One of this month’s 10 animal shelters we are donating to is the Maui Humane Society. After reading their email nominating the shelter, we were thrilled to be able to donate to help them out! 

About Maui Humane Society

Maui Humane Society is the only animal shelter on the island of Maui.  They are an open admission shelter, which means they accept any animal in need no matter what their age or medical condition.  They care for over 4000 animals a year through surrenders, strays and medical emergencies.  

Their facility is not large enough to care for the number of animals they receive. Due to the geographical constraints of being on an island, they don’t have the convenient option of driving animals to nearby shelters when we’re full.  Maui Humane Society has created a robust foster network to help manage the overflow of animals and a transfer program called Wings of Aloha.  This program sends approx. 800 animals to the Pacific Northwest every year, ensuring that every healthy and adoptable animal has a positive outcome. 

How The Covid-19 Pandemic Affected The Shelter

The Covid-19 pandemic affected Maui Humane Society especially hard. The island’s economy is based on tourism, so as all the hotels, restaurants and airline routes closed down, they were faced with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Maui Humane Society had to close to the public and pause all veterinary elective surgery. 

Their staff divided into two teams working 2 weeks on/off to ensure that a COVID infection didn’t wipe out their entire staff.  Anticipating a surge in animal intake from COVID+ homes, they created space in the shelter by placing 310 animals into foster homes within the first two weeks of the pandemic. They responded to their economically distressed community by creating a pet food bank program and have distributed over 10 tons of pet food over the last 8 months. 

A major impact of the pandemic has been to their fundraising efforts as they had to cancel all public events.. They continue to see an increase in animals who are surrendered due to an owner’s lack of ability to pay for veterinary bills. If you would like to help the Maui Humane Society, you can make an individual donation to the shelter here.

To view the full list of shelters we donated to last month – check out our most recent donations blog post.  Do you know of a shelter in need of some extra support? Send an email to blog@cuddleclones.com and tell us more about them for a chance to be one of the 10 shelters selected for next month’s donations! Thank you!