News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Huron Humane Society Manager Stacy Newhouse, left, and Humane Society President Cindy Johnson accept a donation from Banner Realtor owner Margie Haaxma onThursday.

ALPENA — Banner Reality continued to celebrate its 30th anniversary on Thursday with a donation to the Huron Humane Society that will lead to the purchase of a portable ultrasound unit at the Humane Society.

The ultrasound unit will help Humane Society workers detect if an animal at the shelter is pregnant before the animal is sent to a vet to be spayed.

Banner Realtor owner Margie Haaxma said the business has always supported local nonprofits, but, to commemorate its anniversary, it wanted to go a little above and beyond the norm.

“We wanted to do something special, because we have received so much trust and confidence in our services from the community for the last 30 years,” Haaxma said. “We took the nonprofits that we have worked with and gave them the opportunity to put in requests, and we decided to fulfill the request from the Humane Society.”

Huron Humane Society President Cindy Johnson said the new ultrasound unit will be put to good use, help save costs, and protect unborn kittens and puppies.

“When cats and dogs come in, we’ll be able to quickly tell if they are pregnant, because sometimes it is hard to tell, especially if they are young,” Johnson said. “Sometimes, we send them to the vet to get spayed and we didn’t know they were expecting and we really don’t want that to happen. When we know they are pregnant, we can begin the prenatal treatment and make sure they get the nutrition and care they need and avoid sending them to get spayed.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.