About Us

Celebrating our 50th Anniversary!

Thousands of lives saved!

Watauga Humane Society was formed December 12th, 1969 to house, care for, and find homes for stray, abandoned, and unwanted animals. Since then, we have happily grown to meet the needs of the animals and the people of Watauga County. In 2011 we merged with Watauga County Animal Care and Control and constructed a new facility to maximize our life saving initiatives. We received our 501(c)(3) certification in 1979, meaning all gifts to WHS are tax deductible!

Our entire history has been consolidated into a single document for ease of viewing.
Learn all about our fifty years of service here!

Our mission is to provide the following:

  • A well-equipped and appropriately staffed facility where the citizens of Watauga County can bring unwanted and abandoned animals;
  • Relief of suffering among animals;
  • Provisions for food, shelter, medical care, and love to homeless animals while they await permanent homes;
  • Assistance with control of unwanted animals by offering low-cost spay/neuter services;
  • Education to the public about responsible animal ownership and care.

Our mission helps fuel our vision - the vision of a “no-more homeless pet community” and to end euthanasia of healthy and adoptable animals. Through our low-cost spay/neuter program, public education program, medical funds and correlations with our local vets, and adoption programs we have been able to reduce the euthanasia rate to 4% in 2018.

In an effort to be transparent with our community, and to help contribute real statistics to the US shelter animal reports, we are partnered with Shelter Animals Counts.

"Shelter Animals Count is a new, collaborative initiative formed by a diverse group of stakeholders to create and share a national database of sheltered animal statistics, providing facts, and enabling insights that will save lives."

You can view our statistics here!

Please check out the following resources for more information on Watauga Humane Society!