The Anderson Humane Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the well-being of all animals. The Society's policies and programs are developed and overseen by a Board of Directors. All Directors serve voluntarily.

Anderson County and the City of Lawrenceburg fund animal shelter services. The Shelter is staffed with an office manager and multiple Animal Control Officers whose activities are overseen and directed by the Anderson County Fiscal Court. The Humane Society, although a separate entity, works in cooperation with Shelter employees in order to save as many lives as possible.

Other than temporarily sheltering lost, strayed, and abandoned animals, all other services are dependent upon donations, fundraising projects and, most importantly, on volunteers like you.

Services of the Humane Society
1. Identification and return of lost pets to their owners.
2. Satellite Adoptions to surrounding towns and communities as well as from the Adoption Center.
3. Emergency rescue and aid for injured animals.
4. Education in responsible pet ownership and in the proper care and treatment of pets.
5. Spay/Neuter programs to help reduce the suffering of unwanted animals.
6. Assisting local animal control in investigating allegations and reports of cruelty and neglect.
7. Aiding Animal Control in enforcement of county and state animal control ordinances.
8. Euthanasia program for terminally ill and injured animals, and for pets whom we cannot find a suitable home for adoption.

Why Euthanize?
Dogs and cats are domestic animals, but their ancestral roots are derived from the wild. They retain the nature of their ancestral past requiring the close knit socialization of the wolf pack for the dog and litter of the cat. Without a pack structure, these pets become highly stressed, despondent, and miserable. Without human intervention, stray pets will form packs, become feral, and pose a threat to the community since they have no fear of human contact.

The only viable solution for a stray, lost, or abandoned pet is for them to be adopted by a responsible human. These pets must have the companionship of a pack. In a human family, they have a surrogate pack that satisfies their nature and makes them a valuable member of our families.

Further, even if the Anderson Humane Society had unlimited funds and could afford to shelter and feed the hundreds of pets turned in to it each year, it is stressful and cruel to keep animals in cages and runs all day, day after day. Each sheltered pet waits and hopes for some attention. At the Adoption Center, you can see it in their eyes as you pass by them. They desperately want to belong to you and be a part of your family.

The volunteers of the Anderson Humane Society give these pets as much attention as possible-loving them, petting them, letting them run in our fenced exercise yard, and walking them. However, while we give them all the attention, love, and kindness possible, after a short time in a kennel the animal becomes depressed and despondent.

A peaceful, humane death is the kindest end for these poor, abandoned, and unwanted pets. The Humane Society euthanizes by lethal injection only, administered by local veterinarians.

How To Help
The solutions to the problem of unwanted pets and pet overpopulation are simple: First, spay or neuter your pet. Do not add to the problem...be a responsible pet owner. Until this is done though by a vast majority of pet owners, we will continue to have the needless deaths of unwanted pets.

Secondly, never purchase a pet...adopt a pet from a shelter or other rescue organization instead. Puppy mills frequently house dogs in shockingly poor conditions, particularly for the "breeding stock" animals who are caged and continually bred for years, without human companionship, and then killed, abandoned or sold to another "miller" after their fertility wanes. These adult dogs are bred repeatedly to produce litter after litter-without hope of ever becoming part of a family. The result is hundreds of thousands of puppies churned out each year for sale at pet stores, over the Internet, and through newspaper ads. This practice will end only when people stop buying these puppy mill puppies. Please don't buy from a pet store, and be very wary of websites and newspaper ads. Above all, don't ever buy a dog if you can't physically visit every area of the home or breeding facility where the dogs are kept. Puppy mills will continue to operate until people stop buying their dogs. We urge you to visit your local Humane Society, where you are likely to find dozens of healthy, well-socialized puppies and adult dogs-including purebreds-just waiting for that special home...yours.