According to the Humane Society of the United States 2013 Annual Report, 118,328 animals were cared for last year by the Humane Society and its affiliates, through disaster relief, cruelty interventions, wildlife rehab centers and more. But that number doesn't count the local rescue groups around the country who work to protect, shelter, and rehabilitate animals and adopt them out to homes, including many in Northern Virginia.
Marlene Hammer, corresponding secretary for the Humane Society of Fairfax County, said that the local organization currently has dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, and a ferret up for adoption.
"Our main goal is to adopt as many animals as we can out," she said. "By having people adopt, we can take in more animals."
The Humane Society of Fairfax County has a main office in Fairfax and a farm in Centreville. The farm is home to horses as well as 27 dogs. A full-time manager lives on the farm to care for the animals, and if people want to adopt a horse or dog from the farm, they must go through the manager to apply.
The Fairfax office is also a home for cats who are waiting to be adopted out to families. "The cats have it very nice," Hammer said. "It's not like being in their own home, but it's the best thing to it."
According to Hammer, the cats are not in crates, but instead are housed in rooms at the shelter. Four or five cats, usually members of the same litter, share a room. Caretakers clean the cats' rooms every day, including changing litter and blankets, and mopping the floors. Volunteers that the shelter refers to as "socializers" also come in to play with the cats.
Hammer said that occasionally, animals will be dropped off at the Humane Society of Fairfax County with no note.
"One Sunday morning a few years ago, someone left a tiny dog on the porch," Hammer said. "I found him, and took him to the vet as we always do. My daughter had been looking for a small dog, and she ended up adopting that one."
Hammer said that drop-offs don't happen often. Many of the animals the Humane Society receives are given up when an owner has to move to a nursing home or is not able to keep the animal anymore. But other dogs are rescued, such as one Hammer adopted that had been left tied up outside for a long period of time.
The Humane Society of Fairfax County operates almost entirely on a volunteer basis. Operating a thrift shop in the building next door to its main Fairfax office, its volunteers sort donations, operate cash registers, and wait on customers. With the exception of one paid staff member, the proceeds from thrift shop sales go toward the shelter's operating costs.
The Humane Society also offers a pet food pantry as a service to the community.
"People who are in need of assistance and are unable to buy food for their pets can come here and get free pet food," said Hammer. She said that most of the people who come to the pet food pantry for help are residents of Fairfax County, but that sometimes people come from a little farther away. Hammer also said that most of the food is donated to the pantry by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who organize pet food drives as a service project.