BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Humane Society (IHS) is the proud recipient of a $200,000 grant from The Rachael Ray Foundation™ to provide veterinary care to transfer animals received by the Idaho Humane Society from outside organizations. IHS currently transfers in an average of 1300 animals annually from various under-resourced, over-capacity source shelters including our Idaho partners, and others including California, Texas, Utah, Arizona, Montana and Nevada.
2020 is the third year that IHS has received financial support from The Rachel Ray Foundation to support its program to transfer pets from other animal welfare organizations needing veterinary care.
This is a tremendous opportunity to provide veterinary care to the most neglected and often euthanized animals at shelters suffering from treatable medical conditions which require expensive and often specialized veterinary surgical care. IHS is in a unique position to not only address these medical needs with our Shelter Medical Center, but also with our robust foster care program.
IHS employs a large number of veterinarians with extensive medical and surgical capabilities. In particular, the hospital has developed capabilities to address many types of orthopedic injuries as well as soft tissue surgeries. Because IHS has the ability to provide these surgeries internally without depending on outsourcing to external veterinary specialist hospitals, they are able to greatly reduce the cost of these procedures making them accessible to shelter dogs and cats.
The first recipients of this recent gift are nearly 30 dogs coming from shelters in Texas, transported by Dog is My Copilot. Some of the pets on this transport who will receive care due to the gift from The Foundation include Freddie, who has a forelimb fracture; Aria, who is suffering with a fractured pelvis; and Justice, who has a severe case of dermatitis. All the orthopedic surgeries and medical care will take place in our Shelter Medical Center thanks to this grant.
“Idaho Humane Society has extended the reach of our donor supported life-saving programs to positively impact the lives of pets well beyond our region. We are extremely grateful for this critical support from The Rachel Ray Foundation to save hundreds of pets from under resourced animal shelters and rescue organizations that otherwise would not receive the care they deserve” said CEO, Jeff Rosenthal, DVM.
