helping hands humane society
About Our ShelterWhat Drives Us
Our Mission
As advocates for animal welfare, Helping Hands Humane Society, Inc. provides sanctuary for animals in need of compassionate care and protection. We accept responsibility for:
Fostering the adoption of healthy animals into responsible homes and reuniting lost animals with their owners
Reducing overpopulation by promoting sterilization of animals
Providing an accessible facility with effective leadership and well-trained staff
Serving the community through education and addressing animal welfare issues
Maintaining a fiscally responsible organization by adhering to the highest standards of integrity
Is Helping Hands Humane Society a "no-kill" shelter?
Helping Hands Humane Society is an open-admission shelter, meaning that our intake is not based on a pet’s physical condition, health, or behavior. We aren’t in a position to only accept animals that we know we can reasonably save, and as part of our contract with City of Topeka and Shawnee County, we take in stray and seized animals in whatever condition they are found. Our operations are different from a limited-admission shelter, which is the type of shelter that can choose which pets to admit. There will be some circumstances outside of our control that we will not win no matter how hard we try. Instead, HHHS avoids using the “kill”/”no-kill” language because our team members are not “killers” and this term is extremely hurtful to organizations such as ours who will take animals who don’t have anywhere else to go. Instead, it’s more important to our organization to be able to provide loving care and compassion to every animal that comes in our door.
Animals do not “run out of time” at HHHS. All euthanasia decisions are reviewed by a committee prior, ensuring that all other options have been exhausted. Almost all euthanasias are due to a medical emergency, concern for the animal’s quality of life, or concern for public and community safety via behaviors that are considered too dangerous to safely place.
It’s a pillar of our organization to remain open-admission so that we can take in the animals who need us rather than turn them away. That means we will be here for the ones hit by cars, the ones with serious bite histories, the ones with terminal medical conditions, severe injuries or abnormalities, and other afflictions. We love them just the same as we love every other pet, and we make the decisions for them that every pet parent makes for their own pet when the time comes. Being able to offer a peaceful and humane end of life is important to our organization. We are always working to improve the services we can offer.
We do prioritize admissions from our home city and county to ensure we have space to serve our own community before taking on cases from neighboring locations. Managed intake refers to processes that help us save more lives by strategically altering our admission policies when we are at capacity; this can include scheduling pet surrenders, providing finders of strays with supplies so they can keep the lost pet in their home while searching for its family, educating about community cats who do not need to enter the shelter, and temporarily limiting intakes from out of county.
What would it take to make Helping Hands Humane Society become a "no-kill" shelter?
Achieving “no kill” status is not a one and done accomplishment; it’s an ongoing process that takes EVERYONE, not just HHHS, to maintain. The general standard for being considered “no-kill” is a 90% live release rate, meaning that 90% of the animals your organization admits are returned to their families, adopted, or transferred to another animal welfare organization for a positive outcome. We continue to near 90%, currently averaging around an 81% live release rate, and with an intake of 6,000 animals per year – this feat is actually really amazing. Our goal is always to help the noses that we can with the resources that we have.
To improve – we need YOUR help to get there. This is not something HHHS can do on our own. It’s a community-based effort. It involves regular spaying and neutering in our community, promoting adoption, understanding how to help lost pets, respecting outdoor cats, tons of foster help, volunteer help, and new programs. We can create the programs, but if people in our community don’t show up to participate in them, we will not be able to provide more services.
Saving more lives is always important to us, and we know it’s important to our community. It takes a whole lot more than money to raise a live-release rate. This 81% is not reflective on just HHHS; it reflects the dedication that the people in our neighborhoods put into supporting this work. This is not solely on our organization to accomplish. It’s on you, and us, and we, and them, and him, and her, and everyone.
Please browse our website for ideas on how you can get involved.
Here’s a non-comprehensive list of ways that help us get closer:
-Vaccinating your pets and staying up on heartworm preventative for your own pet to reduce diseases in our community
-Referring people to our Community Clinic to get more pets sterilized
-Making sure your pet is fixed
-Reducing the number of strays HHHS takes in by getting your pet microchipped and making sure it has supervision, is contained, wears a collar, and walks on a leash
-Adopting from HHHS
-Telling your friends to adopt from HHHS
-Telling your friends to ensure their pet is fixed and vaccinated
-Being a community cat caregiver or adopting a barn cat from HHHS so that feral kitties don’t need to be brought to the shelter
-Helping make and distribute cat shelters for community cats to stay warm
-Signing up to foster with us
-If you find a lost pet, helping find its owner so it doesn’t need to come to the shelter
-Donating your time and supplies
-Volunteering your time to come in and help clean. Keeping illness down in the shelter is critical and it takes a lot of scrubbing to do that!
-Volunteering to drive animals to other rescues
-SO, SO MUCH MORE! Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or want to help.
Since 1890
Our History
HHHS supporters who haven’t had the chance to read 123 Years of Caring for Animals 1890-2013 should stop in our Gift Shop to purchase this incredible book. Mary Ann and Roscoe Earp conducted extensive research to create a detailed look at the history of Helping Hands Humane Society. Through newspaper articles and pictures, they traced the history of HHHS from its very beginnings in 1890 all the way to our new facility in 2013. It is a wonderful collection featuring the many developments, challenges, and changes HHHS has faced as well as the incredible people who touched the lives of our sheltered population and helped make HHHS the successful organization it is today.
An article in the Topeka Capital-Journal dated March 20, 1910 indicates the recognized beginning of our local humane society around 1890. Established by Judge C.G. Foster for the welfare of children as well as animals, the Foster Humane Society was to “look to the welfare of every living creature.”
The work of the Foster Society was carried out by a limited number of members – primarily the brothers and sisters of the King family. A stray or crippled dog found wandering sought shelter in their home. Horses and other animals found crippled and starving were taken to places of comfort and cared for. In a 1919 report, the Foster Society investigated 225 cases of cruelty and neglect of children, 103 horses and mules being worked while in unfit conditions, and many other cases of cruelty to animals. Those who wished to help support this work were asked to give one dollar or more.
On May 4, 1938, the Shawnee County Humane Society was chartered as a non-profit organization. A small group of dedicated individuals used their own cars to pick up animals, their own yards to shelter them, and their own money to pay for food.
In 1944, a gift of $1,000 was used to purchase a three acre tract of land at 1216 Republican. The newspaper headline read “Winter Security for Stray Dogs as Humane Society Buys a New Home.”
By 1951, the Society shelter was moved to 2625 Rochester Road. The flood of 1951 left the shelter unusable and destroyed all of the Society’s records. One volunteer kept 35 dogs in her home. The budget was tight with memberships still at one dollar. The shelter continued to operate often only with volunteer help.
In 1954, Topeka labor organizations including stone masons, cement workers, carpenters and electricians volunteered to help build a new shelter. Martin Tractor provided a bulldozer and driver; Allen’s Airport volunteered a tractor. Sargent Excavating dug the foundation and Gerlach Builders, Victory Sand, and the Stone Co. gave cement. A lumberyard and a furnace company gave supplies and Mosby-Mack donated a truck to pick up animals. Others contributed labor and financial support in a remarkable community effort. The new building was 50 by 70 feet. An open house was held November 7, 1954.
In 1956, a pet cemetery was established on the shelter grounds. In 1959, a special shelter room for cats was constructed.
The Society began again to keep records and in 1963 was sheltering 2,700 dogs a year. Though no definitive records were maintained, it was estimated that the Topeka City Pound was impounding 1,500 dogs a year at a cost of $8,400. City dogs were temporarily held at the Gage Park Police Dog Training Area in three small pens. In December 1963, the Society indicated they could shelter the city’s impounded dogs at whatever cost the city would pay. The city settled on $50 a month. During the first month, 66 dogs were held for the city until their owners redeemed them or three days had passed as established in the ordinance. The amount has changed over the years in an attempt to meet the rising costs of animal care.
In 1965, the shelter legally changed its name from the Shawnee County Humane Society to the Helping Hands Humane Society. Its goal was not only to serve Topeka and Shawnee County, but a wider regional area as well.
On January 8th, 2013 Helping Hands Humane Society moved from 2625 NW Rochester Rd to 5720 SW 21st Street.
The shelter remains deeply aware that its ability to provide help to animals depends entirely on the help it receives from the community it serves. The shelter has a noble past and an exciting future!