Humane Society of Durham Region

The mission of the Humane Society of Durham Region (HSDR) is to provide compassionate care for abused, abandoned, and neglected animals in our community and actively find their forever home.  We serve the entire area of Durham Region and work collaboratively within the network of OSPCA humane societies throughout Ontario.  At any one time, we have approximately 100 cats, 15 dogs, and a number of small animals in our care until we find their forever home.  We are governed by a volunteer board of directors and benefit from the donation of thousands of hours of volunteer time to support our efforts to care for animals in need.  The HSDR does not receive government funding for our operations so we rely on the generous support of the community, including great partners like the Furry Friends 5K (FF5K) event.  Our greatest challenge is keeping up with the ever increasing demand that comes from a growing pet population, an expanding population base, and more people surrendering their animals because of the economic challenges that have hit Durham Region.  We are the last resort for many people and because we are normally at capacity, we often have to say no or ask people to wait.  We have implemented a number of very exciting initiatives in 2013 when the new board of directors was elected at the Annual General Meeting in June, which have significantly increased our adoption rates, which allows us to care for more animals.  We are a no kill shelter and animals stay with us as long as it takes to find their forever home.  We also have a full-time investigator and work directly with the OSPCA to investigate cases of animal abuse and we are there to stick up for the animals that do not have a voice.  The HSDR is incredibly thankful for the support of the FF5K event, and all of its supporters and participants, and we look forward to being part of the event in 2014.