ASPCA and HSUS and also continuing to build our relationships with regional animal shelters.
RVHS grant writers are always looking for opportunities to bolster and expand our existing programs and searching for new sources of funding.
Our Fundraising Committee meets monthly to assess our options and develop programs to keep us moving forward. This year marked our 9th Annual Fur Ball, our premier fundraising event, where our supporters join us to raise funds and celebrate our successful adoptions, the lives we've saved and our hopes for the future.

The Rogue Valley Humane Society's shelter manager, staff and board members attend national humane conferences and continue to network and develop working relationships when they come back to Oregon. These relationships enhance our ability to receive help, guidance and grant funding. We own our shelter property (and our Thrift Store property), we are judicious in our spending, engage our supporters in our work and we apply for grants to help us achieve our goals. As the only facility in Josephine County that keeps and cares for all animals until they are adopted, the Rogue Valley Humane Society finds homes for over 500 dogs, cats, kittens and puppies each year. Every dog and cat stays with us until they find their perfect family.

In terms of reaching our goal of guiding Josephine County to becoming a no-kill community, for eight years we have been collecting monthly statistics from Shelter Animal Count and tracking our progress. Our spay-neuter funding grantors require detailed bi-annual reports. Besides the scheduled and completed surgeries, for those cat owners who didn't follow through on their appointment either to arrange for the surgery or to keep the spay-neuter appointment, we re-contact them to find out if they had some difficulty and to encourage them to re-schedule. In cases where the person cannot transport the cat to the veterinarian, we personally pick up the cat and take it to the vet. When we receive fewer calls on our spay-neuter hotline we re-visit all the stores where we've posted fliers and advertise the program on our Facebook page and ask people to share the information.

We have made substantial progress in eliminating the euthanizing of pets in Josephine County. Our pace has been steady and we've been working with four veterinary practices to accommodate as many surgeries as are needed. We believe that we are on track and that one day every pet surrendered to the Josephine County will find a home.
We have learned that people in all economic groups realize that spay-neuter makes better neighbors and neighborhoods. No one likes to see litters of puppies or kittens abandoned. We have not identified any major obstacles to the success of the program and as it has grown we have increased the number of veterinarians and applied for and received more grant funding.