Right now the doors at the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe are closed due to the pandemic. But a lot of the animals that were living here are in good places these days.

"It was kind of incredible," said Erin Ellis, Community Engagement Director. "When the Governor called for the stay at home order, we put the call out to our community and our volunteers to help us, and in less than a week we had every animal in the shelter in foster care or adopted."

The shelter takes care of supplies for all the foster pets, and there's a pet pantry to help owners with things like food and littler. Still, in these uncertain times, there's concern they may see an uptick in animals that come back to the shelter because their owners can simply no longer afford to keep them.

"Since this whole economic crisis is sort of on the forefront with COVID-19, we know there is going to be an uptick in animals that are going to be coming into the shelter; that is the reality," Ellis said. "Right now we're not seeing droves of animals coming in, but that could be what happens, and so that is why we really need our community to rally and support us financially, so we can continue to operate and be here so when those animals come in. So we can find their forever homes and figure out the solution to getting them to where they need to be."

They're asking for donations during a special Giving Tuesday event on May 5.

"It's an emergency Giving Tuesday," Ellis said. "We run one every year in November, but right now we need funds immediately. We were given a huge donation of $20,000 to put towards this Giving Tuesday, so it's a matching gift. For anyone that donates on May 5, it will be matched dollar for dollar up to $20,000. Anyone who donates more than 1$50 will be entered into a raffle for a $500 Visa gift card, which was also donated."

And on that Giving Tuesday, they'll start accepting applications for 11 puppies that need forever homes.

"They're all fluffy, they're very adorable, and there will be 11 of them available on May 5," Ellis said. "They'll go fast, and right now people have a lot of time to train them so it's kind of the perfect time to get a puppy if you're staying at home."

Those applications will be available online. Right now the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe is doing curbside adoptions, a process where people meet their potential new pets online, with their foster parents.

For more information, visit their Facebook page or their website.  

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