Vanderburgh Humane Society Teams Up with Evansville Animal Care & Control and Best Friends Animal Society to Save More Animals

[Evansville, Indiana] — The Vanderburgh Humane Society is partnering with Evansville Animal Care & Control and Best Friends Animal Society as part of Best Friends’ Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative Program with a goal of increasing a live release rate from 61% to 90% for dogs and cats entering Evansville Animal Care & Control.

In all, Best Friends is providing a grant in the amount of $150,000 (of which $60,000 has already been received) to support the initiatives in this partnership.

The shelter collaborative program matches shelters that are leaders in animal welfare with shelters that are working to save more animals. The goal of the partnership is to improve the save rate at Evansville Animal Care & Control (EACC) by the end of the year grant program. This would mean that the vast majority of the dogs and cats entering their care leave alive, understanding that some animals will be too medically or behaviorally fragile to be released. Best Friends helps to facilitate these matches, works with peer mentors to create a contract that includes clear grant parameters, provides mentors with seed grants, and offers ongoing training and coaching to mentors and fellows.

The Vanderburgh Humane Society (VHS) is a national leader in animal welfare who was chosen to partner with Evansville Animal Care & Control because they have experience overcoming many of the challenges Evansville Animal Care & Control faces each day. And Animal Control, bound by City Ordinances to pick up strays and accept all owner surrendered animals, is always looking for partnership to increase their live release rate.

“Things will only improve for our community’s animals if we all work together,” says Kendall Paul, CEO of the Vanderburgh Humane Society. “This grant will take the VHS and Evansville Animal Care & Control’s longtime partnership to new heights. The initiatives that come from this collaboration will have a positive impact for the people and animals of Vanderburgh County.”

Through the shelter collaborative program, Best Friends will be providing grant funding to cover the expenses associated with achieving the partnership’s goals. Evansville Animal Care & Control and VHS will use the funding to implement nationally recognized proven strategies to decrease unnecessary intake and increase adoptions, community engagement, and rescue partnerships.

Current partnership initiatives are:

1. FREE microchips for pets in the community at pop-up microchip clinics, including the first one coming up on:
   Friday, March 3, 2023 from 1-5 pm
   Located in the Vanderburgh Humane Society’s rear Intake lobby
   (National microchip registration is included at no extra charge)
2. Use portions of the grant to waive reclaim fees so families can reclaim their pets from Evansville Animal Care & Control more quickly, with less financial burden
3. Creative initiatives to improve outcomes for cats
4. To provide best practice recommendations to update the City of Evansville’s Animal Control Ordinance
5. A focused collaboration around promotion of adoptable pets and fundraising for animals’ medical expenses at both organizations

Together, the VHS and Evansville Animal Care & Control expect these strategies to dramatically reduce the need to euthanize animals simply for lack of space at Evansville Animal Care & Control.

Alisa Webster, Superintendent at Animal Care & Controls says “The collaboration between Evansville Animal Care & Control and VHS gives us the opportunity to truly reach out and help the community with their pets. One of our goals at Evansville Animal Care & Control has always been to reunite pets with their owners. Now with the Best Friends grant the programs that we have planned are geared towards reunification through microchipping, and free reclaims. Together we WILL save more lives.”

The shelter collaborative program is a cornerstone of Best Friends Animal Society’s goal of making America a no-kill nation by 2025, according to Carrie Ducote, National Senior Strategist for the Shelter Collaborative Program.

The public is encouraged to follow both organizations on their social media accounts below to stay up-to-date with the latest news about this partnership: