Windham County Humane Society serves a county of 23 towns and the surrounding areas. It offers a variety of programs that make it one of Vermont’s busiest animal shelters. But because the current 4,000 sq. ft. building is too small and suffers from deterioration and mechanical failure, it cannot serve the pets and people of the community entirely.

Built twenty years ago, the shelter building has admirably done its job. It was a vast improvement over the cobbled-together “outbuildings” and make-shift spaces the organization called home during its 130+ year history. However, WCHS’s day-to-day operations are now constantly impeded by space shortages, an inefficient layout, and deteriorating building conditions.

It’s time for WCHS to expand and renovate so that it can continue to achieve its vision of “building a better future for the animals” by helping to create a compassionate community by serving as a resource for pet lovers/pet owners in need, and by envisioning achieving zero tolerance for companion animals needlessly suffering and dying.

The old 4,000 sq. ft. building will be renovated, and a 2,000 sq. ft. addition will be added to the north side of the shelter to house a new veterinary clinic wing.

Some of the features of the project include:

New commercial HVAC system designed to meet animal care requirements.

Dedicated veterinary spaces to perform intake exams, surgery, surgery recovery, laboratory & diagnostics and waiting room.

Soundproofing throughout the facility.

Separating the kennel into three dedicated areas with new cages to enable WCHS to better meet the dogs’ mental and physical needs.

Quiet, separate areas to allow pets to adjust when they first arrive at the shelter.

A “Real-life” room for dogs and a “community room” for cats.

Counseling room to hold respectful private discussions around pet adoption or accessing community programs like pet surrendering, free veterinary care, etc.

A “Meet and Greet” room for people to get to know the pets better.

Free roaming community cat room and 3-season Catio.

May 2023 – You will see site work begin with the addition of a new septic system.

June 2023 – December 2023 -The addition is built.

January 2024 – Shelter renovations begin.

June 2024 – Grand Opening!

The entire project was negatively impacted by Covid 19. The pandemic curtailed the momentum of the capital campaign pushing the project out nearly two years into today’s economic climate of inflation.

To address the impact, the organization revised the plan into two different phases, choosing to complete the most pressing work immediately to serve the animals and community best.

WCHS is projecting that the total cost will be slightly over $2M. This figure includes:

Hard costs: Construction materials, labor, site work, plumbing, wiring, security, curbing, paving, etc.;

Soft costs: Architects, mechanical, electrical, structural engineers, permitting, insurance, contingencies, etc.;

Furniture and Equipment: WCHS will use many items from the existing facility, but many items have outlived their usefulness and need to be replaced. Items like the surgery and examination tables, anesthesia machines, surgery lights, cat cages, and refrigerators will need to be sourced.

Specialized materials and mechanics: Flooring, noise reduction, water-resistant fixtures, commercial heating/cooling and ventilation systems – and so much more – are needed to keep the environment healthy and safe for all who enter the building.

As usual, WCHS relies on its friends to fund this much-needed construction project. Individual donors like you, in combination with limited foundations and companies, will make this dream a reality. To learn more about the Capital Campaign, “Building a Better Future,” and how you can help, please follow this link.

Volunteers are the heart of WCHS, and their creativity and commitment will always be needed. But involvement in any construction project requires patience and adaptability to changing needs.

While volunteers are always needed to help with shelter pets, there is a greater need for foster care volunteers caring for dogs, cats, and small animals in their homes, temporarily.

Space for preparing enrichment items (special toys, stuffed Kongs, frozen treats) will not exist, so we will need volunteers to do enrichment projects at home and then bring them to WCHS.

Our washers and dryers will be placed in storage. That means we will only wash select items and ask volunteers to (1) take some laundry home, wash it and bring it back to WCHS each week. (2) Do weekly bedding and towel drives to create “stockpiles” at their homes to replace what we need each week.

We will need volunteers to sign up to collect, secure, and store stockpiles of disposable food dishes, water bowls, and litter pans. We won’t be able to wash every metal pan, dish, or bowl daily.

Storage space has always been limited at WCHS. During construction, space will be even further reduced. We will need volunteers to pick up, store, and return in-kind donations (pet food, litter, toys, bedding, etc.) so these items don’t have to be turned away and are on hand to help the animals. We are especially concerned with keeping the Pet Food Pantry operational…this means it will be smaller and must be restocked every other day.

Since our on-site presence will necessarily shrink, there will be a greater need for Outreach volunteers to assist with: possibly

o Adoption outreach events
o Off-site clinic services
o Community events
o Humane Education

As changes occur, WCHS’s Volunteer Liaison will keep all potential and active volunteers informed about how to help our animals and organization best. Information and training sessions will be held to learn about the progress of the new building, along with programs that will be adjusted or added.

Absolutely! We will identify a way to accept in-kind donations and store them to supply the Pet Food Pantry. Outside the building, we will post instructions on how to donate and where to leave supplies when access to the shelter is restricted.

Absolutely! As WCHS strives to meet greater demand for help during unprecedented inflation, donations from people like you and me are critical to operations.

A gift toward the building means you are part of building a better future for thousands of animals for decades. All donations are welcome.

Visit the Donation page to learn more about the campaign and to donate.

Construction of the veterinary addition will happen first. This allows WCHS to have some building space available to move services to continue operations while renovating the shelter. The addition is not designed as a shelter, so the space is a “make-do” option, and we anticipate modifying operations to help as many animals as possible. Modification could include: fostering more animals, adoption placement from foster homes, offsite adoption or public clinic services, reduced transport, and more.

As with all of WCHS’s services and programs, we anticipate remaining operational during the construction. There will be some adjustments however, but we will remain committed to serving the public.

The Clinic will remain open but will operate on a more limited basis. There may be longer wait times to get an appointment.

We expect to continue offering spay/neuter surgeries to the public, but there may be longer wait times to get an appointment.

We anticipate being operational during the construction. There will be some adjustment. We expect to continue offering wellness exams for owned animals. However, there may be longer wait times to get an appointment.

As with all WCHS’s services, we anticipate being operational during the construction. The staff will work directly with trappers when there is a change to keep the cats safe.

Yes, we plan to remain open during construction, however we anticipate there will be some modifications to hours, process, or location, so we encourage everyone to check the website for the most recent update.

Yes, we plan to remain open during construction. However, we anticipate there will be some modifications to the hours and process. With limited space we must always be able to house local lost and stray animals so there may be a wait to surrender a pet as well as pre-surrender support options provided to you. We encourage everyone to check the website for the most recent update.

Most likely, if we have physical space and foster families available. We know our out-of-state partnering shelters rely on us to save pet lives. However, with limited shelter space, we must always be able to house local lost and stray animals. This means we very much need foster families to help care for the animals during the shelter renovation.

Currently, we don’t anticipate any change in when the shelter is open for adoption or pet wellness/clinic services.

The hours/days for Adoption are: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Pubic Veterinary Clinic services are offered by appointment Mondays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If this changes, we will update the community through our website and other social media sites.