When San Diego Humane Society was awarded the animal services contracts for six new cities, it had to hit the ground running.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Just over a year ago, San Diego Humane Society took on its biggest challenge to date. We essentially doubled our workload, having been awarded the animal services contracts for six more cities, including the city of San Diego. We sprang into action, caring for an additional 20,000 animals a year, and we’ve now hit our stride. Our mission to inspire compassion is unwavering and our commitment to zero euthanasia for healthy or treatable animals is stronger than ever.

“Things are going well—it’s a challenge, there’s no question, but it’s the work that we all signed up to do and it’s really the goal of the organization to be on the streets helping animals where they need help the most,” says SDHS President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman.

In the past year, SDHS has opened the Bahde Center for Shelter Medicine, where specialized veterinarians diagnose and treat incoming animals, often with very little background information to go on. They’re teaching rookie vets from around the country exactly what it takes to care for shelter pets. This spring we opened the Bahde Wildlife Center, home base for SDHS’s Project Wildlife program, which in the last year alone cared for more than 12,000 rabbits, raccoons, ducks, owls, opossums and other native wildlife.

We didn’t stop there. SDHS’s latest endeavor is a biggie. We’ve rolled our Animal Rescue Reserve, Special Response Team and Humane Law Enforcement division into one cohesive entity: the Emergency Response Team. They partner with the Red Cross and other local, state and national emergency response agencies and can deploy at a moment’s notice. They’ve already helped out after a dog fighting ring was broken up in Indiana and after floods in Arkansas.

“We want to be a resource and a response agency all across the country,” Dr. Weitzman says.