Humane Society helping local shelters, tending to cold weather impacted cats

BEATRICE, NEB. - Many shelters in Nebraska are working day and night, near capacity.

But rescues like the Beatrice Humane Society in southeast Nebraska, are doing what they can to help.

“The Beatrice Humane Society is fortunate to operate as a no time limit shelter, so we have enough adoptions for all the animals that come in locally, if its through owner surrenders, strays, police in takes, we’re here for all those local animals, but it also gives us the ability to help other shelters and rescues.”

While folks at the humane society like Executive Director Carlee Fiddes work to help shelters around the state, they’ve also had their own recent challenges. In early January, heavy snow and historically frigid temperatures wreaked havoc on a number of stray and feral cats throughout the community.

“We were all here,” Fiddes said. “Temperatures were in the negative double digits for days on end. That’s not that crazy for Nebraska, but the wind chills being -30, -40, put outdoor cats did not fair well.”

The humane society is currently treating several cats with frostbite injuries, impacting ears, tails, and toes. Fiddes and her staff are also doing what they can for feral cats that may not even be adoptable.

“We just had one show up within the last week, her ears are completely gone, her tail is completely gone,” Fiddes said. “I am just waiting for her to get on a regular schedule so I can get here the care she needs, but then also maybe return her to the outdoors… It was just not a fair winter weather.”

While work with cold weather-impacted felines has made for more work at the humane society, Fiddes says they’re used to it.

“We say that if we’re not near capacity, we’re leaving animals in situations where they’re not going to make it,” Fiddes said. “For us, we do typically operate near our capacity, but that capacity changes throughout the year.”