​Greetings,

More than a year has passed since I began as the Executive Director for the Humane Society of Vero Beach & Indian River County and I wanted to share with you some of the incredible successes we have experienced.  

In 2019 we were able to provide shelter to nearly 4,000 lost, homeless, at-risk and abused animals in our community. Despite an increase in shelter intakes of more than 25%, we saw a 72% increase in adoptions, compared to all of 2018. That means that more than 2,000 formerly homeless pets are now safe and sound with new loving families!

One of the big numbers that animal shelters -- and their communities -- use to measure performance is live release (or save) rate. We ended 2019 with an 89% save rate, currently the highest it has ever been at our shelter, and 29% higher than the save rate in 2018. This amazing accomplishment, could not have been achieved without our spectacular team who are dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of pets and their people through compassionate service. 

The success of 2019 has fueled my excitement for our future. We’ve only just begun and there is so much more we are capable of achieving. This next year will continue to bring more change as we strive to align our organization with research based best-practices in animal sheltering. As we move forward our hope is to also inspire the entire community to embrace these new best practices, which will make our impact on animal welfare exponentially more significant!

Sincerely,

Kate Meghji
Executive Director