Lollypop Farm's first 150 years reflect massive improvements in the lives of animals

When Alyssa and Tim McMahon of Rochester spotted Midnight on Lollypop Farm's website about a year ago, they knew right away they were interested in adopting her.

Even before they met her, the sturdy, black, bulldog mix with a prominent underbite captured their hearts.

"Her tongue was out, and she looked so sweet, and then, when we found out about her story, we knew we had to take her home," Alyssa said.

Midnight's story is hard to hear. It's also, sadly, not uncommon.

The dog was abandoned in a city apartment with no food or water. When humane law enforcement officers found her, she was emaciated and terrified. Another dog was found dead inside the apartment.

“(Midnight) actually had to be brought into Lollypop Farm on a catch pole," said Lindsay Brewer, a communications specialist with the shelter. "She was so upset in the whole interaction that she punctured her own jowls with her teeth and had to have stitches."

But thanks to the Humane Society of Greater Rochester’s Champion program, Midnight got a second chance. The program pairs an employee with a pet who needs extra attention before they can be offered for adoption.

Brewer became Midnight’s champion.

For several months, she spent time with Midnight in her office and took her to local parks and on other outings. The timid, fearful, reactive dog quickly began to trust Brewer.

"In probably one week, she was snuggling on my lap," she said.

There was a time, not too long ago, when Midnight's story could have ended very differently.

As recently as 10 years ago, the Humane Society might not have had enough staff or resources to save a dog like her.

"It is hard to say, but she may have been a candidate for euthanasia," Brewer admitted.

Midnight’s rescue reflects a paradigm shift at Lollypop Farm and among animal welfare organizations across the U.S. in recent years.

Twenty years ago, up to half of the animals that were taken in by the Humane Society of Greater Rochester were euthanized, said Adrienne McHargue, vice president and chief operating officer.

"There were just decisions that ate at us," said McHargue, who has worked with the organization since 2007. "We were all animal lovers, and we don't want to have to make a decision for a healthy animal who just otherwise doesn't have anywhere else to go."

But at the time, McHargue said, the alternative was often equally or even more heartbreaking.

"The alternative was overcrowding; the alternative was saying no to someone who couldn't care for their pet anymore, and maybe that pet got left outside on the road or let go in the woods, or worse,” she said.

Two decades later, McHargue and her colleagues no longer have to make those gut-wrenching decisions. The choice to humanely end an animal's life is now based solely on the animal's health.

Since 2020, Lollypop Farm's save rate - the percentage of animals who enter the shelter in a given year and survive - has been close to 90%

That would allow the Humane Society to declare itself a "no-kill" shelter, but the organization has made a deliberate decision to not use the term.

They believe it can be misleading and confusing because the save rate can decline. When that happens — as it did in 2022, when it fell to 81.34% — it is likely due to the admittance of a large number of animals that are in such poor health, they die naturally or must be euthanized. That year, over 1,000 small mammals and mice were seized after a criminal investigation in Wayne County.

Some of the surviving animals were adopted after Lollypop appointed a young "rat ambassador" to extoll the virtues of the pocket pets.

The fact that Lollypop Farm has the resources to revamp the image of rodents is emblematic of the organization’s evolution from its humble beginning in 1873. That year, a few local citizens concerned about the plight of animals working on the Erie Canal joined forces to open a Rochester chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A May 9, 1873, editorial in the Democrat and Chronicle read:

"Every day we see horses on the streets overloaded and needlessly beaten. When the canal opens, there will be hundreds of miserable beasts crawling along the towpath — the 'galled jades' wincing under the collar at every step."

This Nov. 20 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Rochester SPCA's first official meeting. The group occupied a succession of spaces in the city from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century.

In 1957, the nonprofit took the name "Lollypop Farm" when it moved to a renovated apartment house on seven acres of land on West Henrietta Road across from what is now The Marketplace Mall.

Local businessman Hiram Marks' donation of 140 acres of land brought Lollypop Farm to its current site in Perinton in 1966.

Now known as Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester, the shelter was expanded in 2000 with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art animal care facility, including a surgery clinic, climate-controlled barn, and education facilities.

Along with the growth of the Humane Society's physical presence, recent decades have signaled another significant shift: Societal attitudes toward pets.

"Seventy to 80% of people see their pets as family, and they are looking for help that you would expect for any family member out there," McHargue said.

The kind of help that the Humane Society offers today is based on the main reasons people surrender animals to shelters: They're moving and can't take the pet with them; they can't afford a pet; or the pet is experiencing behavioral problems.

For pet owners facing economic hardship, Lollypop donates foodand offers discounted spay-neuter servicesand vaccines.

An army of volunteers, which has tripled in size in the last five years, stands ready to take in animals displaced by divorce or other life circumstances, so some don't even have to spend time in the shelter.

Animal behavioral science is used to help more pets remain in their current homes. People with concerns can make free calls to the Pet Peeves Behavioral Help Lineat 585-295-2999. Messages can be left on the help line 24 hours a day. A return call is made later by a trained volunteer.

Vicky Pape, Lollypop's director of animal placement, said there is usually a solution to most problems if people are willing to work through them.

For example: cats who don't use their litter boxes.

"What we've discovered over the years is that through changing the environment, looking at (cats’) medical needs, we're usually able to overcome that," Pape explained. "That's just one category of animal that used to be considered unplaceable, but now we are able to find that the vast, vast majority of them are placeable."

This year, the Humane Society embarked on a $20 million fundraising campaign with the goal of becoming one of the foremost community-based animal welfare and education centers in the U.S.

The major expansion includes plans for renovated kennels and veterinary clinics, classrooms, and guest centers.

As Lollypop Farm prepares for this next milestone, what drives McHargue, Pape, and their colleagues doesn’t seem all that different from the motivations of their predecessors in the 19th century who wanted to spare horses and mules the pain and indignity of grueling work.

They want animals to live their best lives.