Polk County Humane Society: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We were able to find homes for 22 dogs thanks to the reduced-fee adoptions provided by the Kia Pet Adoption Grant. Ten of the dogs were dogs who had been in our care for the longest time. Two had been in our care over a year. Twelve of the dogs were puppies who were "aging out" in our care after being with us for months.

How many pets did this grant help?

22

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Butterball (first photo) is a beautiful girl. She is a terrier mix who was part of a group of 14 dogs left without food or water in a remote rural area of St. Clair County, Missouri.

Volunteers drove an hour each way to take food and water to neighbors to try to keep them fed. The case was investigated by the Missouri Animal Cruelty Task Force and, in the end, it was determined to be just a sad case of a woman whose husband had died and she had been hospitalized for depression, leaving the dogs behind.

The Humane Society of Missouri asked for help and Polk County Humane Society stepped up to take two dogs. One was Butterball. She was very, very timid. Even experienced staff couldn’t approach her or get her on a leash for a few months. She warmed up to people very slowly, if at all. How she would get adopted was a mystery.

Then, with the help of the Petfinder Foundation Kia grant, the reduced adoption fee got Butterball some interest. It was as if she knew it was her time. Instead of cowering when her potential new family came to meet her, she ran right up to them! Staff were amazed. It was one of those cases where the dog picked the family.

Here is what her adopters wrote a few weeks later: “I wanted to email you all and tell you what Butterball has been up to. She was very timid and shy on day one, but by day three she began running around and playing.

“She is starting to interact more with her doggy brother, Jack, whom we adopted from Claws and Paws in Lebanon three years ago. Jack is a bit jealous of having to share the attention, but they have not been aggressive at all towards each other.

“Butterball loves the kids and playing, and has been doing well when we go for our walks. We are happy we were able to bring her home because she is pretty great. Thank you all so much for all you do.” Photo 2 shows Butterball with her adopters and photo 3 shows her at home.

Tot was one of eight puppies surrendered at 8 weeks old after having been neglected for the first two months of their lives. All were black: part black-mouth cur and part bully breed. Four of Tot’s brothers were transferred to a rescue in Minnesota.

Tot and her sisters had very few people show interest in them for months. Changes in their profiles, updated pictures, social-media posts, features in the newspaper — nothing seemed to work.

Thankfully for the girls, the Petfinder Foundation Kia grant was the key. Tot and her three sisters (Roxy, Precious, and Mini) were all adopted at 8 months old with reduced adoption fees! Attached are the pictures of Tot (fourth photo), her adopters (fifth photo) and their “happily ever after” post on the Polk County Humane Society Welcome Home Facebook page (sixth photo).