Shelter Information

Spay/Neuter Your Pets

Why wait??  It's one of the most important medical procedures you can provide for your pet.  You can help prevent cancers of the reproductive system and pet overpopulation at the same time!

Spaying a female removes the ovaries and uterus.  Neutering a male removes the testicles.  Both are veterinary procedures performed with the same general anesthesia used in human medicine.  Both surgeries require minimal hospitalization and most pets go home the same day.

Advantages of spaying/neutering:

• Improved behavior.  Unsterilized males roam in search of a mate risking injury, mark territory, mount furniture, humans and other animals.  Unsterilized females attract males from great distances.  Female dogs have bloody discharge during heat cycles and female cats display unusual and often irritating vocal and physical behaviors.  Pets who are spayed/neutered make better family members since they are able to focus on the family rather than reproductive behaviors.
• Longer, healthier lives.  Neutering a male cat or dog by six months of age prevents testicular cancer, prostate disease and hernias.  Spaying a female cat or dog helps prevent pyometra (a pus-filled uterus) and breast cancer.  Breast cancer can be fatal in about 50% of female dogs and 90% of female cats.
• Prevention of the suffering and death of millions of animals.  You may think your one litter is not a problem.  You may feel confident that you will be able to give them all to good homes.  If those good homes do not choose to sterilize the pets, here are some startling statistics.  One cat or dog who has babies and whose babies have babies can be respoinsible for the birth of 50 to 200 kittens or puppies in one year!  Almost everyone loves puppies and kittens but many lose interest when these animals grow up.  As a result millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized annnually or suffer as strays.  Rarely do strays survive for more than a few years on their own dying painfully from starvation, disease, freezing or being hit by cars.

Click for more information about our Spay/Neuter Program

Shelter Operations

The Circle of Friends Humane Society gives pets of all kinds a second chance for a permanent, loving home. It’s the second chance they all deserve. But we can’t do it alone. The responsibility for lost, unwanted animals rests with us all. Whether that responsibility involves reporting animal neglect or abuse to law enforcement, teaching our children respect for all creatures, adopting a shelter pet to save a life, or simply learning more about becoming a responsible pet owner, we are entrusted with the protection of all creatures unable to care for themselves.

Since 1975 the Circle of Friends Humane Society has been committed to the welfare of animals. As many as 2,000 lost, unwanted, abused and neglected animals come through our doors each year.

The COFHS is a private, non-profit organization and receives no state or federal funds. We receive funds from the City of Grand Forks and Grand Forks County to assist with the care of animals from those areas. The majority of our operating budget is supported by program fees, membership dues, special events, grants, and individual donations. The Circle of Friends Humane Society also serves as the city’s animal impound facility.

The Circle of Friends Humane Society is an open door shelter. We turn away no stray animal. This is the defining difference between our shelter and those shelters referring to themselves as “no kill” or “limited admissions” shelters.  We accept owner-surrendered pets on a space available basis only. Owners must call first before bringing pets in.

Limited admissions shelters must restrict both the type and the number of animals they will receive. It must focus on healthy, behaviorally sound animals that are the best candidates for adoption. Rapid turnover is essential, because when the cages are full, the shelter must turn away the next animal, regardless how compelling the circumstances. Limited admission shelter are unable to accept sick and injured animals, older animals or animals with health or behavior problems.

Although the philosophy of the limited admission shelter may seem appealing, reality presents a different set of challenges. What happens to those stray animals that are refused? Many are abandoned to die on highways, or of disease or fights with other animals. Many are dumped on farms where they are not wanted. And what of those kept indefinitely at the shelter, suffering from the psychological effects of long-term confinement in a kennel environment? No definition of the word “humane” can describe the lives to which those animals are subjected.

Our mission is to accept and care for all stray animals even those who are sick, injured, old or temperamentally unsound. But we can only house a limited number of animals at any one time. As a result we must humanely euthanize those animals for which no home can be found. Even if all we can offer some of those pets is a humane death we know that they will no longer endure the abuse and neglect that brought many of them to us.

Remember also that the responsibility for the euthanasia of pets does not rest with animal shelter personnel. It rests with irresponsible pet owners who continue to allow indiscriminate breeding and who refuse to recognize their obligation to these very special creatures.

Through proactive programs the COFHS strives to end the causes of pet overpopulation and ignorance and hopefully to reduce and someday eliminate the need to euthanize any adoptable pet.

• Adoption program & counseling
• Community education
• Spay/neuter assistance
• Pet parenting classes
• Dog obedience classes

Now you must also accept your responsibility to end the euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals.

• Report abuse and neglect to local law enforcement.
• Spay/neuter your pets and encourage others to do the same.
• Identify your pets so they can be safely returned to you.
• Learn about responsible pet ownership and share that information with others.
• Teach your children the importance of compassion, kindness and respect to all living creatures, human and non-human alike.

Go the following pages for more information on these topics:

Animal Abuse & Neglect
Education
Pet Care & Training

Upcoming Events

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