About Us

The Halifax Humane Society is a 501 (c)(3) public nonprofit organization servicing the Greater Daytona Beach area in Volusia County, Florida. Halifax Humane Society was founded in 1937.

We are an open-door animal shelter that services over 30,000 animals annually. Kennel and cage capacity can comfortably house approximately 350 animals per day and is usually full.

Equipped with a spay/neuter clinic, we perform early-age spay/neuter surgeries to ensure that all adopted animals are altered before entering a new home. Subsidized spay/neuter surgeries are also available at Halifax Humane Society's Redinger Spay/Neuter Clinic, located at 600 Mason Avenue in Daytona Beach.

Humane Education is made available to any and all schools, businesses, civic groups, etc. through speaking engagements, tours and material. In addition, Halifax Humane Society has a focus on keeping pets with their families through animal training and behavior classes.

Division of Consumer Services,
Halifax Humane Society Registration # CH3515

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.

Mission Statement

Purpose and Beliefs

The Halifax Humane Society exists to protect animals from cruel, neglectful and exploitative treatment.

It is the belief of the Society that all living creatures possess an intrinsic value, which is manifested in its creation. Further, the Society believes that mankind must become a responsible steward of animals which he has domesticated and brought under his control.

The Society shall maintain programs and services, which embrace that principle:

Maintain a shelter facility to provide for the needs of lost, forsaken and abandoned animals;
Educate and continually acquaint the citizens, particularly children, with the ethics of kindness and compassion, thereby engendering respect for all living beings;
Investigate complaints of animal abuse and correct those situations by way of education, or if need be prosecution;
Prevent the overpopulation of domestic animals by providing affordable spay and neuter opportunities to the public, while making certain that animals adopted from the Shelter never contribute to the problem.

No-Closed Doors

Taking in EVERY pet, NO CLOSED DOORS.

Compliant with Florida law, Halifax Humane Society is proud to display our population statistics. We would also like to take a step further in explaining the difference between animal welfare non-profits. Each 501(c)(3) in animal welfare has its own mission, be it saving a specific breed, or challenging laws that allow immoral animal trade. Rarely are two non-profits the same, as such, they should be evaluated independently based on the complexity of the problem they address, the outreach and size of their programs, and their impact.

Halifax Humane Society determines its save rate based on the industry standard Asilomor formula, developed and used by several of world's leading animal welfare organizations. This formula does not include owner requested euthanasia, which is a compassionate service provided to citizens who may not be able to afford end of life services at a private veterinarian. For 2021 using the Asilomor calculation the save rate for Halifax Humane Society was 93.53%. In 2022 the LRR is 93.94%.

SAC Data

Jan 2020 - Sept 2032

Shelter Animal Count 2020-Sept 2023

Halifax Humane Society has one overarching vision, to create a set of programs that will end the number one killer of pets, displacement. At its core, Halifax Humane Society staff shares the belief that fingers should not be pointed, that not one shelter, not one person is responsible for the killing of pets. The displacement of animals is a social problem, and so long as it exists, the cause of death should matter as much as the source, otherwise, history will continue to repeat itself. Our vision is not a "quick fix" to improve the numbers of our shelter in the short term, we aim instead to solve the long-term problems of our community as a whole.

Currently, Halifax Humane Society is changing history. In the past 8 years, Halifax Humane Society has made some magnificent changes to increase adoptions, keep pets in their original homes, change legislation, open pet-friendly homes, reduce behavior issues, address emergencies, educate children, and much more. The Halifax Humane Society Board, volunteers, and staff have done this while taking the hard road, accepting every animal that comes to their door.

Many organizations achieved "no-kill" status early by simply restricting intake, bringing red-rope policies to organizations that should be accepting the most difficult cases, not avoiding them. Halifax Humane Society feels that refusing to take in any animal will only confound and further hurt our mission, and the hundreds of thousands of pets that will be displaced in the future with nowhere else to go.

We are proud to show our constantly improving trends as we seek to uphold our mission of servicing every animal that comes to our door. Between our two clinics, Halifax Humane Society performs over 10,000 low-cost pet sterilizations a year, our legislative programs are making Volusia County more pet-friendly than ever.

Halifax Humane Society (HHS) has attained a Live Release Rate (LRR) of 90% or greater monthly since January 2020. Though we try to keep our distance from divisive terminology, this accomplishment qualifies us as a “no-kill” shelter. Although euthanasia was performed 424 times in 2020, all procedures resulted from an animal being terminally ill (i.e., leukemia), injured beyond saving (i.e., hit by a motor vehicle), or judged to be behaviorally unstable and thus, unadoptable without placing people and other animals in harm’s way. Attaining a no-kill status is challenging for any shelter, much less a shelter like ours that continues to be an open-admission shelter and never turning away any animal in need.

For 2021 using the Asilomor calculation the save rate for Halifax Humane Society was 93.53%. In 2022 the LRR is 93.94%.

No-Kill in Theory, VS. Reality-

Some organizations claim to be “no-kill” due to a live-release rate (LRR) that is 90% or above. While in theory, this is a commendable goal, it only speaks to outcomes and does not look into the deeper issues at hand. LRR is simply a useful measure for organizations to self-assess their progress. While a 90% LRR may be easily achieved for a shelter full of highly adoptable animals, it can be nearly impossible for an organization that accepts high numbers of feral cats and large-breed dogs. It is important to realize the impact animal welfare organizations within a community have on one another.

For example, one organization may decide to become “no-kill” by closing its doors to animal surrenders and disallowing intake of less adoptable animals. Through these policy changes, it now finds homes for 90 of the 100 animals (90% LRR) that it accepts but turns away 1,000 animals in need. These animals now go to an open-admission shelter that accepts all animals. The open-admission shelter takes in 10,000 animals, including the sick, injured, aggressive, and elderly, and finds homes for 8,000 of them (80% LRR), while providing care to EVERY animal in need that enters its doors. It is easy to see that without complete data on the pets entering, it is impossible to draw accurate conclusions to assess outcomes.

That said, our efforts in recent years have made great strides. Adoptions have risen 20% over the past three years even with lower numbers of animals entering Halifax Humane Society. Animal transfers increased by 125% due to shelter/rescue networking efforts. 26% more animals are being returned to their original owners. For the first time in many years, intake is declining.

All of these efforts combined are resulting in Halifax Humane Society reaching our goal of responsibly increasing our Live Release Rate each year.

For 2021 using the Asilomor calculation the save rate for Halifax Humane Society was 93.53%. In 2022 the LRR is 93.94%.

Core Values

Please Help the Animals

Halifax Humane Society prides itself on being a financially accountable organization while being responsible stewards of the gifts we receive. As an open-door shelter, we never turn away an animal in need. Because the need in our community is so great, we provide shelter, food, low-cost spay/neuter, and/or medical care for over 25,000 animals annually. If we spent a mere $100 on every animal we come in contact with each year, our expenses would exceed $2 million. As you can see, the financial burden is enormous.

Spay Neuter Program

Since the opening of the Redinger Spay/Neuter Clinic in 2012, Halifax Humane Society has completed approximately 10,000 total surgeries per year, an increase of nearly 140% over previous efforts. Based on national estimates, the Halifax Humane Society spay/neuter program is reducing intake into local shelters by 3,500 cats and 3,000 dogs each year. Thanks to the support of local donors and grantors like PetSmart Charities, Petco Foundation, CCFAW,org, and Florida Animal Friend, every one of these surgeries has been offered at an affordable rate, even free in some cases.

Halifax Humane Society has specifically targeted animal groups in greatest need of affordable, accessible spay/neuter opportunities. The "Primp Your Pit" and "Beat the Heat" promotions target pit bulls and female cats, respectively, two of the most overpopulated animal groups in our community. By making spay/neuter the easy choice for pet owners, we are making significant strides toward controlling the population and reducing intake into all local animal welfare organizations.