Humane Society of Ocean City

About Humane Society of Ocean City

Since 1964 with two teenagers caring for stray animals in a heated garage, as a “no kill" shelter, the Humane Society of Ocean City has continued to provide the highest level of compassion and service to our animal friends. These friends may be feral cats, unwanted pets, family pets in need of veterinary care, or injured wildlife. The HSOC is the only shelter in New Jersey on only one of 30 in the entire country to offers a full complement of services including: animal control and rescue, animal cruelty investigations, adoption facility, veterinary center, humane education programs, dog therapy/companion programs, volunteer and fostering programs, indoor feral cat colony housing, and affordable spay/neuter services and behavioral programs. The current adoption facility can house over 125 animals and the organization averages over 150 adoptions a year. In its full-scale medical facility, built in 2010, HSOC performs over 1,000 spay/neuter surgeries annually. Additionally, the Woody Johnson Veterinary Center provides affordable prices on all veterinary diagnostic and treatment procedures to pet owners in Ocean City and the surrounding communities. The HSOC provides animal control services for the City of Ocean City with four full-time, state-certified Animal Control Officers, two of whom are also certified as Cruelty Investigators. As an animal rescue, HSOC's mission in animal control is the protection and care of domesticated stray animals and injured wildlife. All trapped wildlife is relocated back into the proper Ocean City environment per state mandates unless a state-licensed facility agrees to accept the animal. HSOC works to rescue animals (both pets and displaced wildlife) during disasters and to find temporary housing for pets of families whose homes may have been damaged or destroyed. HSOC has been activated three times during the past eight years for disaster relief, the most recent one during the devastating Hurricane Sandy. Because feral cats are not often candidates for adoption, HSOC maintains its Feral Cat Room where over 50 cats can roam and interact with each other and humans to the degree that they choose. This room ensures a safe, healthy and happy environment for this population for the remainder of their precious lives. HSOC was named 2014 Shelter of the Year in the Purina ProPlan Show Dogs Awards in conjunction with the annual Westminster Dog Show.