Tri-Lakes Humane Society Admission Policy
Our shelter staff make every effort to maintain an "Open Door" policy to help protect the safety of the animals in our community. Animals from outside our community will be referred to an appropriate animal shelter, rescue group or Animal Control Officer in their area. We do offer courtesy postings and placement assistance through our shelter.
Animals from outside of our area may be considered for admission on a case-by-case basis by our Shelter Manager. Any animal that has been previously adopted from our shelter will always be re-admitted to the shelter regardless of where the current owner lives.
All stray/abandoned animals within our service area will be admitted immediately. Finders must fill out a Stray Animal Admission form upon arrival. No fees are required to turn in an animal found abandoned or as a stray. These animals will be held for a minimum of five days for the owner redemption period, as required by NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets laws Article 7 and Article 26. Animals left unclaimed at the end of the redemption period will be legally transferred to the Humane Society for adoption, or in rare cases humanely euthanized if an animal is deemed behaviorally dangerous or medically unfit for adoption.
Owners who need to surrender a pet will be interviewed by shelter staff regarding their situation. We generally have a waiting list for owner-surrendered animals and we do our best to help. Once we have more information about the animal, we will place an owner on the waiting list to take the animal into our shelter when:
- there is kennel space available
- the owner's circumstances become more urgent
- there is an agreed upon date
Staff members will also offer the following placement assistance services to owners in lieu of admission to the shelter whenever appropriate to the situation:
- listing the animal on our Petfinder.com pet adoption page to reach potential adopters online
- posting the animal to our Facebook page to reach more potential adopters
- listing the animal in our shelter placement book, should someone come in looking for a similar pet
- listing the animal with other area animal shelters, rescue groups, and veterinary clinics/hospitals
No fees will be charged to those bringing in stray/abandoned or owned animals to the shelter. Depending on the situation, those bringing animals in may be asked to give a donation. Donations are always appreciated and put to good use for the animal's overall care and medical needs.
The shelter has no facilities for housing livestock, wildlife or exotic pets, and limited resources for assisting them. Situations involving these types of animals are to be referred to our Shelter Manager for evaluation.
Our shelter has no facilities to house wildlife, and people who find distressed wildlife will be referred to a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator or to the Department of Environmental Conservation Office in Raybrook, NY. Emergency situations will be referred to the Shelter Manager for evaluation.
We offer loans of our cat and dog traps to catch strays, but we can't loan them out to catch wildlife. Feral cats will be spayed and neutered, vaccinated and tattooed. The Shelter Manager will be responsible for assessing a feral cat's adoptability. If the cat proves to be truly feral (feral cats can't be handled safely and suffer behaviorally and mentally in confinement), then we will release the cat back to the environment it lived in prior to capture. If a cat presumed to be feral makes behavioral improvements while housed at our shelter, the cat will be placed up for adoption. A formal agreement will need to be filled out for people looking to catch feral cats on their property. We will not loan out traps if the agreement is not signed by the parties involved.
