Information and Resources
No Kill vs. Kill Shelters
Because of intensive spay/neuter programs most of New England’s shelters are No Kill. That is not so in other parts of the country. Promoting intensive spay/neuter programs throughout the rest of the country and making every effort to bring animals in kill shelters to rescues and shelters that do not kill and ultimately make sure they have wonderful, forever homes. This does not always happen. Too many times healthy, wonderful, loving animals are euthanized for space in the shelters they find themselves in. We have to work harder to help them. The animals deserve this.
Farm Animals
Maine Farm Animals and Its Partner Delas are the ones we deal with in Maine and Live and Let Live Farm Sanctuary in New Hampshire. There are, of course, many others which are also worthy.
Peace Ridge Sanctuary
https://peaceridgesanctuary.org
Darroby Farm Sanctuary
https://darrowby.raisely.com/
New England Farm Sanctuary
https://newenglandanimalsanctuary.org/
Sanctuary at Maple Hill Farms Inc
Auburn, ME · (207) 376-7583
The Farm Animal Rescue of Maine
South Berwick, ME · (207) 698-0159
Graze in Peace
Durham, ME
https://grazeinpeace.com/
Tomten Farm and Sanctuary
https://tomtenfarmandsanctuary.org/
Bark and Bray Farm Animal Sanctuary
https://www.barkandbrayfarm.org/
Wilmont, NH (603) 748-4481
Animal Rescue Service
Haverhill, NH · (603) 989-5800
Amazing Grace Animal Sanctuary
https://amazinggraceanimalsanctuary.org/
Mice and Rats
https://mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/
In Times of Disaster
York County Cart (County Animal Response Team) trains for rescue of animals in all kinds of disaster-including farm animals. To find other CARTs throughout Maine you can go to Maine Emergency Management www.maine.gov<mema to find out who to contact in your area.
New Hampshire DART (Disaster Animal Response Team) to learn about what is happening in your area call (603) 271-7200 or www.newhampshireresponds.org
Companion animals, excluding horses and perhaps other farm animal pets who will be moved to an area appropriate for large animals, often will go to the largest building in the area which is usually the area high school. With a tech department added to the rest of the school companion animals are often housed there while their people are housed in the rest of the building. They are then under the same roof. (The American Red Cross will not allow animals to be housed in the same spot as people because of allergies which people may have which could cause a disaster within a disaster.) It’s important to bring dogs on a leash and cats, rabbits and other small animals in a carrier. Bring food and medical records for each animal, particularly rabies shot information.
Missing Animals In Maine connect with Maine Lost Cat Recovery and Maine Lost Dog Recovery on Facebook.
Likewise in New Hampshire connect with Granite State Lost Dog Recovery and Cat Finders: Lost/Found Cats in NH.
Be sure to contact your ACO and if you are missing an animal check all the shelters in the area and continue to do so repeatedly. An ACO once told people to go to the same spot at the same time each evening after the birds stop singing and start calling. This is often helpful. There are also lots of helpful bits of information provided by people who constantly check those sites.
Spay/Neuter Info
Almost Home Rescue of New England
S. Portland, Maine
www.AlmostHomeRescue.net
Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland
Westbrook, Maine
www.ARLGP.org
Animal Welfare Society
Kennebunk, Maine
www.AnimalWelfareSociety.org
Another Chance Animal Rescue
Sanford, Maine
www.AnotherChanceAnimalRescue.org
Bangor Humane Society
Bangor , Maine
www.BangorHumane.org
Catahoula Rescue of New England
Warren, Maine
www.NEHoulaRescue.com
Community Cat Advocates
Bridgton, Maine
www.Facebook.com/CommunityCatAdvocates
Community Spay-Neuter Clinic
Topsham, Maine
www.CommunitySpayNeuterClinic.com
Greater Androscoggin Humane Society
Lewiston, Maine
www.SavingPetsinMaine.org
Halfway Home Pet Rescue
Caribou, Maine
www.HalfwayHomePetRescue.org
Homeless Animal Rescue Team
Cumberland, Maine
www.HARTofME.com
Houton Humane Society
Houlton, Maine
www.HoultonHumaneSociety.org
Humane Society of Waterville Area
Waterville, Maine
www.HSWA.org
Kennebec Valley Humane Society
Augusta, Maine
www.PetHavenLane.org
Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals
Windham, Maine
www.MSSPA.org
Midcoast Humane
Brunswick, Maine & Edgecomb, Maine
www. MidcoastHumane.org
New England Lab Rescue
www.NewEnglandLabRescue.org
PAWS Animal Adoption Center
Camden, Maine
www.pawscares.org
Paws Animal Welfare Society
Ft. Kent Mills, Maine
www.OurValleyPaws.org
PAWS Brave Hearts
Calais, Maine
www.Paws-Calais.com
Pope Memorial HS of Knox County
Thomaston, Maine
www.popehumane.org
Puppy Love
Harpswell, Maine
www.PuppyLoveMe.org
Safe Haven Humane Society
Wells, Maine
www.SafeHavenHumaneSociety.org
Somerset Humane Society
Skowhegan, Maine
www.SHSAnimalShelter.com
SPCA of Hancock County
Trenton , Maine
www.SPCAHancockCounty.org
Spirits Place
St. Albans, Maine
Spirits Place Facebook Page
Tall Tails Beagle Rescue
Freeport, Maine
www.TallTailsBeagleRescue.org
Voice for Animals
Harrison, Maine
www.VoiceForAnimals.net
Voice for Animals can be found on Facebook in two places:
Voice for Animals of Maine and New Hampshire and
VFA Maine + New Hampshire United Against Puppy Mills
New Hampshire Federation of Humane Organizations
https://www.nhfho.org/
Above the Notch Humane Society, Franconia
Animal Rescue Network of New England, Pelham
Animal Rescue League of NH, Bedford
FrFFPope Memorial SPCA, Concord
Rolling Dog Farm, Lancaster
Salem Animal Rescue League, Salem
Spicy Cats Rescue, Exeter
Upper Valley Humane Society, Enfield
We Are Animal Guardians WAG, Peterborough
Voice for Animals has connected with these two shelters
River Valley Animal Advocates based in Canton, Maine-they used to be part of VFA, and The Russell County Shelter based in Phoenix, Alabama (The person we connect with there used to live in South Berwick and connected with many local rescues while there.)
Vegan Recipes We have many members who are happy to share these recipes with you. Just contact us! [email protected]
Some Nonprofits That Deal with Animal Research
White Coat Waste Project
https://act.whitecoatwasteproject.org
Center for Humane Economy
www.centerforhumaneeconomy.org
Beagle Freedom Project
https://bfp.org
Many, many beagles are used in research because they are docile and forgiving. Beagle Freedom Project rescues other animals, too.
Animal Rescue in Countries Torn By War and the Dog and Cat Meat Trade
Humane Society International
https://www.hsi.org
Rescue around the world
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
https://www.ifaw.org
Soi Dog Foundation
https://www.soidog.org
Asian Dog Meat Trade
Sulala Animal Rescue
https://www.facebook.com/SulalaSociety
Rescue in Gaza
Cats
The letter to the editor below will explain the issue.
To the Editor:
The Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk is the closest shelter to Kittery, Eliot, and York so it may come as a surprise to some that strays from those three towns are brought to the Kittery Animal Hospital which has had a contractual agreement with them that has been in place for many years. Last fall the KAH contacted me saying they had seen no cats from any of the three towns show up there in months and asking if I could find out what was (or wasn’t) happening.
Before I go further with this, I want to give you a little history of towns and their responsibility to cats. While towns must deal with all stray dogs, they do not legally have to have such a commitment to cats: they are only obligated to pick up sick and injured ones. I have been told by some people in animal rescue that this is true across the county and that ferrets have more rights than cats do.
The decision about whether to deal with cats or not is always made by the Chief of Police in each town and if the town has no police department it will be made by the Town Manager. The interesting and decidedly sad part of this is that for whatever reason towns are not obligated to tell you about their decision. That is why I asked the humane agent (a step up from an ACO) for Cumberland and York counties, what she could find out. The answer unsurprisingly was NOTHING. Interestingly, even if all the townspeople want the town to deal with cats it still does not have to and it still doesn’t have to tell anyone about its decision.
I did eventually learn, quite by chance, that two towns would be working together going forward, dealing only with dogs, leaving cats to be dealt with by rescues in the area. I have not gotten definitive word from the third town but no stray cats are being brought in to KAH by them either. With this knowledge in mind, I researched the three-town area to see what rescues were working there and, not surprisingly, I found there were NONE. So that means that no rescues are available to take care of the cats and injured and sick ones are not being brought to KAH either. This leads to painful deaths for innocent cats and the creation of more feral colonies.
These state-sanctioned decisions regarding cats are outmoded, undemocratic, and certainly inhumane. If you are concerned about this, want more information, and want to get involved in changing this please contact me at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Caryl McIntire Edwards
President/Founder
Voice for Animals (www.voiceforanimals.net)
York is my hometown and Voice for Animals was founded because of my dealing with cats there. Ultimately, the town took over the job and promised to continue doing it going forward. Obviously that promise has not been kept.
Voice for Animals is looking for people in those three towns to join us by sitting in on selectboard meetings in their town and demanding and getting an ongoing documentable change.
The Mindel Foundation
The Mindel Foundation is a private foundation located in Flushing, NY that primarily funds charitable causes. Last year they made 19 unsolicited grants one of them was to Voice for Animals for $10,000.
Because of intensive spay/neuter programs most of New England’s shelters are No Kill. That is not so in other parts of the country. Promoting intensive spay/neuter programs throughout the rest of the country and making every effort to bring animals in kill shelters to rescues and shelters that do not kill and ultimately make sure they have wonderful, forever homes. This does not always happen. Too many times healthy, wonderful, loving animals are euthanized for space in the shelters they find themselves in. We have to work harder to help them. The animals deserve this.
Farm Animals
Maine Farm Animals and Its Partner Delas are the ones we deal with in Maine and Live and Let Live Farm Sanctuary in New Hampshire. There are, of course, many others which are also worthy.
Peace Ridge Sanctuary
https://peaceridgesanctuary.org
Darroby Farm Sanctuary
https://darrowby.raisely.com/
New England Farm Sanctuary
https://newenglandanimalsanctuary.org/
Sanctuary at Maple Hill Farms Inc
Auburn, ME · (207) 376-7583
The Farm Animal Rescue of Maine
South Berwick, ME · (207) 698-0159
Graze in Peace
Durham, ME
https://grazeinpeace.com/
Tomten Farm and Sanctuary
https://tomtenfarmandsanctuary.org/
Bark and Bray Farm Animal Sanctuary
https://www.barkandbrayfarm.org/
Wilmont, NH (603) 748-4481
Animal Rescue Service
Haverhill, NH · (603) 989-5800
Amazing Grace Animal Sanctuary
https://amazinggraceanimalsanctuary.org/
Mice and Rats
https://mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/
In Times of Disaster
York County Cart (County Animal Response Team) trains for rescue of animals in all kinds of disaster-including farm animals. To find other CARTs throughout Maine you can go to Maine Emergency Management www.maine.gov<mema to find out who to contact in your area.
New Hampshire DART (Disaster Animal Response Team) to learn about what is happening in your area call (603) 271-7200 or www.newhampshireresponds.org
Companion animals, excluding horses and perhaps other farm animal pets who will be moved to an area appropriate for large animals, often will go to the largest building in the area which is usually the area high school. With a tech department added to the rest of the school companion animals are often housed there while their people are housed in the rest of the building. They are then under the same roof. (The American Red Cross will not allow animals to be housed in the same spot as people because of allergies which people may have which could cause a disaster within a disaster.) It’s important to bring dogs on a leash and cats, rabbits and other small animals in a carrier. Bring food and medical records for each animal, particularly rabies shot information.
Missing Animals In Maine connect with Maine Lost Cat Recovery and Maine Lost Dog Recovery on Facebook.
Likewise in New Hampshire connect with Granite State Lost Dog Recovery and Cat Finders: Lost/Found Cats in NH.
Be sure to contact your ACO and if you are missing an animal check all the shelters in the area and continue to do so repeatedly. An ACO once told people to go to the same spot at the same time each evening after the birds stop singing and start calling. This is often helpful. There are also lots of helpful bits of information provided by people who constantly check those sites.
Spay/Neuter Info
- Help Fix ME
- Spay Maine
- Community Spay Neuter Clinic
- Bangor Humane Society Voucher Program
- Assisted Living for Seniors with Pets
Almost Home Rescue of New England
S. Portland, Maine
www.AlmostHomeRescue.net
Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland
Westbrook, Maine
www.ARLGP.org
Animal Welfare Society
Kennebunk, Maine
www.AnimalWelfareSociety.org
Another Chance Animal Rescue
Sanford, Maine
www.AnotherChanceAnimalRescue.org
Bangor Humane Society
Bangor , Maine
www.BangorHumane.org
Catahoula Rescue of New England
Warren, Maine
www.NEHoulaRescue.com
Community Cat Advocates
Bridgton, Maine
www.Facebook.com/CommunityCatAdvocates
Community Spay-Neuter Clinic
Topsham, Maine
www.CommunitySpayNeuterClinic.com
Greater Androscoggin Humane Society
Lewiston, Maine
www.SavingPetsinMaine.org
Halfway Home Pet Rescue
Caribou, Maine
www.HalfwayHomePetRescue.org
Homeless Animal Rescue Team
Cumberland, Maine
www.HARTofME.com
Houton Humane Society
Houlton, Maine
www.HoultonHumaneSociety.org
Humane Society of Waterville Area
Waterville, Maine
www.HSWA.org
Kennebec Valley Humane Society
Augusta, Maine
www.PetHavenLane.org
Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals
Windham, Maine
www.MSSPA.org
Midcoast Humane
Brunswick, Maine & Edgecomb, Maine
www. MidcoastHumane.org
New England Lab Rescue
www.NewEnglandLabRescue.org
PAWS Animal Adoption Center
Camden, Maine
www.pawscares.org
Paws Animal Welfare Society
Ft. Kent Mills, Maine
www.OurValleyPaws.org
PAWS Brave Hearts
Calais, Maine
www.Paws-Calais.com
Pope Memorial HS of Knox County
Thomaston, Maine
www.popehumane.org
Puppy Love
Harpswell, Maine
www.PuppyLoveMe.org
Safe Haven Humane Society
Wells, Maine
www.SafeHavenHumaneSociety.org
Somerset Humane Society
Skowhegan, Maine
www.SHSAnimalShelter.com
SPCA of Hancock County
Trenton , Maine
www.SPCAHancockCounty.org
Spirits Place
St. Albans, Maine
Spirits Place Facebook Page
Tall Tails Beagle Rescue
Freeport, Maine
www.TallTailsBeagleRescue.org
Voice for Animals
Harrison, Maine
www.VoiceForAnimals.net
Voice for Animals can be found on Facebook in two places:
Voice for Animals of Maine and New Hampshire and
VFA Maine + New Hampshire United Against Puppy Mills
New Hampshire Federation of Humane Organizations
https://www.nhfho.org/
Above the Notch Humane Society, Franconia
Animal Rescue Network of New England, Pelham
Animal Rescue League of NH, Bedford
FrFFPope Memorial SPCA, Concord
Rolling Dog Farm, Lancaster
Salem Animal Rescue League, Salem
Spicy Cats Rescue, Exeter
Upper Valley Humane Society, Enfield
We Are Animal Guardians WAG, Peterborough
Voice for Animals has connected with these two shelters
River Valley Animal Advocates based in Canton, Maine-they used to be part of VFA, and The Russell County Shelter based in Phoenix, Alabama (The person we connect with there used to live in South Berwick and connected with many local rescues while there.)
Vegan Recipes We have many members who are happy to share these recipes with you. Just contact us! [email protected]
Some Nonprofits That Deal with Animal Research
White Coat Waste Project
https://act.whitecoatwasteproject.org
Center for Humane Economy
www.centerforhumaneeconomy.org
Beagle Freedom Project
https://bfp.org
Many, many beagles are used in research because they are docile and forgiving. Beagle Freedom Project rescues other animals, too.
Animal Rescue in Countries Torn By War and the Dog and Cat Meat Trade
Humane Society International
https://www.hsi.org
Rescue around the world
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
https://www.ifaw.org
Soi Dog Foundation
https://www.soidog.org
Asian Dog Meat Trade
Sulala Animal Rescue
https://www.facebook.com/SulalaSociety
Rescue in Gaza
Cats
The letter to the editor below will explain the issue.
To the Editor:
The Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk is the closest shelter to Kittery, Eliot, and York so it may come as a surprise to some that strays from those three towns are brought to the Kittery Animal Hospital which has had a contractual agreement with them that has been in place for many years. Last fall the KAH contacted me saying they had seen no cats from any of the three towns show up there in months and asking if I could find out what was (or wasn’t) happening.
Before I go further with this, I want to give you a little history of towns and their responsibility to cats. While towns must deal with all stray dogs, they do not legally have to have such a commitment to cats: they are only obligated to pick up sick and injured ones. I have been told by some people in animal rescue that this is true across the county and that ferrets have more rights than cats do.
The decision about whether to deal with cats or not is always made by the Chief of Police in each town and if the town has no police department it will be made by the Town Manager. The interesting and decidedly sad part of this is that for whatever reason towns are not obligated to tell you about their decision. That is why I asked the humane agent (a step up from an ACO) for Cumberland and York counties, what she could find out. The answer unsurprisingly was NOTHING. Interestingly, even if all the townspeople want the town to deal with cats it still does not have to and it still doesn’t have to tell anyone about its decision.
I did eventually learn, quite by chance, that two towns would be working together going forward, dealing only with dogs, leaving cats to be dealt with by rescues in the area. I have not gotten definitive word from the third town but no stray cats are being brought in to KAH by them either. With this knowledge in mind, I researched the three-town area to see what rescues were working there and, not surprisingly, I found there were NONE. So that means that no rescues are available to take care of the cats and injured and sick ones are not being brought to KAH either. This leads to painful deaths for innocent cats and the creation of more feral colonies.
These state-sanctioned decisions regarding cats are outmoded, undemocratic, and certainly inhumane. If you are concerned about this, want more information, and want to get involved in changing this please contact me at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Caryl McIntire Edwards
President/Founder
Voice for Animals (www.voiceforanimals.net)
York is my hometown and Voice for Animals was founded because of my dealing with cats there. Ultimately, the town took over the job and promised to continue doing it going forward. Obviously that promise has not been kept.
Voice for Animals is looking for people in those three towns to join us by sitting in on selectboard meetings in their town and demanding and getting an ongoing documentable change.
The Mindel Foundation
The Mindel Foundation is a private foundation located in Flushing, NY that primarily funds charitable causes. Last year they made 19 unsolicited grants one of them was to Voice for Animals for $10,000.
