Humane Society — then and now
By Hollie Gowen
Special to The Star-Herald
In 1966, LBJ was president. The Vietnam War raged. The country’s space race with the USSR was in full swing. And in our corner of the world, the Central Aroostook Humane Society was just getting its start.
Two dozen people came together at the Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 3, 1966, with the idea that an animal rescue organization was needed. The Star City Humane Society was soon born to serve Presque Isle.
Through the years, the organization has undergone many changes.
An obvious example is its renaming to the Central Aroostook Humane Society, as it expanded its service area to other cities and towns in the County.
And, of course, there was no physical shelter in the very beginning. After many years in a city-owned building, as well as many years of fund-raising, the current shelter opened in 1992.
A 1993 Humane Society newsletter highlights another change. It gives the animal intake statistics for the previous year: 2,213 dogs and cats. In 2011, the shelter took in 987 dogs and cats (plus several dozen rabbits and other critters).
It is heartening to see the numbers decline so much in less than 20 years. Staff attribute this to more public awareness of the importance of spaying and neutering pets.
But as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
There are still not enough homes for all the animals available for adoption. There are still too many owners who don’t spay/neuter their pets. And there is still a constant struggle to make ends meet financially at the shelter.
The Humane Society is an independent, non-profit organization with no ties to any national animal group. Fund-raising and donations are a crucial part of keeping the doors open — just as they have always been.
The Paws for the Cause Walk, an annual event that will be held this year on Saturday, May 19, has been one of the successful fundraisers tried through the decades.
Carolyn Cheney, a Humane Society board member for 34 years, remembers lots of bake sales, yard sales and car washes too. But she has a special fondness for the telethons the organization tried in the 1980s.
“We were always poor — oh, so poor — we figured a telethon would bring us money, but we were afraid to be live on TV, so we taped it,” Cheney said. “We’d get all prettied up and bathe the animals, and we’d take turns talking about the animals and membership and ways to support the shelter.”
The group would tape it one day, and then spend the next few days advertising it before it finally aired. Cheney laughed when recalling that they never promoted it as being a “live” telethon, but people tended to assume it was.
“When it aired, we’d sit up at the shelter and take the phone calls,” she said. “The problem was if we showed a certain dog, then people would call and say, ‘I want that dog.’ But it might have been adopted by then.”
Telethons are a thing of the past for the Humane Society, but the group is always looking for new ways to raise money and get people more involved with the shelter.
In 2010, the all-volunteer Friends of Central Aroostook Humane Society was started. The group keeps in touch via e-mail, and “friends” pitch in with fund-raising events and serve as goodwill ambassadors for the shelter out in the community. Anyone interested in joining should send an e-mail to FriendsofCAHS@yahoo.com.
The next several years are sure to be busy for the Humane Society as it looks to the future and its 50th anniversary in 2016. But no matter what changes may come, one thing is for certain: As long as there are lost, abandoned or unwanted animals in this area, the Central Aroostook Humane Society, with the help of its supporters, will be here to care for them.
