Each day those of us involved with Noah's Ark Humane Society start our day with one express purpose: to do the most good for the most people and pets. For over 20 years we've had wonderful support from the community and from our dedicated team. But over the past two years we've been challenged mightily by the nationwide shortage of veterinarians.

If you've experienced a veterinary emergency, I'd bet you've experienced this shortage. Even with financial resources, it can be a real challenge to get your pet help. Without a "blank check", it's virtually impossible to get help when your pet needs it. Life is exponentially more difficult when you're poor. 

What would you do?......  

◆Precious Charlie, a 6 month old Shih Tzu puppy whose mom has been searching for him for hours. Finally she hears something and realizes he had been swept up and seriously injured when she accidentally closed him into the recliner's foot rest. 

◆Animal Services runs in with a small dog in a coma. Sheriff's department officers stopped a suspected drug offender, they discovered the four legged passenger on the back seat of the suspect's car.

◆Scooby Dee, a Great Dane, needs to go somewhere today.... and there's a problem with her eye. 

◆Mason waited six months in our county's shelter for a new home. He finally gets his wish and goes to a great, loving home....  but now his head is swelling, seemingly getting bigger by the hour.

◆Animal Services checks on a house where many, many dogs are reported to have been abandoned for weeks. Most of the dogs were able to jump out of windows and forage for things to eat outdoors .... except one sweet boy with a fractured leg and pelvis. He couldn't jump and now he's emaciated. 

◆A kitty we name "Jar Jar Binx" is brought in on an emergency basis. Found by a Good Samaritan, Jar Jar's head has been trapped in a jar for some extended period of time. She's debilitated and the wounds left by the jar are considerable. 

◆Sometime during the lunch hour a small, broken dog appears in our parking lot. Although he appears to be hobbling, staff have a bit of a challenge catching the little guy. When he's finally corralled, we discover that not only does he stink to high heaven, but both his front legs are broken. 

◆A lovely, but exasperated woman calls our office mid-day Friday the 13th of October. She describes having worked the phones 8+ hours on Thursday and several hours on Friday calling every vet's office from Atlanta to Blue Ridge to Murphy without success. An injured dog has wandered onto her property and she can get no one to help the dog before she heads back to her Florida home.

And on and on it goes, hundreds of calls for help coming in throughout the year.  We're stepping up when no one else can or will.

The shortage of veterinarians, and veterinary nurses has been one of the many factors driving up prices for veterinary medicine - particularly for specialty and emergency care. Our Angel Fund has been a literal life saver over and over again, helping hundreds of families throughout our region. 

Here's how Noah's Ark Humane Society helps:

We facilitate low cost spay/neuter:  In just the past five years we've sterilized nearly 5,000 cats and dogs at our low cost clinics. Now we're partnering with Tri-State Spay Neuter Clinic in Murphy to provide even more access to care. 

Since establishing ourselves in Western North Carolina in 2004, we've offered services geared to curbing pet overpopulation. Our county Animal Services is on track to take in 2,000 dogs and cats this year. They have an incredibly small, but dedicated, staff and very little operating budget. Without our high volume clinics,  hundreds more puppies and kittens would be born with no where to go. 

We help hundreds of families each year with essential services ranging from routine to lifesaving. We're also a year round source for effective and affordable solutions for parasite control.

Vital Support to Macon County Animal Services: The county's budget to care for sick and injured pets brought to Animal Services is $10,000 for the entire year, that's $5 per pet brought into the shelter. Noah's Ark Humane Society is a vital partner for our county's Animal Services, and a lifeline for many of the pets who end up there.  In 2023 we spent nearly $30,000 caring for seriously injured dogs and cats taken in by Animal Services. We evaluate, treat, rehabilitate and prepare these pets for adoption. When ready, we transfer them to an adoption partner. 

Overall, Noah's Ark Humane Society invested $130,000 to make life better for pets and their people in 2023. 

We'd like to help more families! Can we count on you?

The work we do would simply not be possible without the donations we receive from those of you we call Noah's Angels. Only together can we make Western North Carolina an even more beautiful and humane place to live.