JOPLIN, Mo. — The Joplin Humane Society is welcoming its newest group of volunteers.
They are now able to help the shelter with daily operations.
“We want to give the volunteers all the skills they are gonna need to succeed. Skills on how to remain safe, how to interact with the animals and provide the socialization they need,” said Thomas Jay, Animal Behavior Manager.
Saturday afternoon the Joplin Humane society held an orientation and training session for its newest volunteers.
“We’ll learn how to get the animals in and out. Things to look for when interacting with them. Warning signs we call them. Things to let us know the animals are in an uncomfortable situation and how to deal with it when those signs come up,” said Jay.
12 people completed the training and will now be able to help with clinics and checking in on pet owners after adoption.
“There are just so many animals here. We are focusing on getting them cleaned and fed and we cannot focus on every animal. So having those volunteers come out and walk them and play with them it’s great to provide that interaction and stimulization and it looks great to the customers when they can see the animals be interacted with,” said Jay.
The shelter says the volunteers help animals find forever homes.
“We do see a lot of volunteers adopt. They come in here and they interact with the animals and they fall in love. I see that happen a lot. We have a lot of volunteers that will take them off site and they will go meet adopters out there in the world and they’ll come back here and find an animal they love,” said Jay.
The Joplin Humane Society hosts four orientation’s a month.
“I wanted to volunteer because I really like animals and this gives me something to do on the weekends. I miss having a dog since being in medical school doesn’t allow me to have a lot of pets. So I like coming here and interacting with the animals,” said Teddy Zamzow, Volunteer.
To apply to volunteer click here.