A Message from Lisa LaFontaine

In 2022, the team at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center has focused on providing compassionate, lifesaving, and life-changing care to the more than 5,100 animals who came through our doors. It has also been a time of innovation, growth, and expansion. Our mission includes multiple priorities – to advocate and care for animals, to help more animals stay with the families who love them, and to help build communities in which the love of animals can thrive.

click here to watch the 2022 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS REVIEW WITH OUR PRESIDENT AND CEO LISA LAFONTAINE.

We support our communities through education, outreach, and direct service. This year, we expanded our community programs to serve families with limited resources, survivors of domestic violence, and young people seeking a career in animal welfare. Our work is done extensively in “pet service deserts” – areas that lack access to pet stores, veterinary clinics, and more. We go into these communities to ensure that no one is prevented from experiencing the joy and companionship of an animal simply because they are economically or socially vulnerable. Read the full 2022 Annual Highlights Report.

At all times, we are driven by a commitment to strengthen the human-animal bond and improve the lives of our community members. 

And importantly, the impact of St. Hubert’s reaches far beyond New Jersey. 

We encourage you to sit back with a warm beverage and your favorite pet(s) by your side to read about the many ways that your partnership with St. Hubert’s transformed the lives of people and animals this year.  

You will find that:

• St. Hubert’s served all animals who came through our doors, regardless of their age, temperament, or medical condition.

• We provided financial assistance, medical care, food, and supplies to keep animals healthy and in their loving homes.

• Our dedicated team helped to build new families through adoption.

• The WayStation celebrated its 20,000th lifesaving rescue!

• Innovative programs and resources kept animals – pets, farm animals, and wildlife – safe and healthy.

• We visited communities near and far to respond during natural disasters.

What you’ll also find is endless gratitude – for the animals and people who welcome us into their lives, for our community of supporters who share their time and talents and enable us to fulfill our mission, and for our staff and volunteers who show up every day ready to do the work to protect animals and support families.

Saving Lives and Building Capacity, One Precious Animal at a Time

The St. Hubert’s WayStation program strives to make lasting impacts in communities struggling under the weight of overpopulation. We also are there to help our partner shelters in times of crisis.

Through flight and vehicle transport, our WayStation moves animals from “source” partners, located in areas where the number of homeless dogs far exceeds the available homes, to “destination” partners, located in areas with far more adoption opportunities. Just as important, each destination partner returns a portion of the adoption fee for every relocated dog to the source shelter. These funds can be invested in capacity-building initiatives to help address the root causes of overpopulation in those regions.

Responding to Disasters and Assisting Sister Shelters in Need

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, nearly 90 shelter pets from Florida were airlifted by Greater Good Charities to St. Hubert’s. These dogs and cats were in shelters prior to the storm. This lifesaving airlift helped to make space in the hurricane-stricken communities for the influx of homeless or surrendered animals at Florida shelters. This special flight included shelter pets from Naples and Fort Myers, two of the hardest hit areas in Florida.

The St. Hubert’s transport team worked with organizations in nine states to evacuate more than 140 dogs and cats who had been awaiting adoption in overcrowded Louisiana and Alabama shelters. The airlift included especially vulnerable animals, such as asymptomatic heartworm-positive dogs, homeless cats, and harder-to-place large dogs. 

Our team traveled to South Carolina to help our longtime partner the Humane Society of Greenwood during a particularly challenging time. Because it doesn’t have a dedicated surgeon, we stepped in to perform more than 150 spay and neuter surgeries. We also brought back 27 animals who ultimately found loving new homes in the Northeast!

20,000 Lives Saved through the WayStation

In August 2022, our WayStation celebrated an important milestone: We welcomed our 20,000th animal from an overcrowded shelter in Louisiana. Sweetie Johnson will never know she was the 20,000th rescue – but she knows she is now part of a loving family. This milestone flight was a core example of how our WayStation program works with overburdened shelters to save more precious lives.

Keeping People and Pets Together

Our Pet Help Center serves as a single point of entry for pet owners navigating systemic or economic challenges that put their relationships with their pets at risk. Our case managers practice a whole-family approach to ensure that families trying to keep their pets can do so. Our programs also help to address the pet resource inequity that exists in our community.  

We offer pet families the following free and low-cost services, including:

• A Pet Pantry with plentiful pet food and supplies

• Medical services that include emergency medical and preventive care as well as spaying and neutering

• A Safe Haven pet boarding program to help families during periods of emergency transition

Meet Moses

Moses had a tough start to life. He was found wandering the streets of Linden alone and suffering from an infected and fractured left leg. The community member who found the 10-week-old stray wanted to help him but couldn’t afford the veterinary care – so she brought him to St. Hubert’s. Thankfully, we were there to help. Moses’s injury was so serious that we had to amputate his leg and help him adjust to his new reality. Fortunately, there was a loving home awaiting him. His new family tells us that Moses has been a true blessing in their lives and has quickly adjusted to life as a “tri-paw.” 

Caring for Homeless Animals

The mission of St. Hubert’s is to care for all animals, including senior animals and those with special medical needs. Our team works diligently every day to ensure these animals are loved, tended to, and placed in loving homes.

Caring for these precious animals comes at a higher cost, which is why we created the Rocket Fund (for emergency medical needs) and the Red Collar Society (for senior animals). These special funds help us raise the money necessary to ensure these animals can receive the specialized care, surgery, and medicine to help them heal and recover. 

Meet Mango

Mango was found drowning in a storm drain as torrential rain poured down. Our team rescued her from the flood waters and brought her to our kitten neonatal intensive care unit. There, she was treated for both an upper respiratory infection and eye infection. Mango was so vulnerable that she had to be syringe-fed until she could eat on her own. As she grew stronger and healthier, her true personality began shining through. This highly social kitten basked in the love she was receiving from our staff. After spending more than five weeks recovering in the nursery, Mango was adopted into a loving home.  

Meet Buzz

Buzz hails from Greenwood, South Carolina, where he was found on a hot summer day smooshed underneath nine other dogs in a crate in the back of a pickup truck. Because the number of adoptable animals far exceeds the number of available homes in Greenwood, we transported him (along with 27 other animals) to St. Hubert’s for adoption via our WayStation program. Despite what Buzz had endured, it was clear from the nonstop kisses he gave our staff that his love for people never wavered. It wasn’t long before he found a loving new family for him to spoil with his unconditional love. 

Meet Queen Prada

Two-year-old Queen Prada came to St. Hubert’s as a stray who was nursing two kittens. To make things more complicated, the whole little family was suffering from ringworm. Queen Prada and her babies were quickly placed with a foster home that could provide specialty care; these higher-need kitties required semiweekly baths, daily medications, and some bottle feeding. But, of course, dealing with ringworm was the most arduous process. The baths smell awful (like rotten eggs), and the room has to be cleaned daily. But after weeks of careful love, care, and attention, Queen Prada and her babies are all healthy and have all gone to loving homes.

A Preview of 2023

Through your support and generosity, our team will help more animals, support more families, and launch impactful programs to build the capacity of animal welfare organizations throughout the country.

Pet Support Services: People throughout New Jersey face barriers to providing care for their animal family members, starting with unaffordable and inaccessible veterinary care. Our growing Pet Help Center will continue to address urgent needs through direct service for thousands of pet families throughout the region. And we will enhance our suite of virtual support services to reach families outside of the areas that we serve, from their own homes. 

National Capacity Building: In 2023, we will expand capacity-building programs to help shelters throughout the country. These supportive programs will enable source shelter partners to develop successful lifesaving programs using the space and resources that are available to them. We will continue to share tangible resources, including housing and sheltering equipment, food, toys, and other critical resources.

As we look ahead, we see a future that is brighter than ever for animals and the people who cherish them. We couldn’t get there without your steadfast support and generosity, and we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts.