I'm on a community social action committee and have spent the last year planning a community-wide service day. We were each responsible to lead a team of volunteers in a different community service project and per my passion I chose the Humane Society. We arrived on Sunday afternoon with a group of 12 people at the Campus for Compassion on Dobbins Rd. Kathy - the head of volunteer services - met with us and gave us a thorough introduction. She included the history of the AZ humane society and the process and procedures by which they take-in and shelter animals. She really focused on promoting spaying and neutering pets and cited some very impressive statistics. Did you know that over 7 years un-neutered cats can breed to reach 420,000 in numbers??!!!! and dogs 67,000??!!! thats CRAZY and so compelling.
Kathy proceeded by giving us a very educational tour of the facilities... we saw dogs, horses, cats and bunnies. It was very eye-opening. First off it shattered any stigma you have about a shelter. The animal accommodations are so impressive!! The dogs have BIG size kennels with indoor and outdoor spaces that are really spacious. I was nervous to go in and see the dogs in kennels but I really wasn't as heartbroken as I thought I'd be bc they really had nice size spaces.
There are sprawling lawns in the back where animals can run and play which even include a public dog park! There are also private puppy rooms. The cats have big crates as well and even private bedrooms where they can hang out in groups and the facilities were squeaky clean w/o any odors.
The volunteers were so nice, kind and devoted to the animals. We got to feed horses, play with cats and bunnies and put together leashes for dogs. The most encouraging thing though was that the place was busy on a sunday! buzzing with people wanting to adopt pets and several cats were actually adopted during the 2 hours we were there.
It was a wonderful and meaningful experience and I encourage anyone who is looking for a pet to adopt from the Humane Society and to look into volunteering with them