High Plateau Humane Society

05/14/2026

05/12/2026

This is from my perspective running the store and cattery for over eight years. I get a call from an elderly lady stating “I must come and pick up her dog”. When I stated we have no more dog program but this is what YOU can do to rehome your dog, she became irate because she would actually have to invest in rehoming her own dog, she then hung up. Excuse me!! Jenn has run the dog program pretty much by herself for eight years, saved thousands of dogs from euthanasia and this is the thanks we get!? The sad truth, dogs will be put down, no fault of their own. We will not be taking dogs that are turned in until our shelter partner near Washington opens its doors in September. It’s up to the community at this point to step up. We have tried. We are tired. Unless there is a huge influx of help (and money) we are not going to survive. One word, VOLUNTEERS or we shut down. We have cut intake in the cattery by 75% because of no help. Everyone thinks everyone else is volunteering when in fact NO one is and it will be the end of us. I’m not trying to be hyperbolic here, Jenn works 24/7, 365 days a year. I work six days a week, we cannot keep that schedule up, so, if you want a humane society, we need your help. Vet bills average between $5-8,000 a month and we need to raise that money as well. More work, less days off. I want to continue to do this work but I’m pretty much done unless we get more help. Exhausted doesn’t even cover how I feel. Please! NOT looking for kind words here, we are looking for HELP! Period. Ps: please only respond if you CAN help, having 10-20 people saying they “would” help but this and that and just can’t only takes up room in our feed. We need you. Kim

05/08/2026

Dog Rescue Program Suspended For Summer.

We are sorry to report that despite fundraising efforts, the High Plateau Humane’s budget outlook continues to be bleak. Corporate grants are few and far between these days, and program cut backs are needed.

This news comes at a time when our Dog Program Manager desperately needs a break from dog fostering. Jennifer Andersen has handled the dog program since 2018, and in that time has rescued over 1,000 dogs in Modoc County, most of which have been fostered at her house.

Despite Jennifer’s efforts, rescuing and rehoming Modoc’s dogs has only been possible by connecting with rescue partners outside the county. Unfortunately, most of these partners have not been able to take dogs from us in years because they are inundated by dogs from their own communities.

The only rescue that has been able to give us substantial help over the past three years is a rescue in Washington, but after our May 14th delivery, they will be shutting down their transfer program for the summer due to construction at their facility.

So, although it will be devastating for any dog left at either the City or County public shelter, budget restrictions, lack of volunteer staff, and a lack of rescue partners have come together in a perfect storm to force us to suspend our dog rescue operation for the time being.

It is hoped that our dog rescue and rehoming program can begin again on September 1st, but whether it does or not will largely depend on the success of our fundraising efforts this summer. We will need to raise at least $10,000 to fund the dog program for the remainder of the year. If you would like to help in this fundraising effort, please email jennifer at [email protected].

If you would like to make donations to HPHS specifically for the dog program, please write “dog program” on any checks, PayPal donations, or Venmo submissions you send in.

Checks may be made to “HPHS” and mailed to PO Box 1383, Alturas, CA 96101. Our Venmo address is “”. You can access our PayPal account by hitting the donate button in the upper right corner of our webpage at HighPlateauhumanesociety.org, or you can make monetary donations in person at the High Plateau Humane Society‘s “Second Chance Thrift Store” at 114 E. 1st St. , Alturas California. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 2 and Saturday 10 to one.

But what if I need to rehome my dog? We will be encouraging anyone who needs to rehome their dog to post it on our “Modoc Dogs - lost, found and available” page, and we are hoping you all will become members of that page and forward their posts to your friends to try and help needy dogs find homes. Jennifer will also try to monitor the site as well and offer advice and potential help in finding rescues or homes for these dogs, but she will not be taking in any dogs as fosters.

What about the dogs left at the public shelters here in Alturas? HPHS will be encouraging both the City of Alturas and County of Modoc to post their found and surrendered dogs on the “Modoc Dogs” page so that you all can help share those pictures and we can all help the dogs together. Ultimately, neither the City nor the County can keep dogs forever, and dogs will be euthanized to make room for more stray and surrendered dogs if the community isn’t able to help them find homes.

How can we do better as a community? Ultimately, the well-being of Modoc’s dogs cannot rest on the shoulders of one person. Our dogs deserve a dedicated facility with trained staff and opportunities for training an adoption so that they can find great homes. Building such a facility needs to be a community effort. It cannot ultimately be run by volunteers, it needs paid staff who are well trained, and whose entire focus is the well-being of Modoc’s dogs. Don’t look to the City or County to build such a facility. They don’t have the funds, and if they did, they feel they have many more urgent things to spend that money on. If we want dogs to have priority, we need a dog facility that is funded and run independently.

Jennifer dreams of the day this facility breaks ground, and will be working hard to try and make that dream reality. You can help! Just let us know you’re interested in hearing more about it.

In the meantime, thank you for your continued support of our remaining programs. We will continue our cat adoption, and our low-cost spay/neuter programs through the Thrift Store. There are lots of opportunities to volunteer, and we hope to have your help in the months to come.

Yours in Rescue,
The volunteers at the High Plateau Humane Society

05/07/2026

Regarding donations of lightly used items…we so appreciate all you give to us, keeps us alive actually. Some people get really upset when I won’t “just take their donations”. Here’s the thing, we only have so much space, and we don’t have enough help to go through the clothes and other items that are donated, so I cannot take five huge bags of clothing at a time. We can’t take broken, rusted, dirty items with missing pieces, or clothes with stains or broken zippers, and missing buttons. If it is not new or like new, we cannot take it. Period. If I have 100 of something not selling, I’m not going to take 100 more. We are trying to survive and run a a business that helps the animals if Modoc. People of this community want good quality for low prices, and that is what we offer.

To help us, please wash your items. We are short staffed so anything needing extra cleaning we cannot take. I know this sounds like a lot, but when you have just me with little help running the thrift store and helping in the cattery, the answer is no if donations aren’t up to our standards. Right now we are accepting summer and spring items. We of course, are always accepting monetary donations!

Thank you for your support, we are only here because of you. Kim.

05/03/2026

OUR PUPPIES NEED TO GET TO WASHINGTON!!

The High Plateau Humane Society has taken in 54 dogs so far this year. That is 35% more than our average at this time, and more than half of these have been under 5 months old! Puppies are the most expensive dogs we can take in as they need so many shots and a lot of supportive care!

Although we did very well on our dinner fundraiser last month, money goes fast in rescue, and we cannot keep up this intake pace without ongoing financial assistance. I hate to keep asking for donations, but the alternative is to allow dogs to die. Sadly, it is that simple.

We do have three or four VERY generous annual donors, and we are very grateful to them as their donations have "saved the day" on many occasions. You are fabulous people, and we could not operate without your kindness. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

However, not all of us have the ability to make large donations, but most of us could make small monthly ones! We already have several Monthly Heros that do just that! So, I would like to take a moment to send a special THANK YOU to the folks that have made it a point to included the dogs and cats of Modoc County in their monthly budget by making automatic donations of $20 or more every month to HPHS through their bank or through PayPal. These donations really add up! In addition, because they come in automatically, we know we can rely on them and plan our budget accordingly. This helps relieve the stress of running HPHS! So, please help us send a heart-felt Thank You to each of our Monthly Heros!

-Kris Bertelson-Williams
-Kathy Brown
-Debra Browning
-Evellyn Farber
-Laura Hill
-Mary Sue Keces
-Ann Miller-Davis
-Paul Phelan
-Walter Shoaff
-Laurie Wayne, and
-Lorri Wion

Would you like to be a Monthly Hero? It's easy! Just set up an automatic payment with your bank, or access PayPal through our Donation button on our website at HighPlateauHumaneSociety.org. You can cancel it at any time (or increase or decrease the amount). You remain in control, and have the satisfaction of knowing you are doing something to help a great cause! IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO A MONTHLY PLEDGE, PLEASE LET EVERYONE KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW SO WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH SUPPORT THIS WORK HAS!

VENMO: HPHS now has a Nonprofit VENMO Account! So, you can also make your donations to us via Venmo by sending your donation to ""

CAN'T DO MONTHLY? How about sending a one time, tax deductible donation now through the DONATE button below?

URGENT NEED: Right now, we have 15 puppies and five adult dogs that need to get up to Washington on May 14th so they can be in the right place to find their forever homes! Their photos are attached.

The food and board for these dogs has already cost us $2,310 (an average of $10 per day per dog), and their veterinary care (no parvo medicines this time, just shots, heartworm and parvo tests and spay/neuter for four of the adults) has cost another $1,570, bringing the total to $3,880. Transporting them to Washington will take two days of a volunteer's time and add another $515 in transportation costs to that bill, making the total cost of saving these 20 dogs $4,395, an average of $220 per dog.

HPHS will not collect any adoption money from the rescue for these kiddos, so we are out of pocket for all of it. Every one of these dogs would have been euthanized (yes, the puppies too) if we had not stepped up and taken them in. So, if you think saving these dogs is a valuable community service that is worth paying for, please help our rescue efforts by joining in and donating now! I hope that anyone who hits the "like" button on this post will also make a substantial contribution toward this effort! We need you, and THEY need you! Thank you for contributing! ❤

04/30/2026

PSA: the Second Chance Thrift Store will be closed Saturday, May 9th as I will be working the Junior Horse Show and Kathy will be out of town. Regular hours resume the following week.

04/25/2026

Sweet Betty is off to her new home. I won’t lie, I’m a wreck as she has been a big part of my life the last nine months. The family is amazing (Oregon) and no doubt she will be spoiled rotten. They also adopted Shiro who has been here quite a long time. That’s the thing about rescue, you can’t help but fall in love with these babies. 😻😻. Kim

04/25/2026

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU who attended last night's sold-out annual HEARTS AND PAWS fundraising dinner! I am pleased to announce that we were able to raise $9,600 at this event to benefit the dogs and cats of Modoc County! WHOOO HOOOOO!!! That is a new record for our dinners!

A special THANK YOU is due to our wonderful MC, Mike Mason. I am sure we broke last year's record by a whopping $1,400 because of his ability to make the live auction an exciting event!

Thank you also to the generous participants of the live auction! I don't think I have ever heard of a chocolate cake selling for $750!! One of Lisa Oates' gorgeously decorated blueberry pies went for $300 (or was it $400?? - my brain is still whirling!), and a dozen adorably decorated cake pops donated by Amber of Nutberry Farms went for $300! As always, the beautiful quilts donated for the event also did extremely well in the live auction! Thank you quilters!!!!

Some of our silent auction items were also very popular, including two big baskets of goodies donated by the wonderful merchants of Cedarville, a mouth watering "Breakfast Meats" basket donated by Heart-T-Hogs, and two fun foodie baskets augmented with gift certificates donated by our local Grocery Outlet!

Finally, to the staff of the Brass Rail, thank you for your excellent and friendly service. There is something about family-style dining that really brings people together, and I could see that everyone enjoyed their dinner. Your hard work made our night special. 🥰

Hugs to all!!

04/16/2026

😻😻

04/13/2026

😻❤️🐶