Margaret Varner wants people to know that humane societies are more than the sad Sarah McLaughlin song that plays during U.S. Humane Society commercials.

“We try to share our happy stories,” she said. “Yeah, there’s sad stories but (people) know sadness is there, so why push that? Let’s say what your donation is doing for an animal in the community.”

Varner has been working at Rogue Valley Humane Society (RVHS) for 18 years and is now executive director. The shelter specializes in prenatal puppies and kittens, and operates like a sanctuary. It is also one of around 60 rural shelters in Oregon that the Oregon Humane Society (OHS) works with in its Second Chance Program, which helps treat and move animals to areas with a higher population of adopters.

Mia Heaslet, Second Chance Program manager, said the program helps to alleviate the variety of challenges that rural humane societies face, particularly with medical access and connecting animals to a larger adopting population.

“If you’re in Pendleton or La Grande, there are fewer people to physically adopt,” she explained.

Despite the collaboration, there are still issues that rural shelters are combatting, which were magnified during the pandemic.

“When COVID first started, animals were flying out the door. We couldn’t keep them in,” Varner said. “As we started opening back up and people were going to work, animals were getting surrendered back and we had a huge influx.”

Heaslet added that she’s also seen more puppies than ever in local, rural communities, particularly in Southern Oregon.

With more animals coming in, shelters are also being hit hard by staffing shortages. Varner said many in the industry are suffering from compassion fatigue, but the ripple effect extends further to veterinarians.

“Some clinics that rural shelters relied on for their spay/neuter services just aren’t keeping up as much anymore with the demands from the community as well,” Heaslet said. “That can lead to a back up so that animal needs to be in their care for two months longer.”

For the Humane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue (HSEOPR), a family run animal shelter, the number one challenge is funding and resources.

“For instance, in Umatilla County we don’t have animal control,” Beau Putnam, whose wife’s grandmother built the shelter, said. “Here it’s left up to the landowners to deal with the animal crisis.”

To help combat these challenges, Putnam said preventive measures like spaying and neutering pets or putting an identification tag on the animal is important.

It’s also crucial to support shelters on a local level. Putnam said they are fighting the major misconception that if an animal is in a shelter there is something wrong with them.

“A lot of people come in and are sad for the animals,” he said. “But the most rewarding thing is when those animals get adopted and you see how happy people are. I get emails years later showing me photos of the dogs they adopted and how they’re doing.

Aliya Hall is a freelance writer from Portland.