Every other week on NHPR, we like to highlight a local non-profit that’s providing a great service for the Granite State. On this week’s episode of Give Back New Hampshire, we’ll focus on Pope Memorial Humane Society Cocheco Valley in Dover. A community-funded non-profit organization, Pope Memorial Humane Society is dedicated to promoting the humane treatment of animals in Strafford County and Southern Maine.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Caryn Fugatt: I'm Caryn Fugatt, and I am the shelter manager here at Pope Memorial Humane Society.
Seneca Adam Bernard: I'm Seneca Adam Bernard and I am director of operations.
Caryn Fugatt: We are a nonprofit. We don't receive any funding from the government, so we rely solely on donations from our community.
We care for over 1,000 animals on average every year, and they come to us from owner surrenders. They come to us as strays that may or may not get reclaimed, and they come to us from our partner shelters in the South, where they're facing a lot of overpopulation. So whenever space allows, we transport dogs and cats up to New Hampshire so that we can give them a better chance at finding a good adoptive home.
We care for primarily — dogs and cats are the most frequently surrendered animals, but we also see a lot of small companion animals, like rabbits and guinea pigs. We are in a mindset of kind of rolling with changes as they occur, so we had 16 large parrots that needed a safe place to land. We said we will help.
Seneca Adam Bernard: This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary and we started in a piggery over near the county jail. We moved to our current location about five years ago and we just continued to expand.
Caryn Fugatt: But when we were preparing to build this new, much needed facility, we got a generous donation from Lyman Pope, who has donated to several other animal welfare organizations and public libraries throughout New England. And so we honored him by changing our name to Pope Memorial Humane Society Cocheco Valley.
Jess Miller: I'm Jess Miller. I'm the volunteer and foster coordinator, so our shelter could not operate without our volunteers. They are the backbone of our organization. We simply could not take care of our animals to the extent and the level of care that we do without them. They ensure that the animals have comfort and have safety here at the shelter.
Herm Stolzenberg: My name is Herm Stolzenberg. I've been around the shelter here for about 40 years. I sit down here and I read them stories. Little stories out of the book. And as long as they'll sit still, I'll keep talking.
Pam Thompson: My name is Pam Thompson and I'm a volunteer. I work with the kitties. The doggies pretty much have done a little bit of everything over the years, but those are my two main things that I do every day. They just bring me a lot of joy, and it makes me feel good to, to know that I'm bringing them joy at the same time.
And it's kind of like a family here, too, for me. So, yeah, it's a great place. Just the rewarding feeling that you get kind of overshadows some of the harder things that you see. To see an animal just come to life, and accept human touch that they might not have ever had before — it's huge.
Caryn Fugatt: I would say over the past two years, between an uptick in incoming animals and a slow down in adoptions, we're just seeing a lot of challenges with helping our community take care of all of their needs.
Pam Thompson: It's amazing what it takes to keep the shelter running, even if it's, you know, monetary, obviously, but blankets and food and things you wouldn't even think about using. We need all of that stuff for these animals.
