Rapunzel, a three-year-old domestic shorthair, at the Willamette Humane Society shelter in Salem. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
If a dog at Willamette Humane Society’s Salem shelter needs an x-ray, it’s not always easy to come by.
BJ Andersen, the nonprofit’s executive director, said vet care can be just as hard for them to access as it is for the general public. For animals who require specialized medical care before they’re adoptable, that means more time spent in shelter – and greater costs for the Humane Society.
But starting this summer, Andersen said such services will be more accessible for Salem’s shelter animals as the Willamette Humane Society merges with the Portland-based Oregon Humane Society to form one larger organization.
“This is collaborative and we are both really excited,” Andersen said.
The merger becomes effective July 1, and supporters of both organizations will notice few immediate changes, leaders from both said.
The Salem-based shelter will continue to operate and offer all its existing services, including adoptions, spay and neuter surgeries and services for feral and stray cats. It will also have access to more services as a branch of OHS, including specialized vet care and the ability to send animals to the Portland shelter to get them adopted out more quickly.
Over the next two years, the organizations will gradually merge operations, with the Willamette Humane Society name eventually disappearing as the shelter becomes a branch of the larger Portland organization.
Andersen said the merger is the result of several years of discussions among Willamette Humane Society board members and leaders about the future of the nonprofit, which was formed in Salem in 1965.
Although Willamette Humane’s fundraising efforts were well-established, Andersen said the organization was facing a growing gap between what it could reasonably expect to raise from donors and the costs of running a modern animal welfare organization.
“We’re really in a shift culturally and generationally from relying really heavily on bequests to close the gap in our budget,” she said. “There’s less and less of that kind of philanthropy. Philanthropy is shifting now toward people being more involved while they’re living.”
In recent years, she said animal welfare services in the state have become less focused on adopting out pets as spay and neuter efforts have succeeded and the problem of pet overpopulation has declined substantially.
Adoption remains a core part of the Humane Society’s work, but other services, like helping pets remain with owners and making vet care more accessible, are a growing part of how they want to serve animals and the people who love them.
Those are areas where Oregon Humane Society has been expanding, said Sharon Harmon, the executive director. She said OHS is seeking to make their organization more statewide, expanding beyond their current footprint in Portland.
“We have tremendous resources that, frankly, other communities could use and need,” she said.
That includes a major expansion underway at the Oregon Humane Society’s Portland campus, adding two buildings with a new teaching veterinary hospital to offer vet care at a reduced cost to people who struggle to afford it. The facility is scheduled to open in October.
“We really feel that we can provide the best medical care for pets that are in the shelter system,” Harmon said.
The Oregon Humane Society has a veterinary social worker on staff, Andersen said, a person who can help animal owners who are struggling care for their pets and themselves.
“People will be caring for their animals to the last possible minute. Nobody wants to give up their pets. And pets are actually a protective factor in social work. People who have pets and have that human animal bond are more likely to retain housing, less likely to have suicidal ideation, see less impact from things like posttraumatic stress and depression and anxiety. So when we look at the field from a social work perspective, we want to keep them together,” she said.
The Oregon Humane Society is empowered by state law to investigate cases of criminal animal abuse and neglect, with three officers commissioned through the Oregon State Police.
Harmon said they’re working to expand that program, and already investigate cases across Oregon.
“Having that Salem campus more centrally located is really key” to those plans, she said. Their goal is to address every reported case within 24 hours.
Andersen said no layoffs are planned as part of the merger. Instead, many Salem-based employees will see a raise as the organization transitions to the higher Oregon Humane Society pay scale, which starts at about $17.70 per hour.
“That’s going to have a life-changing impact for our staff,” Andersen said.
Cost savings from the merger will come from eliminating redundancies, like not having to pay for multiple donor management systems or websites.
Reducing the time animals spend in shelter care in Salem will also be significant because of improved access to vet care and the ability to send adoptable animals to Portland which has a higher demand.
“If we can reduce length of stay for our animals by two days, it’s going to be a massive cost savings,” Andersen said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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