West Suburban Humane Society helps dogs, cats and other rescues

The West Suburban Humane Society has been saving cats and dogs in the West suburbs of Chicago since 1972 and has never had to shut its doors until this year.

"It's very disappointing," says Carolyn Mossberger, Executive Director of the WSHS. "We've been saving for our new adoption center for 20 years and had a successful capital campaign. But we've had to postpone our grand opening plans, and we are unable to give tours of our great new space."

As of June 1, WSHS is adopting cats and dogs by appointment and scheduling times for people to donate dog and cat supplies.

Despite the challenges of opening and operating a new facility during the past few months, WSHS is seeing growth and has been "paying it forward" to other, less fortunate shelters.

In April, WSHS donated appliances and fixtures from its former buildings as well as several hundred pounds of food to a rural Illinois shelter.

This month, WSHS connected with a new, overwhelmed rescue in Indiana, and held a donation drive.

WSHS also accepted six dogs from the rescue to rehome them with families in the Chicago area.

"We hope to give this rescue a bit of breathing room by taking these six long-term dogs," said Sarah Stromberg, WSHS' Animal Care Manager. "These dogs have been in foster care at this rescue for over a year, not because they're bad dogs or hard to adopt, there are just that many animals in need of homes in that area.

"With the increase in pet adoptions in the Chicago area this spring, we will find homes for these dogs, and the Indiana rescue will have space to save more animals."

WSHS is also finding new ways to partner with local businesses, like Gerald Auto Group, with its Gerald Cares initiative.

"Gerald Auto Group has been key in expanding the news of our good works by featuring our pets in their newsletters and sponsoring our fundraising events," said Christina Morrison, Development Director of WSHS.

"We've started a fun social media campaign where we take an adoptable animal to Gerald Subaru of Naperville for an afternoon to 'teach' the animal about cars. Everyone at the dealership stops what they are doing to watch. It just brightens my whole day."

West Suburban Humane Society is located at 1901 Ogden Ave, Downers Grove. Call (630) 960-9600 or visit online at www.wshs-dg.org.