Last Wednesday (Jan. 2nd) a tiny little dog was brought in as a stray. She had wandered into someone's yard and given birth to one dead puppy.

Dr. Gibbs x-rayed her as she looked like she was ready to pop, and indeed there were more puppies that needed to come out.

Macy was rushed into surgery. One puppy was stuck in the birth canal and had already died. Seven more were viable, but needed to be revived.

Staff rushed to help as reviving newborn puppies who've undergone anesthesia is tricky and time consuming, and each puppy needs a person to work on them.

All seven puppies finally started breathing, and crying, and all ate a meal of puppy milk replacer while mama was recovering from major surgery!

Mama Macy and her seven babies are doing well, and we have high hopes for all of them.  

We are not yet at the point where we can save every animal that comes through our doors. But when confronted with such an immediate life or death scenario, not one of us could turn away from this tiny young mama and those helpless little babies, who just needed a little extra help to enter this world.

We see so much suffering and sadness. It was almost a spiritual experience to help give life to these babies and it affected each of us profoundly.

Huge kudos to our veterinarian, Dr. Gibbs, cool and collected as always and who did an amazing job saving Macy and her babies.

Every staff who resuscitated a baby got to name that baby. Their names are Malik, Mariah, Morgan, Madison, Malani, Mathias, and Maya.

View more photos of Mama Macy and her amazing puppies on the HSGB's Facebook page HERE.

During this holiday season of joy and giving, our hearts are full of thanks and appreciation for our supporters.  There is one particular person, and one particular corporate entity whom we are especially grateful for, and without whom the HSGB would never be in the position we are today.

In the summer of 2004, we were asked by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) to take over the daunting task of providing Animal Control services for the city of Freeport.  The GBPA, and the Hayward family, had been loyal and major supporters of the HSGB since our inception in 1968.  Prior to 2004, we were a very small non profit with an annual intake of a few hundred animals a year.  One part time kennel attendant and a slew of dedicated volunteers cared for the handful of animals housed in our tiny shelter on Cedar Street, built in 1973.

The GBPA realized there was a serious problem with stray and roaming dogs, (and cats to a lesser degree), as did we.  Of course we agreed to take on this monumental job (not realizing at the time just how monumental it would prove to be!).  We immediately set out to learn everything we could about "animal control".   

It's a fine line between simply being a "dog pound" and providing humane services which satisfy the community's needs yet still remain true to the mission of a "humane society" which is to prevent animal cruelty, suffering and neglect.

The Humane Society of Grand Bahama wishes everyone a very happy holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.  

Many thanks to our many amazing friends, volunteers, rescue partners and supporters.  Thanks to all of you 2012 was a much better year for our organisation and our animals than the last few years. 

With your continued help we hope to make 2013 even better for our animals and our community.

We hope you enjoy this little slideshow which includes photos from this past year of some of our animals, staff, volunteers, directors and friends.

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

Photo:  Potcake Leo, new resident of Boston, with his first Christmas tree.

Click HERE to view video if no display above.

By Tip Burrows / Humane Society of Grand Bahama

It's not often we are able to do two big puppylifts in the space of five weeks - but thanks to a generous benefactor, and a whole lot of amazing rescue partners and volunteers, we were able to do just that recently.  Following our puppylift of November 9th, this past Friday we sent 73 precious souls on their way to second chances and new lives!

8 adult dogs, 54 puppies, AND 11 kittens are now safe and sound either in adoptive or foster homes from Florida to Massachusetts to Colorado.

Huge thanks are owed to so many people and they should be acknowledged here.  (Please forgive us for anyone inadvertently let off, or that we don't know names for, THAT'S how many people helped by either rescuing, volunteering, networking, housing and/or transporting)!

Florida - Heike and Ken Dose, Jacqueline and Wes Scott, Mike and Mandy Mansolino, Laura and Randy Comer, Ralph, Amy Clough, Lynda Carlson, Diana Isaia, Debbie Shields, Peter Torres, Diane Taylor, Heike Boom, Rae Davidson.

Massachusetts - Gail Branchini, Tasia Blough, Dr. Debra Campbell.

Colorado - Megan Weber, Alex West and Mark Ford, Amy Dean, Carrie Thornbaugh, Shaina Zimmerman, Ann Terry, Jessica Morgan, Kim Graber, Jessica Wagoner, Breanna Burgess.

And so many more who are fostering these babies and helping them find their forever homes.

This was truly a heroic effort, with puppies and dogs being added to the flight right up until the day before.  Nobody wanted to leave part of a litter behind.  As always we are overwhelmed with all the happy stories coming already from this puppylift.  It lifts our hearts and spirits to hear how adorable, friendly, funny, social, and loveable they are.

As the staff at the Humane Society of Grand Bahama get ready for another Operation Puppylift and the Christmas season at the shelter, eyes are already on the new year as the fundraising committee is planning an exciting ladies lunch onboard the tall ship Alexander von Humboldt.

The 106 "Alex" as she is affectionately known will be decked out for the ladies featuring a signature cocktail, elegant buffet lunch, live entertainment and lots of games and prizes.

Mark your 2013 calendar for Saturday, January 19th!  Tickets are limited and available now at Art of Giving in the International Bazaar or at the HSGB shelter on Coral Road.  Call 441-7070 for more information.  See poster below:

Q & A on pet adoption with the Humane Society of Grand Bahama

We will be announcing a fantastic holiday adoption special very soon and thought it might be useful to answer some commonly asked questions and debunk a few myths along the way.

You have so many dogs and cats - why don't you just give them away for free?

Good question!  We charge a nominal adoption fee for two reasons.  One; it costs us (often far more than the adoption fee) to care for each pet, to provide medical care like vaccines, deworming and preventatives for heartworm and fleas and ticks.  Sometimes animals come to us with injuries and illnesses and this adds to the cost of their care. The nominal adoption fees we normally charge - $75 for dogs and puppies, $50 for cats and kittens - allow us to recoup at least some of these costs which then allows us to continue to treat and care for more animals in need.  And two: if adopters can't afford our very reasonable adoption fees, we wonder if they can afford to provide proper care for their adopted pet.  However; we often run specials with much lower fees, and senior citizens (65 and over) are never charged a fee.  (Although we welcome donations at all times!)

You have so many dogs and cats - why are you so picky and why do you have to come to my house?

One of the reasons we have so many dogs and cats is because not everyone buys, adopts or takes in a stray animal for life.  Not everyone is truly prepared to provide everything that pet needs.  A large number of the animals that enter our shelter are surrendered by their owners for various reasons.  A small sampling of those reasons: moving and can't take the pet, fleas or ticks, the pet is sick or injured and don't want to pay a vet bill, the kids are not taking care of the pet, the dog barks too much, or not enough; the cat is scratching the furniture, the cat or dog  "won't stay home", the dog digs up the plants or pulls the clothes off the line, tired of the dog or cat having too many babies, can't afford to take care of anymore, and we've even heard "got new furniture and the cat has to go", and "moving to an upscale area and the dog and cat won't fit in"!  Many more animals are picked up or brought in as strays, yet they are friendly, some even wearing a collar, and it's obvious they had a home but no one ever come looking for them.