One of several nine-week old, Springer Spaniels currently at the Lawrence Humane Society, hangs out with Alli Butler, while she works Monday at the shelter. The Haase & Long Collection firm in Lawrence, is giving a years-end, 5,000 donation to the Lawrence Humane Society.

Pet owners are giving up their dogs and cats at a rate the Lawrence Humane Society has never seen before.

It’s another sign of bad economic times, Humane Society director Midge Grinstead said.

“It’s horribly sad. These people are coming in, and it’s not what they want to do,” she said.

Since July, the number of pets brought to the society’s shelter by former owners has been on the increase. In November, owner turn-ins made up 69 percent of all animals the shelter received. Owner turn-ins amount to 45 percent in a typical month, Grinstead said.

Normally, people turn in their pets because they are moving and won’t have room for them or because of an unexpected litter of puppies or kittens, Grinstead said. Now it’s because they can’t afford to care for the pets or they have lost their homes, she said.

Shelter operating costs increased and donations to the Humane Society were down 2 percent in 2008, Grinstead said. City and county government funding had been reduced over the past two years. Grinstead said four jobs at the shelter were eliminated.

But the society got a boost recently with a donation of $25,000 from Haase & Long Inc., a Lawrence debt collection firm. The firm has been making the same annual donation anonymously for several years. This year it went public, hoping to draw attention to the society’s needs and spur more donations, chief executive Devon Kim said.

“We look to Midge and her staff as some of the greatest caretakers of animals,” Kim said. “Midge is a professional, and we trust her 100 percent.”

Moreover, people in the firm, which is owned by Kim’s father and stepmother, John Haase and Lyn Chance, are animal lovers, Kim said.

“We do what we can personally, but there are so many animals that need that additional help,” she said.

Grinstead said she is in awe of what Haase & Long does each year, noting that donations are critical to operations.

Overall, in 2008 the shelter received 3,500 dogs, 3,200 cats and 700 handheld pets such as rabbits and gerbils. Adoption rates have been mixed. They were down in October and early November until the shelter offered two pets at the cost of one fee.

Adoptions were good in December, even though animals are not allowed to be adopted to be given as Christmas gifts, Grinstead said.