photo by: Mike Yoder

Kate Meghji, executive director at the Lawrence Humane Society, holds one of the shelter's dogs in this March 2015 file photo.

Using a $250,000 grant it was just awarded, the Lawrence Humane Society will hire more medical and behavioral staff to treat animals considered “unadoptable” and get them into homes.

The humane society announced Thursday it won a Lifesaving Impact Award through the Petco Foundation to bring on a behavior management position and part-time veterinarian. Kate Meghji, executive director of the humane society, said the grant was $60,000 more than what she had requested.

“What they said is our lifesaving quotient was higher than other shelters our size; that we’re able to do more with the resources we have than other comparable shelters,” Meghji said. “And that’s why they wanted to invest. It was incredibly exciting. I’ve never silently high-fived so hard in my life.”

photo by: Mike Yoder

This tortie ragdoll kitten, Miette, came into the Lawrence Humane Society last fall as a 1-month-old stray with a badly broken leg and maggot-infested wounds after being attacked by a coyote. Instead of euthanizing her, humane society staff performed multiple surgeries and volunteered their homes to save Miette, later adopting her out to Journal-World assistant managing editor Jason Kendall and his wife. The Petco 50,000 Lifesaving Impact Award honors the high lifesaving quotient of the humane society, said executive director Kate Meghji.

The money will take the humane society “to the next level of animal welfare,” Meghji said.

A part-time veterinarian will be able to help out on the weekends and with normally scheduled procedures, including spaying and neutering, in the instances the shelter’s full-time veterinarian has to deal with an emergency injury.

The humane society already used some of the funds to hire a behavioral manager, who will spend time training shelter animals.

“The dog you adopt from us will hopefully have some basic manners and will be easier to fit into your home,” Meghji said. “We’re hoping by increasing behavior work we’re going to reduce the number of animals that return to the shelter.”

The money will also be used to create a full-time position dedicated to fostering animals. That person will also work with other humane societies in Kansas to transfer animals to Lawrence that may not be adoptable elsewhere.

Though it won’t be funded directly with the grant, the humane society is now able to reallocate some money in order to have a full-time investigator who would support law enforcement agencies in cases of animal cruelty and neglect.

The $250,000 will be paid out over two years. After those two years, the humane society should be in a position to continue funding the added positions, Meghji said.

She said the humane society has also “had some pretty good success” in its campaign to either renovate its current facility or build a new one.

The humane society announced last July it was hoping to raise $5 million for the project. At the time, Meghji said the current facility, at 1805 E. 19th St., lacks space and seclusion areas and has faulty air-conditioning, a leaking ceiling and a layout that causes stress for the animals.

“I get to hire all these people, and I’m trying to figure out where to put them all,” Meghji said Thursday.

As of mid-December, the campaign had raised $1.2 million.

She said an update on the campaign and more details about the building project would be announced later this spring.