For the first time in its more than 150-year history Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester, is the recipient of a federal government grant.
Congressman Joe Morelle announced that the nonprofit will be receiving $344,000 under a consolidated appropriations act that was signed into law in January.
Some of the money will be used to hire two additional humane law enforcement investigators.
"And by doing that, we'll be able to increase our capacity to investigate animal cruelty cases across our four-county area," said Lollypop Farm President and CEO Alice Calabrese. "Based on the number of calls we're getting for service, we know we don't have enough staff, so this really lets us increase our staff and meet more of the community need."
In 2025, the Humane Society responded to nearly 3,000 calls for service, seized more than 350 animals from unsafe conditions, and made 22 arrests.
Calabrese said this represents a year-over-year increase in service calls, but it's not clear whether animal cruelty and neglect are on the rise or the reporting of these cases are increasing because of better awareness around animal welfare.
Lollypop Farm currently employs one part-time and four full-time humane law enforcement officers. New hires will earn between $58,000 and $62,000, depending on their level of experience. But it's not an easy job to fill because of the training involved and the nature of the work.
"It's very difficult work," said Calabrese. "There are a lot of things that are difficult to understand and difficult to see."
She added that police training is essential because officers responding to an animal welfare call may encounter domestic violence or other dangerous situations.
A law enforcement background is helpful, but not necessary. Some of the current humane officers are retired sheriff's deputies or town police.
In addition to expanding its humane law enforcement team, the federal grant money will pay for supplies and equipment to be used by Lollypop Farm's animal emergency response team.
They respond when animals are affected by things like house fires, natural disasters and hoarding situations.
Lollypop Farm continues to push for legislative reform to strengthen New York state law related to animal welfare. State Assemblymember Jen Lunsford (D-Perinton) is sponsoring a bill that would create new criminal offenses of first- and second-degree endangering the welfare of a companion animal or farm animal. The first-degree charge would be a felony.
A second measure would give humane law enforcement access to the state's criminal database and the ability to report animal-related crimes directly into the system.
