UPDATE: June 11, 2021: Our main shelter in Pittsfield, Purradise satellite cat adoption and boarding facility in Great Barrington and Catwalk Boutiques in Lenox and Great Barrington are open for business. You do not need an appointment to visit the shelters. Per state guidelines, masks are not required if you have been fully vaccinated. We continue to provide hand sanitizer at our facilities and disinfect common surfaces often to protect staff and visitors.

UPDATE: March 1, 2021: As of Tuesday, March 2, 2021, our main shelter at 214 Barker Road in Pittsfield will reopen to the public and our Catwalk Boutiques will reopen on Thursday, March 4. Purradise, our satellite feline adoption and boarding facility will remain closed until further notice, but cat boarding may be available at the main shelter.

You must wear a mask and practice social distancing at our reopened facilities, which will have occupancy limits.

You will no longer need to make an appointment to enter the shelter building. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 4 and Sundays 1 to 4. Catwalk Boutiques are open Thursday through Sunday. Hours for Lenox (53 Church Street) are 11 to 5 Thursday to Saturday and 12 to 4 on Sunday and for Great Barrington (325 Stockbridge Road) 10 to 4 Thursday to Saturday and 12 to 4 on Sunday.

UPDATE: January 1, 2021: We have made the difficult decision to again temporarily close both of our Catwalk Boutique locations (325 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington and 53 Church Street in Lenox) to protect our workers, volunteers, customers and the public. Also, Purradise, our satellite cat adoption and boarding facility in Great Barrington, is also closed until further notice.

UPDATE: November 21, 2020: Due to an uptick in COVID cases in Pittsfield, Berkshire Humane Society’s main shelter at 214 Barker Road in Pittsfield and Purradise, 301 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington are back to being closed to the public and open by appointment only. Please call us at 413-447-7878 to schedule an appointment to surrender or adopt a pet or to pick up food from our Pet Food Bank. Our Family Dog School continues to hold classes by appointment. Our Catwalk locations in Great Barrington and Lenox remain open.

UPDATE: June 16, 2020: Berkshire Humane Society’s main shelter at 214 Barker Road in Pittsfield is now open to the public! We are open for people looking for a pet to adopt or to use our services. Please do not come to the shelter if you are just visiting the animals without an intent to adopt. Shelter hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday 1 pm to 4 pm.

Our Family Dog School is back in business. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 139 if you have questions.

Catwalk Boutiques at 325 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington and 53 Church Street (a new location) in Lenox will open on Thursday, June 18. Startup hours are Thursday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday noon to 4 pm.

For all locations, masks are required and building occupancy is limited. Precautions such as scheduled cleaning of surfaces are in place.

Purradise, our satellite cat adoption and feline boarding facility in Great Barrington, remains closed until further notice. Cat boarding is still available at the main shelter in Pittsfield.

UPDATE: May 1, 2020: It is with a heavy heart that we announce the cancelation of Camp Humane’s summer programming.

For those of you who have paid in advance, you have two options. We will gladly issue you a refund of your payment. We understand that during this time money can be tight. The refund will be mailed in the form of a check and will take about 2 to 3 weeks to get to you.

The second option is to consider your payment a donation to Berkshire Humane Society. Your contribution would be 100 percent tax deductible and would support future humane education. Sadly, without camp, we face a $25,000 loss in income to the shelter, which is a huge blow to our budget.

Thank you for your time and support.

UPDATE: April 24, 2020: To raise funds during social distancing, we are selling apparel through Bonfire.com. Go to Berkshire Humane Society store  to see styles, colors and sizes. Adult and youth sizes available.

UPDATE: April 1, 2020: Our low-cost spay and neuter program is now on hold until further notice and our April School Break Camp Humane has been cancelled.

UPDATE: March 17, 2020: Family Dog School is now closed until further notice. For information, call 413-447-7878. Thank you!

March 16, 2020

Dear Friend,

We’d like you to know what we’re doing at Berkshire Humane Society to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. To protect you, our staff and volunteers and the animals in our care and to support national, state and local recommendations, we are scaling back our operations until further notice.

What this means is that we’ll still provide quality care for homeless animals and continue programs that help pet owners in our community, but we will reduce our public interface to keep our staff and volunteers safe. Here’s what you can expect.

• Our shelters will be closed to the public. The main shelter at 214 Barker Road in Pittsfield will still be staffed at reduced levels to keep our animals healthy, safe and adoptable. Our satellite adoption facility, Purradise, will be closed until further notice. We have moved all the cats there to the main shelter.
• Adoptions and Surrenders will be by appointment only. You can still surrender a pet or come to see a pet you’d like to adopt at our main shelter, but you’ll have to make an appointment to do so. Please call 413-447-7878 to set up a time. Adoptions will not be available through Purradise. If you do come to Pittsfield for an adoption or surrender, please know that we’ve taken extra precautions to keep you safe from the virus.
• Cat Boarding will be available at our main shelter. Although Purradise will be closed for feline boarding, we can board your cat at our main shelter. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 124.
• Our Pet Food Bank and SafePet programs are still available. If you are a food bank recipient, please call 413-447-7878 to set up an appointment. Our SafePet program is available for owners of pets through our Participating Partners.
• Medical care to shelter animals, including spay and neuter surgeries will continue. We will keep our shelter animals healthy and adoptable by continuing to work with local veterinarians.
• Low-cost spay and neuter surgeries for cats will still be available to the public. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 124.
• Family Dog School is open. We are keeping this service available for now because class sizes are well below recommended levels and our training facilities are spacious, allowing proper social distancing. We are disinfecting our training room between sessions. As usual, Family Dog School is not open to the public, but to students who have registered for classes. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 139 if you have questions.
• Education Programs are on hold: All meetings of Humane Heroes and Defenders are cancelled until further notice as are tours and community programs.
• Volunteer opportunities are reduced. We have temporarily eliminated front desk volunteer duties and reduced other tasks not needed due to being closed to the public. Some volunteer duties not requiring contact with the public (such as enriching lives of shelter animals by giving them the love and care they need) will continue to be staffed by volunteers who are comfortable with doing so after being briefed on measures to protect themselves from the virus. Again, the safety of our volunteers and their families is paramount. We appreciate their work and look forward to their return.
• Catwalk Boutiques will be closed: Our resale shops in Lenox and Great Barrington will be closed to protect our staff and customers. Check the Catwalk Boutique website https://catwalkboutique.org/ or Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CatwalkResaleBoutique/ for updates.
• Our in-person events through April will be postponed. This includes the Cat and Dog Film Festivals in Williamstown, now postponed to May 16 and 17, and the Lasagna Dinner scheduled for April 9^th at Crissey Farm in Great Barrington, which will be rescheduled at a later date. The Humane Race, which had been slated for May 9, will not occur and whether it will be rescheduled is undetermined.

Please check our website  https://berkshirehumane.org/ or Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BerkshireHumane/ or call us at 413-447-7878 for updates and more information.

We realize that these measures may be inconvenient to you, but your safety and the safety of our staff, our volunteers and the greater community is important to us.

We are also aware that many of our community members may face financial difficulty in the next few weeks and we anticipate an increased demand for help through our Pet Food Bank and SafePet programs. Because of this, and because many of our fund-raising events have been postponed, we’re asking you to consider donating to us. We understand that some of you may not be in a position to do so in these uncertain times, but if you are, we’d be grateful for your help so we can continue to help others.

Thank you, and please, stay healthy.

John Perreault

Executive Director, Berkshire Humane Society