Intake & Stray Animal Policy
In the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced some confusion regarding Eastshore Humane Association’s intake, stray, and surrender policies. We’d like to take a moment to clarify how our shelter operates and how the public can best work with us to help animals in need.
Eastshore is a small, private nonprofit organization. Each year, we send out service contracts to local municipalities offering them the opportunity to allocate a portion of their dog and cat licensing fees to help cover the cost of stray animal intake. Due to the demands of the large-scale hoarding case in November, we’ve experienced some delays in sending out contracts for Calumet County—but please know we are working diligently with the county to get them out as soon as possible. These contracts play a vital role in ensuring that stray and abandoned animals from participating areas have a safe place to go—off the streets and into compassionate care.
However, when no contract is in place—either because the service was not needed or not budgeted for—we must ask the individual or organization bringing in the animal to pay a “surrender fee.” This fee helps cover the costs of medical care, vaccinations, and other needs required to make the animal adoptable.
Because we are not funded by the city or county, we rely solely on donations, fundraisers, bequests, and community support to keep our doors open. Like many nonprofits, we are feeling the weight of economic strain, and we do our best to stretch every dollar to care for every animal we can.
We also want the public to understand that we are not a veterinary clinic and do not have a licensed veterinarian on staff, we utilize community veterinary care just like you. We are a small team of dedicated staff and volunteers doing our best to help as many animals as possible, but sometimes our kennels are full. In those cases, we place animals on a waitlist to ensure each one in our care receives the attention, medical care, and enrichment they deserve.
Recently, we have encountered a number of animals left outside our shelter, including a serious incident where an individual, upset we were closed, damaged our memorial garden after being unable to surrender an injured cat after operating hours. The police were contacted and the matter was addressed, but we want to kindly remind the public:
We are people just like you—with big hearts, doing our best.
Sometimes we need to schedule intakes or ask for patience until space is available.
We will always provide referrals to other trusted organizations if we cannot assist immediately.
Open Shelter Hours (Cats Only):
Monday: 12pm – 4pm
Friday: 12pm – 5pm
Saturday: 10am – 1pm
These open hours are for meeting and adopting our cat friends only. With an approved application on file, we can often facilitate same-day cat adoptions—so applying in advance is highly encouraged!
Due to state licensing laws and animal welfare, dog meet-and-greets remain by appointment only with an approved application. Our dog kennels are not open during public walk-in hours to avoid stress to the animals.
Please Note:
Open hours are not for stray or surrender drop-offs.
All intakes must be scheduled in advance so we can allocate appropriate space and staff.
We deeply appreciate your continued support and partnership as we work to provide safe shelter, medical care, and forever homes for animals in need. Thank you for helping us help them.
With gratitude,
The Team at Eastshore Humane Association
1100 Park Street, Chilton, WI
eastshoreha.org | ehashelter@gmail.com
Caring. Saving. Adopting.