Dane County Humane Society celebrates 100 years

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Some “good boys” at the Dane County Humane Society got a visit from the pup-arazzi as they celebrated a major milestone.

Wednesday marked the Dane County Humane Society’s 100th birthday. A few of the adorable and adoptable dogs at the shelter enjoyed a special cake to commemorate the occasion.

“We’re absolutely thrilled. We’re only here because of the support of our community. We were founded by a volunteer back in 1921 and we still have over 800 volunteers, a dedicated staff and adopters and so many donors out in the community that help us do what we do everyday,” said DCHS Director of Development and Marketing, Amy Good.

The Humane Society opened in 1921 when then Madison Mayor Milo Kittleson’s wife, Ida Kittleson, started taking in stray dogs and cats and caring for them in the basement of their home.

Since then, the DCHS has helped well over half-a-million animals find a fur-ever home.

“We treat every animal here as an individual. Each dog has their own behavior plan, you know they get lots of time and love from our volunteers and our goal is always just to provide love and refuge and healing to them,” told Good.

Good said they plan on continuing this work for generations to come.

“For the next 100 years of course we’ll be here to help animals in our community and we’re really going to be focusing on that human-animal bond and not only helping homeless animals, but helping people who have animals already keep them in case they’re having any issues.”

There are currently around 160 animals up for adoption. They are still operating by appointment only due to COVID-19 restrictions, but that will be changing next week.

DCHS has been at its current, 29-acre campus on Voges Road since 2000.

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