We at the Greene County Humane Society (GCHS) have gathered some history of our organization from past newspaper articles. Unfortunately, the Linton Daily Citizen has only been digitalized through 1977 and online articles didn’t start until around 2001. No copies of the Bloomfield Evening World have been digitalized that were found. If you have any clipped articles or humane society memorabilia including photos or stories that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you!

The first mention of the shelter was found was in the Vincennes Sun-Commercial on September 23, 1975 stating that a meeting was being held on Sept. 24 at the Linton Municipal Building to organize a Greene County Humane Society.

In 1976 and 1977, several newspaper articles were found regarding appointments of board members for the humane society, classified ads of animals available for adoption, and even discussion of building a shelter facility. After 1978, it is unclear what happened to the Greene County Humane Society as no records could be located.

The next record located is a newspaper clipping from November 15th, 1983 titled, “Recent dog incident points out need for local Humane Society”. In this article a local Protective Animal League (PAL) chapter seemingly based in Sullivan County deals with an animal neglect case in Greene County.

The article leaves a phone number for anyone interested in forming a humane society indicating the original attempt in 1975 failed.

The Greene County Humane Society was incorporated on January 12th, 1984.

The new Greene County Humane Society shelter was set to open towards the end of the year in 1989. Unfortunately without copies of the Daily Citizen for review, we were not able to find much about the efforts leading up to the shelter’s construction. It is known that much fundraising went into the building and that a significant amount work was done by volunteers. A letter was found soliciting donations stating that the shelter is currently under construction but no date is given. Blueprint drawings for a building design dated June 1987 have been recovered that shows a layout however, it seems to differ some from what was built. The fundraising letter included a sketch in the top corner that looks similar to the front of the building that was constructed.

An article from June 11th, 1989 discusses how the construction has taken longer because it has been built by volunteer labor and also states that opening is delayed about 1 month due to an unanticipated delay in the septic installation. On October 29th, 1989 in the Herald Times states that the humane society is hosting a haunted house as a fundraiser.

The 1989 building was expanded around 1995-1996.  Blueprints and construction permits were found however we were unable to locate newspaper articles that were relevant.

The Greene County Humane Society went through a lot of changes and controversies through the end of the 90s and early 2000s. For much of the time GCHS was open intake, meaning every animal was accepted regardless of space, which in turn caused a very high euthanasia rate. The shelter changed management a few times and there were positive changes, including some aesthetic improvements to the facility.

In early 2020 the Humane Society made a change to its leadership and the Board of Directors began the tough journey of improving shelter procedures and re-inventing the shelter’s image. The shelter quickly achieved “no-kill” status by stopping the practice of euthanizing for space and began to modernize it’s website and pet management systems to ensure pets get as much exposure for adoption as possible.

The shelter began expanding and adding events to get the public involved and started partnering with organizations such as the Bissell Pet Foundation to offer reduced fee adoption events. The shelter has expanded it’s on-site walking trail and ensured that it is open to the public in addition to being used for potential adopters to get to know their animals.

The Humane Society set the goal to solve animal overpopulation at its roots and identified 7 areas to improve. In their efforts, they’ve hosted annual free microchip clinics, added a Pet Food Blessing Box to their parking lot, and have partnered with Pets Alive to open a spay/neuter clinic to provide further access to needed surgeries and vaccines.

While working on improving the lives of animals in Greene County, the Humane Society leadership has been working behind the scenes to determine if a new animal shelter would be best for the community. After much research and consultation with relevant professionals, planning has been underway to ensure that the best possible building is built so that it can function for decades to come.

On January 7th, 2024, the Greene County Humane Society announced the launch of a capital campaign to build a new animal shelter.