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How long have you been open?
Since 1966!
Where is your business located?
South Elgin, North Aurora, & Bloomingdale
We love to hear stories of our local community, with your business being essential to our community. Tell us when and how your business got started.
We launched in 1966 to connect homeless animals with loving families. Thanks in no small part to the generosity of Ruth and Ivar Anderson, and their dedication to animal welfare, we became one of the leading animal welfare organizations in our community. Over the years we have grown to multiple locations and an expanded vision of what a humane society can be.
Over our decades of work, we stumbled on the basic human truth that people and animals are better together. That connection became our driving force and is now the hallmark of what we do.
We started as North Central Illinois Humane Society, then became Anderson Animal Shelter, and finally Anderson Humane after merging with Fox Valley Wildlife Center in 2020. We are driven by three main principles: respect, protect, and connect.
How does your brand and business impact the local community?
We bring people and animals together for good by placing more than 4,000 pets into loving homes every year. We know that animals make us better people -- kinder, healthier, happier, and loved. Better people make better communities, and better communities create a better world. Our end goal is a more humane world for both people and animals.
Thank you for sharing this with us! Is there anything unique or special about your business that the community might not know yet?
In March of 2020, we merged with Fox Valley Wildlife Center, Kane County’s largest wildlife rehabilitation and education programming provider. Anderson Humane now cares for more than 3,000 injured and orphaned wild animals every year. We also offer several innovative programs that make the healing presence of animals available to seniors, veterans, and those in crisis.
Our Constant Companions program sends volunteers into the homes of those struggling to care for their pets. These volunteers walk the dog, change the litter box, or take Rover to the vet -- ensuring the pet remains well cared for and at home, right where their person needs them.
Our Healing Paws program certifies therapy pets and facilitates their visits to schools, nursing homes, social service agencies, and other places in need of the healing presence of animals.
Our MVP (Military Veterans Program) honors our veterans by offering reduced adoption fees to veterans and active duty military members and offers foster care for the pets of deployed service members.
Our STAR (Short-Term Animal Refuge) program offers foster care for the pets of people going into homeless or domestic violence shelters that don't accept pets (that's most of them) as well as to low-income seniors during temporary hospital stays and others facing short-term emergency situations.
Tell us about a time your business succeeded:
We are fortunate to receive letters from our adopters all the time telling us how much their new furry family member means to them. We've shared a few of those stories here: https://ahconnects.org/dog-for-cotero-family/
We were also happy to partner with Brilliance Subaru of Elgin for The Road Home Mega-Adoption Event this past spring when we got 156 animals adopted in two days.
That story is here:
What services or products does Anderson Humane offer? Do you have any specials the community should know about?
In addition to the programs listed above, we also offer summer Critter Camps for kids, training for pets that need a little extra help, low-cost vet care, nature walks, Ambassador Animals that help educate the community, other educational programs, adoption of "little critters" (rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, reptiles, etc.), and our annual Pets-AH-Palooza festival. Also, our Wildlife Allies program offers humane help for those with a skunk under their deck, squirrel in their attic, or other instance of a wild animal in their home or business
What is your favorite part of being in the community?
We love connecting people and animals for their mutual benefit. And we love caring for wild animals, ensuring they are still a healthy part of our communities.
What does your Anderson Humane have planned for the future? Is there anything the community should get excited about?
We are excited about our plans for a future campus in Elburn, IL. This 70,000-square-foot facility will be a destination – and will be designed with both people and animals in mind. It will house a brand-new shelter for adoptable animals, including a low-cost veterinary clinic to provide affordable care for pets.
It will house a parrot adoption, education, and resource center that will provide care for up to 200 homeless pet birds. They will be housed primarily in free-flight cages which support their physical and emotional health.
This campus will also house a wildlife and nature education center offering immersive nature experiences and supporting the rehabilitation of up to 6,000 orphaned and injured wild animals each year.
It will house a hoofed animal adoption and resource center, which will accommodate up to 25 horses, donkeys, mules, and other hoofed animals, such as pot-bellied pigs. And the facility will support equine rescue and therapy programs.
Overall, this campus will be a sanctuary for the human truth that humans and animals are better together.
Thank you for sharing your story, where can we find you on social media?
Locations:
1000 S La Fox St, South Elgin, IL 60177
180 N Randall Rd, North Aurora, IL 60542
412 W Army Trail Rd, Bloomingdale, IL 60108