This story was originally produced by the Valley News. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
A litter of five newborn kittens without a mom currently live at the Upper Valley Humane Society in Enfield.
Staff must bottle feed the 3-week-old orphaned kittens every few hours, including in the middle of the night. Team members are spread thin in terms of providing essential care to the kittens and animals in similar circumstances, which makes connecting with each of them difficult.
The shelter’s director wishes foster care was an option for more individualized attention. It would allow the kittens to adapt to a home environment, she said, giving the shelter workers the chance to learn more about their behaviors to better coordinate adoption.
“It’s better for their immune system. They rest better. It’s less stressful for mom cats, just because there aren’t smells of dogs and as many noises,” Executive Director RayLynn Bradigan said earlier this month at the shelter.
But pregnant and nursing animals, and neonatal puppies and kittens don’t qualify for foster care because those circumstances aren’t considered a medical or behavioral requirement under state regulation AGR 1705.05.
“There are people who say, ‘Just wait a few years and maybe things will change,’ but they don’t have to look at the animals every day that I know should be in a home, or that aren’t getting as much constant care as they need,” said Bradigan.
A bill state Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, proposed in January, SB475, would qualify pregnant and nursing animals, and neonatal puppies and kittens for foster care in New Hampshire. It passed through the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 5-0, and by Senate as a whole via voice vote in March.
SB475 would benefit humane organizations like those in the Upper Valley greatly, said Bradigan.
Department of Agriculture Commissioner Shawn Jasper contacted shelters across the state last year to inform them that pregnant and nursing animals shall be excluded from the medical qualification, which he noted was always supposed to be the case.
Bradigan considered it a new interpretation of state law.
In an email thread shared by Bradigan, Jasper pointed out concern about proper oversight and recordkeeping when animals are in foster situations.
“There is a history of a lack of following the fostering regulations, pregnancy aside. We find many cases where the required inspections have not taken place,” Jasper wrote.
As a result, the Upper Valley Humane Society has been scrambling to care for litters of newborn puppies and kittens. In some cases, the organization has been forced to turn animals away due to a lack of space.
Jasper, in his letter, noted that shelters must keep space open for fostered animals anyway.
Now supporters of changes to foster regulations fear its future may be at risk after the House voted earlier this month to attach a controversial livestock cruelty investigation bill in the House, formerly known as HB1766.
The House Environment and Agriculture Committee passed the amendment, 15-0, and it made it through the house by voice vote.
The livestock legislation, first introduced by state Rep. Barbara Comtois, R-Center Barnstead, seeks to alter the procedure for animal cruelty investigations. The bill calls for a state-appointed professional to assist with investigations and for humane societies to only house the livestock in question if they are not participating in the investigation.
Comtois introduced HB1766 to strengthen the investigation process, she said. The goal is to affirm that animals may only be seized by law enforcement, and to eliminate conflicts of interest amid investigations.
Under the bill, Comtois said, animal shelters may still contact law enforcement with concerns for an animal. They may also care for livestock amid the investigation process so long as they are not part of the investigation.
Livestock refers to farm animals aside from poultry, which could include house rabbits, said Bradigan.
The Governor’s Commission on the Humane Treatment of Animals reported that there were 269 animal cruelty incidents in 2024, which is an increase from the previous two years. At the request of law enforcement, the state Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food visited 50 sites with livestock from 2022 to early 2025.
The bill also orders that a state veterinarian should designate someone to evaluate livestock welfare in each situation to ensure they have the right credentials. Comtois added that the appointed person could very well be from a humane society.
“We don’t want a small animal vet making a determination on a cow,” said Comtois.
The Upper Valley Humane Society, along with 11 other humane societies across the state as part of the Federation of Humane Organizations, signed a letter to Gov. Kelly Ayotte opposing HB1766 in the event it gets to her desk.
“Caring for animals is not separate from an investigation; it is an essential component of it,” the letter states.
Bradigan worries that with humane organizations involved in investigations being excluded from housing livestock, law enforcement won’t have anywhere else to put them. As a result, they may need to stay on their original property regardless of the conditions.
“Currently, the police officers will use our veterinarians to do assessments,” said Bradigan. “The animals will stay here and we care for them.”
State Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, who represents Enfield, along with nine other Upper Valley towns in the New Hampshire Senate, opposes the new amendment to SB475.
“It could drag the effort down, and that’s really the big problem here,” said Prentiss.
While Prentiss sees the need for fostering, she cannot support the bill with the impacts to livestock investigations because it makes intervention harder and adds procedural barriers for humane officers, she said.
“The cruelty bill could actually provide more cruelty in the way that it’s shaped,” said Prentiss.
Since the amendment to SB475 on May 14 by the House to include language about livestock cruelty investigations, the Senate is left with a complicated decision. It could choose either to kill the bill in its entirety, pass it along to Ayotte for final determination or request for a Committee of Conference, said Prentiss.
This committee, with appointees by the Senate president Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, and speaker of the House Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, would work toward an agreement on the bill, which could involve removing the language of HB1766.
As of Monday, the amended bill had not yet reached the Senate for consideration.
