RayLynn Bradigan, executive director of the Upper Valley Humane Society in Enfield, New Hampshire, leads me into a room housing a litter of five-week-old rescued kittens. They have been fostered by a UVHS team member since before their eyes opened, when they needed to be fed every two hours. Two bright orange, two black, and one long-haired tortoiseshell dart from their pen when RayLynn unzips the door. Adding to their fluffy, tumbling charm are their surprisingly short tails. The kittens are eager to explore the room, and one climbs up my pant leg while others slip in and out of play tunnels and in between furniture. RayLynn says they will doubtless be adopted as soon as they are old enough, noting that they are favorites of the staff.

 

A Perfect Fit

RayLynn, who has helmed UVHS since the summer of 2025, went to college to be a teacher of literature, but her part-time job training dogs throughout college turned into a career working for animal welfare organizations instead. She has worked for shelters or vet clinics since 2009, so when she returned to the Upper Valley to help her parents, taking a job at UVHS was the perfect fit.

Her first feeling upon getting to know the organization was that it needed more connections to the community, especially since the UVHS site is located away from the population centers of the Upper Valley, down Route 89 off Exit 15. She wanted to “open the place up” and to network more with other service professionals as well as speak with local organizations, letting people know how UVHS can help them as well as their pets.

“We don’t lock our doors during the day anymore,” she says. “People come in, and we have someone here to talk to them.”

 

Providing Care and Services

UVHS is well-known in the region for helping families and adoptable pets find each other and for providing a safe shelter for people who need to surrender their animals. The website posts photos and detailed bios of animals currently up for adoption, and this information is also quickly posted on social media to give these animals a better chance of finding the right home. Those interested in adopting make an appointment to meet the animal at the shelter, bringing all members of the household.

Some of the lesser-known services that UVHS has to offer include helping pet owners in financial distress by providing pet food and low-cost pet wellness clinics at the shelter. UVHS also has support programs in place to help with training and behavior issues to help keep pets with their families. In addition, UVHS’s Trap, Neuter, and Release program helps control feral cat populations. UVHS also provides emergency boarding for pets with owners who are hospitalized or unhoused due to a fire or other disaster. 

RayLynn has found that getting the word out about their services has allowed neighbors to help neighbors during an emergency. For example, last Thanksgiving, a local resident, who was the sole caregiver for his wife who has dementia, fell and broke his hip and needed emergency surgery and hospitalization. He was able to find care for his wife, but he also needed someone to care for their beloved dog. All local boarding facilities were booked due to the holiday. A neighbor, who was unable to care for the dog but had heard RayLynn speak at the Hanover Lions Club, told the man about the shelter’s emergency boarding option, and the UVHS stepped in to find placement for the dog while the man was recuperating. “They were so grateful,” she says. “It was a whole lot for them to worry about all at once.”

Some animals are overly stressed when they are kenneled, and the UVHS kennels are sometimes full, so RayLynn has built connections with a network of smaller local foster-based rescue groups, such as Jezzie’s Place in Canaan, All Ears Sanctuary in Orford, Survivors Paws in Lebanon, Dreams Come True in Plainfield, and Potter’s Angels in Vermont. “I’m not a fan of saying we can’t, so if we can’t, we find someone who can,” says RayLynn. If UVHS has an animal they can’t board or foster, they reach out to these agencies, run mostly out of people’s homes. In return, if these groups need supplies or help with veterinary care, they can turn to UVHS.

 

Emergency Care

RayLynn is also building relationships with local police and rescue workers who bring in animals due to a fire, arrest, or other emergency. They appreciate that no matter what time it is, they can call her cell number to get help. She knows how important it is for those on the front lines to have a full understanding of how UVHS can help in crisis—not just for pets, but for people too.

“We’ve had people needing to be hospitalized for mental health crises, and they don’t want to go because they have no one to care for their pet. They think that the pet will be taken away from them,” says RayLynn. Emergency personnel can call RayLynn, and she will personally reassure the pet owners that their pet will be returned when they are able to care for it again.

Often it may be a pet owner’s caseworker who calls for help; however, the pet owners themselves must give permission to temporarily surrender their pet. In addition, they should sign paperwork in case the pet needs medical or preventative care, which UVHS will provide for free. In addition, the UVHS will try to get information about the pet’s medical history and personality from their owners before taking them in to kennel.

 

The Wellness Clinic

The low-cost pet wellness clinic at UVHS is also available to the public, but it is often booked ahead months in advance, so pet owners needing financial assistance for spaying, neutering, and vaccinations for their animals should reserve appointments early at uvhs.org and call the shelter if they have any questions. The shelter has a veterinarian on staff three days a week, but at least half of that time is spent caring for shelter animals.

The UVHS wellness clinic also participates in the Trap, Neuter, and Return program (TNR) for feral cats. “Before the snow melted this year, we were contacted by six different properties where people had an abundance of cats that they didn’t want,” says RayLynn. These cats were living in barns and old buildings. The wild cats that can still be socialized, such as young kittens, are put up for adoption. However, adult feral cats see “no benefit in human interaction” and often cannot live with human families. The goal of TNR is to return adult feral cats to their cat communities after they have been spayed or neutered and vaccinated. However, some property owners ask that the cats not be returned, even though their behavior vastly improves after being neutered. “Luckily, we have a list of people who do want barn cats,” says RayLynn.

Another service of UVHS is helping owners find their lost pets. The website has an online form to fill out if you have found a lost pet or are missing a pet. Lost and found pets are also posted on Facebook. UVHS will contact owners if they have an animal matching any of the descriptions. RayLynn also advises calling the police if you have lost or found a pet.

 

Lend a Helping Hand

Besides familiarizing people with their services, RayLynn hopes to let the community know more about their needs as an organization. She stresses that UVHS welcomes new volunteers, and that the duties are so varied that there is something for everyone, including working with the animals, the building and grounds, the reception desk, or stuffing envelopes. Someone with mobility issues, for example, can simply sit with shy dogs and talk with them, or they can help with the newsletters. 

UVHS currently has 50 to 60 regular volunteers who put in a total of about 600 hours each month. “Volunteering is something we don’t talk about enough,” says RayLynn, pointing out the good feelings that people gain from helping out. “And people love to have the opportunity to spend time with the animals.”

The board of directors is also growing at UVHS, with openings for two more seats. “They are wonderful,” she says about the current board. “I’ve worked with boards in other positions before, and this is a really supportive board. They are eager to learn about animal welfare, and they are engaged. Every board member volunteers, and that is very uncommon. They help with cleaning kennels, fostering, or walking dogs, that sort of thing.”

Over 85 percent of the funding for UVHS comes from local individual donors who typically give smaller amounts. In addition, adoption fees partially offset the costs UVHS has incurred while caring for an animal. Adoption fees are highest for puppies, running around $500. The wellness clinics operate at a financial loss because they are offered below cost. 

Several local grocery stores, including the Co-ops, Shaw’s, Hannaford, and Price Chopper, have collection bins or drives for pet food and supplies for UVHS. “It is unbelievable the amount of generosity in our community,” says RayLynn. “We have a room right now filled with new donations.” Despite this abundance, she says they still always need kitten food, cat litter, and cleaning supplies, such as bleach and laundry detergent. She’d love to organize a drive at a place like BJs where they could park their van and collect bulk quantities of things like paper towels and treats like cheese sticks and hot dogs, which they use to encourage their animals to take medications.

Building a Stronger Community

What they don’t use themselves, RayLynn passes on to other organizations, such as the local food banks and LISTEN. “We used to have a long list of things we didn’t accept, but now we take them and share the high-quality donations with humans in need,” says RayLynn. Sometimes people donate brand-new blankets, towels, and sheets, and if a family loses everything in a fire, the UVHS is happy to share their supplies. She says their overarching goal is to help people and to build a stronger community, and relationships with people and animals happens to be how they can do that.

RayLynn says it’s always a red flag for her in interviews when someone says they like animals more than people. “I want people who also love people,” she says.

After her first year at the UVHS, RayLynn is still assessing the community’s needs and what would be most successful as far as fundraising efforts, while still staying true to their identity. “I see this as a small-town, closer relationships organization,” says RayLynn. “I don’t see us doing black-tie galas as much as I see us doing more events like a family reunion of people who have adopted pets.”

RayLynn prioritizes things like bringing in students on field trips and teaching people about the work they are doing at the shelter, versus putting on concerts and larger events, “spending a lot of time having a party.” UVHS does host an Open House twice a year to welcome the community into the facility, and they participate in smaller events hosted by places like the West Lebanon Feed & Supply. At these events, a frequent comment by attendees when they learn more about UVHS is “we didn’t know that you did this much.”

“We think it’s so obvious that we have all these services, and our team wonders why people aren’t asking for this help,” RayLynn says. Her team now sees that informing the community is key to being able to help it. 

 

Upper Valley Humane Society

300 Old Route 10

Enfield, NH

(643) 448-6888

uvhs.org