Nevada Humane Society receives $100,000 grant from Petco

The Nevada Humane Society, which operates animal shelters in Washoe County and Carson City, is receiving a Petco Foundation Holiday Wishes grant for $100,000.

The announcement Wednesday in Reno said the grant was due to Linda Hibbard, a pet adopter who shared her story called “Brindy: Disability and Community Service Dog.” It was selected as the top story and resulted in the gift to Nevada Humane Society (NHS) to help continue the organization’s work. The NHS operates the two shelters as “no kill” facilities, which means almost all strays get adopted and few are put down.

The Carson City facility and local animal services are operated under a contract with city government for $750,000 and has been since October, 2014. Kimberly Wade, NHS senior manager of communications and events, was asked for break out data on use of the $100,000 for the two communities served. She said the HHS operation is one entity and she couldn’t supply the break out information sought.

She did say, however, eventually some broken out information on NHS programs in Carson City and Washoe County would be supplied since the city operation in the Nevada capital has been under way more than a year. She anticipated such data should be available early next year.

She did say the current Home for the Holidays adoption effort to place 1,000 pets via adoption between Nov. 20 and Jan. 3, 2016, already has seen 264 dogs, 350 cats and nine other types of pets adopted as of Dec. 6. She said that was in both Washoe County and the consolidated community of Carson City.

The Petco Foundation money stems from a story shared by Hibbard, who has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She looked into obtaining a service dog but was told the wait would be two to four years, which prompted her to adopt Brindy at NHS and train her to become a service dog.

“Brindy has received an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen award (the gold standard for dog behavior) and is a member of Dog Scouts of America,” NHS said in a news release. “More importantly, Brindy has been a constant companion who has truly enhanced Linda’s every day life by helping her continue her daily activities.”