History and Purpose of Organization

The Posey Humane Society began as a group of volunteers working out of their homes. They approached the city with the offer to help upgrade the conditions at the city of Mt. Vernon dog pound The group was originally named the Mt. Vernon Humane Society. However the name has changed over the years to the Posey County Humane Society and now The Posey Humane Society.

Initially, The Posey Humane Society was able to move into a building near the city pound on Second Street in Mt. Vernon. That allowed the organization to begin accepting cats needing new homes as well as working with homeless dogs. They operated from this location for over 10 years.

In 2004, the shelter experienced a situation of sudden death in cats and kittens in a very short time, losing approximately 20 cats. The doors were closed until a cause could be determined. An investigation by Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine indicated that the shelter had been contaminated by a newly mutated, highly virulent strain of the feline distemper virus with the intake of a stray cat.

Due to the extreme age of the building and the materials used in the building (i.e., wooden floors and unsealed concrete block walls), the building was highly susceptible to harboring the virus. Purdue University’s experts felt that the building was at risk for continuing to spread the virus for up to three years.

The board of directors evaluated the options very carefully. As the building was in need of extreme repair, the decision was made to evacuate the building at that time and seek a new location. The new location was found and purchased on Leonard Road, Mt. Vernon in November 2004 with the aid of a grant from The Community Foundation. The cats at risk housed in the old facility underwent a experimental, vigorous immunization regimen. All survived and were placed into loving homes.

The board has pushed to continue to raise funds to remodel the building into a healthy, workable environment for an animal shelter. It has taken 4 years, however this goal has been accomplished without going into debt with bank loans.

Posey Humane Society plans to open in mid-May 2009 and will serve all of Posey County. The intake of cats in need of new homes as well as stray cats will be our initial push. We will have conventional caging, but are also incorporating a new concept of a cat habitat, an open room where cats can live more openly in a single room with toys, climbing areas and cubby holes in a more natural home-like setting.

We will continue to expand the facilities with goals to accept dogs in the near future. We are working toward an expansion as we have received an extremely generous donation of kennels that will make the living situation for dogs while waiting for adoption a much more humane, healthy environment. Unfortunately, those kennels are too large for the current facility, but worthy of considering an expanded area.

We anticipate housing at least 50-60 cats at any one time. As there is no other facility in Posey County that addresses the issues of homeless cats, we anticipate that we will reach capacity within one month of opening the facility. Posey Humane Society will have a registered veterinary technician employed on site which will enable us to do testing for heartworms and other parasites as well as vaccinations within the facility. This will give better care to the animals upon intake, decrease the possibility of spread of disease and save costs.