We're moving to bigger digs!!!
SAFE HAVEN HUMANE SOCIETY is growing and moving -- and we need your help!
Nothing is more gratifying than saving the innocent lives of animals at risk. That’s why we’d love you to join Save Haven and help us launch our next giant step in saving the lives of stray, abandoned and homeless cats in Southern Maine.
Safe Haven Humane Society is a 501c3 nonprofit, volunteer run cat shelter in Wells Maine (est. 2002) which provides a loving, homelike haven for abandoned and surrendered cats while they await their forever homes. For 17 years, Safe Haven has been recognized for delivering unsurpassed care and wellness of the cats we rescue. We’ve always been No Kill, No Cages. Visitors to our Adoption Center often marvel at how home-like it is. Unlike many shelters, Safe Haven is a cheery place filled with sunny cat rooms, where our “guests” are free to roam and climb and play until the happy day they are adopted -- even if it takes years.
Best of all, every cat receives plenty of love and individual attention from our wonderful volunteers. Visitors are often amazed that our volunteers know each cat’s name and personality and can match them with their ideal animal companion.
Every adoption is fully vetted. A carefully scrutinized application is accompanied by a home visit. Result: very few adoptions end with the animal being brought back as a result of an improper match.
To support the cost of running the shelter and especially the ever growing veterinarian bills, Safe Haven relies on not only donations from generous donors in the community but proceeds from our succesful volunteer run Thrift Shop located 1/4 mile up the road from the shelter. With recent changes in tax laws and the ever growing numbers of different non profit organizations all needing donations, animal shelters are trying to find creative ways to generate additional income to pay for their operational expenses and vet bills. Along those lines, Safe Haven since its inception in 2002 has had the foresight to expand its fund raising efforts by means of revenue from the thrift shop.
Both the shelter and the thrift shop (and their 80+ volunteers) have outgrown their combined spaces so purchasing a bigger building where both could exist under one roof seemed to be not only the next logical step but also fiscally responsible. In May 2019, a wonderful large building was purchased (appropriately named Cattail Farm) with frontage on US Route 1 in Wells. It is comprised of a three-story post and beam barn, attached two story carriage house and two story farm house comprising a total of 12,000 square feet.
Our recent purchase of Cattail Farm will:
● Streamline our operations, saving time and money
● Allow us to save even more at-risk animals
● Care for even more special-needs kitties
● Provide quiet nurseries for new mothers and their kittens
● Deliver palliative hospice care during a kitty's final journey.
Cattail Farm’s prominent location on Rt. 1 in Wells will give us increased visibility to educate the public about our No-Kill mission, increase financial support, spur additional adoptions, and attract more of the dedicated volunteers who make it all possible. Our thrift shop, which pays the lion’s share of our veterinary and surgical bills, will have double the space (and hopefully double the revenue!)
Let’s meet a few of the kitties!
Roary arrived cowering and fearful. He’d been abandoned by the side of a noisy roadway, duct-taped and trapped inside a cardboard box. Luckily, this innocent victim of abuse was spotted and brought to Safe Haven, just one of many kitties needing medical and emotional care that Safe Haven provides. Soon he’ll be ready to be adopted by some lucky person.
Oliver, a senior kitty, arrived after his owner died. He soon developed a urinary blockage that required extensive medical care, including emergency surgery. Most shelters would have put him down. Not Safe Haven, even though his vet bills were high. Oliver is recovering nicely, and everyone has fallen in love with this sweet, lovable fellow.
Zorro was going to be euthanized by his owners because they couldn’t afford the surgery needed to save his life. Safe Haven stepped in and provided the surgery. Now his health is restored and he’s ready for adoption -- and a second chance at a happy, healthy life.
Effie is a six year-old who’s been blind since birth. She arrived recently, very overweight, and is now getting special help coping with navigating her new surroundings and losing weight.
Sandy has a rare skin disease. Her constant itching prompted multiple visits to specialists who are still searching for the cause of her hair loss, despite many different treatments. The itching is so bad, the poor dear has to wear a cone so she doesn’t chew her skin off. We’ll keep searching until she’s free of her misery -- and that dreaded cone.
The list of Safe Haven kitties goes on and on. Each has a distinct personality and unique needs. We’re proud of our No Kill mission and the level of care we provide. To continue this level of care, we need your support.
So many kitties are in great need. Special-needs cats often have nowhere else to go. Overflowing shelters in Maine need us to provide shelter and find homes for those most at risk.
Won’t you consider being a part of Safe Haven's next step?
Please make a generous donation to our Capital Campaign, so we never have to turn away any kitty that needs our help. Your donation, large or small, is needed and appreciated.
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