Three Muscatine area nonprofits recently received a total of $2,000 in grant funding from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
Local 4 WHBF reported Tuesday the Muscatine Humane Society and It Takes A Village Rescue & Resources each received $750 grants, and For Pets’ Sake received $500. For Pets’ Sake is also working to identify supplies the nonprofit can distribute to the community, which will also be given by the HSUS.
The funds were awarded by the Humane Society’s Iowa State Director, Preston Moore. The HSUS and Moore have held multiple events in Muscatine, the most recent in 2019, to discuss ongoing state legislation and to hear about animal issues from citizens.
“There’s something special about Muscatine,” Moore said in a Tuesday release. “When we held an event here in 2019 to discuss the then-pending HF737, we had a packed house at the downtown library. Standing room only. People showed up to learn how to help. I’ve kept in touch with the organizations and people I met back then and we all worked together to get the cruelty bill passed. These grants are extension of that cooperation. We’re all doing what we can to help animals.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed HF737, also known as the Community & Pet Protection Act, into law in May 2020. Moore recently assisted the Muscatine County Sheriff with an animal neglect case and provided them with guidance on the new law. The law increased penalties for animal abuse and neglect, and removed the owner exemption from abuse cases (previously, the state barred the owner of a pet from being charged with abusing their own pet).
“This money will be used for our spay/neuter efforts,” Meagan Koehler, president of It Takes A Village Animal Rescue and Resources, said of the new grant funding. “Our rescue has recently launched a TNR group to help get our local feral cat population under control. We are already making great progress, but we have a long way to go.”