Hawaiian Humane Society foster care

Every day, animals from the Hawaiian Humane Society are being cared for by volunteer foster families before they can be placed for adoption.

Whether it’s for a kitten, puppy or a sick or injured animal, these dedicated families open up their homes and provide a place of comfort, as well as some tender loving care for these creatures in need.

When animals are received at the shelter, the staff of veterinarians evaluates them and identifies ones that would benefit from foster care.

“For example, we have a large number of underage kittens and puppies that come in that are not ready to be sterilized and adopted, so they need further care,” explains Swartz.

“And then we also get animals with a variety of injuries, from minor things like wounds to surgeries that need to happen, such as orthopedic surgery or animals with eye injuries that need to have their eye removed. Those animals need to have some recuperation time before they can be adopted, and it’s much better to recover in a home where they can be comfortable.”

There are on average 90 volunteers per month in the foster care program, but the number of animals in need of foster care is much greater.

“It would be really nice to get to a point where we have people on-call,” says Swartz. “Right now what we do is we get an animal and then we start looking for a person. In my ideal world I would have a list of people ready and waiting, and all you have to do is call and place them.”