On April 11, 1979, the New Hampshire Federation of Humane Organizations, Inc., (NHFHO) was formed.

Founding members:

• Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire (formerly Manchester)
• Concord SPCA
• Eastern Slopes Animal Welfare League
• Monadnock Region Humane Society
• Nashua Humane Society
• NH Humane Society
• New Hampshire SPCA
• Upper Valley Humane Society

The first President of the NHFHO was Fritz T. Sabbow of the NH Humane Society.

Federation members serve the entire state of New Hampshire.

Combined, NHFHO members:

• place more than 10,000 homeless animals each year in adoptive homes,
• reunite hundreds of lost animals with their owners,
• provide humane education for the communities they serve,
• respond to reports of suspected animal abuse, neglect, or cruelty,
• introduce and support enlightened animal welfare laws.

History

From the very beginning, the value of networking and idea exchange was at the forefront of the NHFHO agenda. In 1979 and 1980, NHFHO members struggled with a brand new idea of humane societies requiring adopters to spay/neuter their animals. While it was clear that the NHFHO would not interfere with any organization, the process of bringing organizations from across the state together eventually resulted in a coordination and standardization of approaches to animal sheltering including adoption of the then controversial spay/neuter requirement.