Surrendering A Pet You Adopted From Us

If you adopted your pet from us and you can no longer keep or care for it, while we regret that you can no longer keep the animal that you committed to when you adopted it, we will take it back regardless of the amount of time you’ve had it provided there are no known reported bite incidents. Bite incidents are the responsibility of the owner of the animal to report and comply with the provisions of the Illinois Animal Control Act (Citation: 510 I.L.C.S. 5/13) prior to any surrender and you will be asked to provide a signature to confirm your knowledge of bite incidents and compliance with this law.

Please note that you adopted the animal from HSP and NOT the veterinary clinic, and as such an HSP volunteer must handle your return request, the veterinary clinic is not authorized to do this.

• We do not give refunds of adoption donations or reimburse medical expenses.
• A donation to be used for the care of your pet once it is in our possession is requested. The donation amount depends on if your pet is up to date on vaccinations or has any other special needs or circumstances that will incur additional expenses to HSP.
• You must email the Humane Society athelpsavepets@animalcareinfo.com and include your name, phone number, the HSP animal’s name, when it was adopted from us, and the reason for returning it.
• A volunteer will contact you as soon as possible. Please allow us 24 hours to call you. You must receive authorization BEFORE you drop the animal off. We are almost always full, and we need an opportunity to plan for the space required to house and care for your animal.
• The veterinary clinics that we operate from are NOT allowed to accept animal surrenders without prior authorization from the Humane Society. Do not call them or bring animals to them without prior authorization.

If you can no longer keep or care for the animal you adopted from us, however, you refuse to return the animal back to Help Save Pets, gift the animal or sell the animal, Help Save Pets will pursue whatever means necessary to retrieve the animal, including to but limited to, hiring a lawyer to file a lawsuit to regain possession of the animal. If this is necessary to retrieve the animal, you will be held responsible for any and all legal and court fees.

Surrendering A Pet You Did Not Adopt From HSP

• HSP does not accept surrenders of animals NOT previously adopted from us. Please understand that our rescue’s mission is to save the lives of animals who are about to die at animal controls and kill shelters; animals with nowhere else to go and no one to help them and are sometimes hours away from death. Our resources are limited and again, we only accept returns of animals previously adopted from HSP.
• Will, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy and Cook counties have shelters which accept unwanted animals, as do Joliet, Naperville, and Aurora. They are all listed in the phone book and have web sites.

Animal Cruelty and Abandonment

• Leaving a pet at the door or parking lot of Animal Care or any of the veterinary clinics from which we operate IS abandonment and we will prosecute.
• Releasing an animal to “run free”, or dumping animals on the side of the road is also abandonment. Farmers do not want your abandoned pets and they will prosecute.
• Animal abandonment constitutes a Class A misdemeanor. The maximum punishment for a Class A misdemeanor is imprisonment for a term less than one year. A second or subsequent conviction is a Class 4 felony punishable by one to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
• In Illinois, pet owners are responsible for humane care and treatment of their pets, providing food, water, shelter and veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering. Failure to do so constitutes a Class B misdemeanor.
• The Aggravated Cruelty statute prohibits a person from committing an act that causes a companion animal to suffer serious injury or death, and constitutes a Class 4 felony.

Stray Animals

We are a private cat and dog rescue and by law are not allowed to take strays that have not been legally released to us by the county in which the animal was found. The pick up and housing of strays is a taxpayer funded service and the responsibility of the county, township or village in which you live. If you find a stray animal:

• Call your county, township or village Animal Control, depending on where the animal is found.
• If it is after Animal Control hours, call your local police. You may also be instructed to call local police by Animal Control depending on where you live.
• There are times the police will not help if they don’t have the officers available. If you are in Will County, Animal Control is on call after hours 24/7. Leave a message and they will return the call.