Upcoming Events
Training for a Cause
Week of January 14 | Pre-register for 20+ sessions
Join us for a 50-minute training session at Wilcox Wellness & Fitness and workout for you and the animals at Midcoast Humane. Bring a $20 donation or items from our wish list.
Details at right. @Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, 275 Bath Road, Brunswick
Kitten Yoga with Jai Yoga
Friday, January 18 | 6:30-7:45 pm
Exactly what it sounds like: yoga with kittens.
Details at right. @Jai Yoga, Fort Andross, 14 Maine Street, Brunswick
Coastal Clinic at Cumberland Town Hall
Saturday, January 19 | 9-11 am
Low-cost rabies vaccinations, microchipping, nail-trimming, and ear cleaning. Learn more
here.
@Cumberland Town Hall, 290 Tuttle Rd., Cumberland
Special Adoption Event!
Saturday, January 19 | 10 am-2 pm
A community adoption event with kittens, dogs, and cats at the Wiscasset Community Center.
@242 Gardiner Road, Wiscasset
Kitten Yoga with Jai Yoga
Wednesday, January 30 | 5:30-6:45 pm
Exactly what it sounds like: yoga with kittens.
Details at right. @Jai Yoga, Fort Andross, 14 Maine Street, Brunswick
Kitten Bowl III
Saturday, February 2 | 10-11 am Live-streamed game, adoptions beginning at noon.
Our kitten football game is back... see article for de-tails.
@Midcoast Humane Brunswick Campus, 30 Range Road, Brunswick.
Special Adoption Event!
Saturday, February 9 | 10 am - 2 pm
A community adoption event with dozens of cuties looking for new homes.
@Boothbay Region YMCA, 261 Townsend Ave, Boothbay Harbor
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2018 BY THE NUMBERS
Another banner year is on the books! We've looked at 2018 by the numbers and are proud to report:
3,371
Total intakes (1,837 cats, 1,340 dogs, 194 small animals)
151
Cats returned to their owners
278 Dogs
returned to their owner
10,008 Vaccines
administered to animals in the shelter
1,932
Surgeries on shelter animals (includes spays and neuters)
98.5%
Live Release Rate for dogs
97%
Live Release Rate for cats
Stay tuned for more news about our impact in our Annual Report, due out later this winter!
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A SPECIAL LETTER FROM TRENDY STANCHFIELD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Hello friends!
Midcoast Humane has had quite a year…we have a lot to be thankful for!
A few 2018 highlights include:
Completed the merger
of two great organizations and created
one agency
with
one mission
to make life better for animals and people in our community. Our rebranding, the final piece of our integration, was made possible because of a generous donation from Joe and Buffy Quinn, longtime friends of this agency and thought partners in our work.
Restructured our operations team
for a team approach to our work. We now have an Adoptions Manager (Sarah Murray), Intake Manager (Kate Cochran), Community Programs Manager (Kate Griffith), and Clinic Manager (Asheley Simpson). Splitting the duties among many chairs will allow more focus on each area to give every part of our agency the needed resources to stabilize and maintain our solid procedures.
Implemented
Phase I
of becoming a mobile and nimble partner throughout our 40 communities
through satellite adoption centers, community-based vaccination clinics, mobile adoption events, and “on the road” Humane Education initiatives throughout our communities.
All of this work wouldn’t be possible without all of you!
So what can you expect to see in 2019?
Continued refining
of our new business model to ensure we are getting it right!
A strategic interweaving of volunteer labor
throughout the agency to best allow us to grow in the ways we need to without additional expense.
Additional growth of community partnerships
that benefit us AND the community.
After a year, I can begin to tell my own story about the work that Midcoast Humane does. I’ve met and have been able to handle some of the nearly 3,500 animals we serve, and I continue to be in awe of my coworkers and volunteer friends that spend numerous hours feeding, hugging, and training abandoned and rescued animals. I feel the heartache when we lose the battle with sickness, or when the most loving dog has lived in a kennel for over a year and we don’t know when they will find a home. I know the anger when a court forces us to give an animal back to an undeserving owner, or a stray returned to an unsafe home.
But luckily, I also get to see the sheer joy on everyone’s faces when an animal gets adopted. The feeling in the shelter when alumni come to visit with their new family, or when one of our long term dogs or cats finally finds their forever home.
This last year has been an amazing, emotional, overwhelmingly wonderful experience that I will never be able to put into words fully. Thank you all for being a part of it.
Trendy
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The Holidays Are Over. Time to Get in Shape - and Support our Pets!
We are thrilled to celebrate the grand opening of Wilcox Wellness & Fitness Brunswick as their charity of choice. Why Midcoast Humane? Owner Allison Hopkins is a huge animal lover and has rescued several animals throughout her lifetime.
During the week of January 14, Wilcox Wellness & Fitness will offer 50-minute training sessions to support Midcoast Humane. They hope to bring in new clients while helping to raise awareness about the great work here at Midcoast Humane. To participate, they are asking for donations (our top needed items, or a monetary donation of $20, all of which will come back to us).
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Wilcox Wellness & Fitness Brunswick offers group and personal training to individuals looking for support to build long-term health and fitness habits both inside and outside of the gym. Midcoast Humane will benefit from the personal training facility’s mission, and is currently a beneficiary of 20+ charity training sessions that are open to the public.
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KITTEN YOGA
Midcoast Humane and
Jai Yoga
invite you to an all-smiles event:
Kitten Yoga!
Join us for an all-levels yoga class featuring an adorable crew of kittens from Midcoast Humane. Connect with your inner feline! Prance, pounce, play and purr through a spirited yoga class offered in Jai Yoga's Sun Studio at Fort Andross in downtown Brunswick at 14 Maine Street, Suite 314.
The kittens get important socialization, and the humans get smiles and warm-fuzzies from yoga with kittens. All proceeds benefit the important work of Midcoast Humane.
Suggested donation $25.
We have two sessions scheduled, but be on the lookout for more! Sign up now:
The Kitten Bowl All-Stars will be making their debut in Kitten Yoga! These kitties will be playing in our third annual Kitten Bowl on February 2. They will be available for adoption after the big game.
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Peanut Butter... Working Miracles at Our Shelter Since 1950
We don't know exactly why, but peanut butter could be our most effective training and enrichment tool. Intake Supervisor Brittney Kunst ruminates on the subject in our latest blog post.
Read the whole thing here.
"The most sought after in-kind donations at animal shelters are typically linens, food, litter, and treats. While these contributions are absolutely essential to caring for our 3,500 animals a year, there is a wide variety of household items on our
wish list
that make excellent donations–some you might not expect. Canned tuna, spices, scents, bleach, dish soap, laundry detergent, office supplies, and paper plates are used daily at Midcoast Humane. But one of the most valuable and most loved donation items at our shelter is one that probably isn’t the first to come to mind:
peanut butter!"
continue reading
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Benton found his forever home in December, but not before he had ample taste of the peanutty goodness.
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The Sweetest Goodbyes
We rejoice, cry, jump for joy - sometimes all of the above - when any of our animals go home. But the animals we root for the most are the ones that have been with us the longest.
December saw a lot of adoptions of some of our long-termers, and it made our holidays VERY merry! (However, we do have
plenty more long-term pups still awaiting homes.)
One dog that brought us all to tears when he left was sweet, sweet Harvey. He'd had a rou
gh life. He came to us in May of 2018 in our Transport and Rescue Program, coming to Maine all the way from Blairsville, Georgia. He was one of 107 dogs rescued from two foreclosed properties in Polk County, Georgia, in a well-publicized cruelty case involving dog fighting. He was found tied to a tree, among the other dogs, with no water. He was under a year old at the time and had probably been born on the property, though, mercifully, he didn't bear any signs of dog fighting.
The average length of time a dog spends with us is 17.4 days. Harvey spent 218 days with us (not a record, but still much, much too long to stay at a shelter).
Because of his rough experience as a young pup, Harvey wasn't fond of other dogs or animals, and needed a very specific home with no other pets, and a family that would be patient with him. Finally, that person came in. After we made sure it was a good fit on both sides, the papers were signed and off he went, climbing joyfully into the driver's seat with his new mom, wearing an expression that clearly said, "Look at me, guys, I'm going home at last!"
Cue ugly crying. (We're in it for the ugly crying.) Staff and volunteers that cared for Harvey hugged him goodbye and stood around him and his new family, showering them with well-wishes for every happiness and lots of good toys.
They drove away, and we picked ourselves up off our icy parking lot pavement. Sharing broad smiles, we headed inside, back to the furry ones that need us.
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Do you have the time, patience and love for a long-term resident? Please give us a call. We can chat to see if we have someone special for you. You can reach us at 207-725-5051.
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Kitten Bowl III is February 2!
STUNNING FELINE ATHLETICISM! Catnip-filled footballs! Interceptions! Touchdowns! Floofing! Skitter-scatters, pouncies and prances! Kitten Bowl is back in a live-streamed event on Midcoast Humane’s Facebook page. The event is a collaboration with the
Hallmark Channel USA
and the North Shore Animal League. All the animals participating in the big game will go up for adoption when we open at noon! These are the pros of the NFFL (National Feline Football League).
The game streams on our Facebook page Saturday, February 2 from 10-11 am, and the kittens go up for adoption when we open at noon at our Brunswick Campus on 30 Range Road.
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Tune in to Midcoast Humane's 3rd Annual KITTEN BOWL Saturday, February 2 from 10-11 am on our Facebook page,
facebook.com/midcoasthumane
.
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NEW! Give a
Gift from the Heart
As you are looking into your list of gifts to make in 2019, consider a gift donation to Midcoast Humane! Give a personal and heartfelt gift to someone you love while helping Midcoast Humane provide homeless animals with life-saving veterinary care, safety, and comfort until they find forever homes.
Make your
Gift from the Heart
online, and you will receive an email with a link to print a gift donation card that you can use to let someone special know about your thoughtful gift. Print, personalize, deliver, done! You can feel good about your meaningful gift and take comfort in the knowledge that you’ve supported animals in need at the same time.
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Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program... Good for the Planet, Good for Animals!
Hannaford picked us! We're participating in the Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program throughout the month of January. For every reusable Community Bag purchased this month at the
Brunswick Hannaford
store, $1 will be donated to Midcoast Humane! The bag retails for just $2.50 and is located on the reusable bag rack and various registers. That's a win for the earth
and
a win for animals in our community.
The Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program is designed to support local non-profits through the sale of the Community Bag. Each month, a different non-profit is chosen at each participating store.
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If you do your shopping at Hannaford in Brunswick, stock up on reusable bags and support our critters!
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TOTES ADORBS
Where Are They Now?
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DODGE
Dodge's adopters wrote to tell us that the newest member of the family, now named Oslo, "has turned out to be an incredible friend both to us and our older border collie mix. They are inseparable and his addition to our family brings us constant joy. Thanks again!"
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MISTY
Misty's new family reports she is doing very well. In her new home, she is the only pet and keeps the family laughing. And she had a great first vet visit!
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Meet Ginny! Ginny is a playful and affectionate little girl with a moderate energy level. We think she is a Pit Bull mix, and our veterinarian, Dr. Pare, estimates she is 1-2 years old. Ginny was
abandoned
in the town of Washington along with three other dogs, who have already been adopted. Sweet Ginny is waiting for her turn! She is an enthusiastic learner (if you have treats) and she adores having her ears scratched. If you have any questions about Ginny, feel free to call us at (207) 725-5051, or stop by to meet this loving girl in person at our Brunswick Campus at 30 Range Road.
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Brunswick Campus
Adoption Center
30 Range Road, Brunswick
(207) 725-5051
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Edgecomb Campus
Animal Care Facility
27 Atlantic Highway, Edgecomb
(207) 882-9677
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Administrative Office
190 Pleasant Street, Brunswick
(207) 449-1366
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