Darlington County Humane Society: Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The grant was used to purchase a camera to photograph our pets in need.
The camera was a godsend for us. We started to use the camera during the first week of September and the impact was immediate. Our rescue partners started to notice better-quality photos and in greater quantity, and our adopters too were responding more and asking about pets under our care. More pets were simply going home! For the months of September and October, we took in 441 pets (cats and dogs), and 353 were either adopted or pulled by preapproved rescue partners. We still have much work to do as the intake quantity versus the safe quantity are not where we want them to be, but it is a work in progress and a job we work on daily. Thank you for helping us to get closer to our goal of being a no-kill shelter.
How many pets did this grant help?
353
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Milo is my favorite adoption story. He arrived very shy and with another dog who was quickly pulled by a rescue, as she was on the verge of birthing. Milo was at a real loss being left behind. He had arrived on July 19 and no one had been able to snap pictures and or write a bio on him. He was sitting unnoticed and the clock was ticking. I met him on Sept. 9. Milo turned out to be THE best photo subject. He was happy and animated and very child-friendly! He was a different pet than the one with scant info online. Shortly after I updated his info online, we heard from one of our rescue groups, Home at Last Rescue in Pennsylvania. They wanted Milo! Milo left on transport several weeks ago (making the 10-hour journey up I-95 from South Carolina to Pennsylvania) and recently I learned the super news that his foster mom adopted him. It was official: He now had a new home!
This is the bio I wrote for him: “Update, Sept. 9: What a class act! Milo is such a lovely dog! Arriving with his best friend Lola (who has since birthed a litter of pups), Milo was a bit at a loss when she went into foster care. To see him today is honestly just pure joy! He has done such a wonderful job of settling in and making new friends. Nicely sharing his space with a teen and a younger, very bouncy dog, Milo takes everything in great stride and welcomes all into his world with a wide grin and softly wagging tail. Very polite and super easy to walk/manage, he’s a great choice for folks of all ages and brings a nice, calming energy to the group. Although he’s just about 1 year old, he has a more mature outlook on life, but will rev up his game when prompted to! While Milo was out in the exercise pen, for example, silly teen pup Casper grabbed the end of his leash and walked him around, and then started a fun-spirited game of tug-of-war. Milo is the perfect size pet: not too big, not too small. He would tell you, he’s ideal for any lap! Milo is a real keeper and ready to move on into his new pet role!”
