No More Homeless Pets
Weekly News

January 23, 2004
From super adoptions to spay/neuter successes, people working together to bring about a time when there will be No More Homeless Pets.

• Amazing Animals
• Feral Cat News
• Adoption News
• Spay/Neuter News
• Fabulous Fundraisers
• In Your Communities
• International

TOP STORY

Atlanta, Georgia - Achieving No More Homeless Pets is a daunting task in a metro area of 4.5 million people that destroys 90,000 animals a year. However, the battle in Atlanta is on.

Under the direction of Rebecca Guinn, who previously had co-founded Atlanta's Lifeline Animal Project (LAP), Best Friends oversees a variety of programs that are having an impact. 

Read more about Rebecca Guinn, and No More Homeless Pets Atlanta.

AMAZING ANIMALS

Greenfield, Massachusetts - Hildie, a three-year-old bull mastiff, is a service dog who just doesn't quit. She has been trained to alert her person, Kelley Fecteau, who has multiple sclerosis, in advance of oncoming seizures. But very early one recent morning, Hildie took things a step further, scratching at the wall and generally indicating that she wanted to go to an adjacent apartment.

Fecteau eventually bowed to Hildie's wishes and the pair went next door, where they were admitted by the female occupant. Hildie made an immediate dash for the bedroom -- where the male occupant of the apartment began clutching his chest, complaining of tightness. An ambulance was summoned, and at the hospital, it was determined that the man had a previously undetected heart condition. No one can totally explain Hildie's unique gift, but there are several Greenfield residents who are very glad she has it. Read the full story in the Springfield Republican.

FERAL CAT NEWS

Easton, Pennsylvania - Trap/neuter/return programs for feral cats are popping up across much of the country, but in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley they are a relatively new phenomenon. In fact, the city of Easton will be the first community in the area to undertake a large-scale program. With an assist from PETsMART Charities in the form of a $7,815 grant, the city hopes to trap and neuter 300 ferals during the coming year. According to the Allentown Morning Call, Easton is working hand-in-hand with the Northampton County SPCA, which will offer discounts on the fees it charges for sterilization.

ADOPTION NEWS

Kanab, Utah - Artist Cyrus Mejia, one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society, has found another unique project to raise public awareness of animal issues. The new venture is part of the 575 Project, which illustrates the number of animals killed every hour in U.S. shelters. Mejia invites participation from anyone who has saved an animal's life through a rescue or adoption from a shelter.

People are asked to submit a 4x6 photo of the saved animal, with a short story of the rescue on the back. In return, Mejia will send participants a signed and numbered print from an original linocut titled "I Saved A Life." The photo will then be displayed as part of the Best Friends Art Project exhibitions. Since it is part of the 575 Project, only 575 prints will be made, so photos should be submitted as soon as possible to Mejia at P.O. Box 33, Kanab, Utah 84741.

Cats far outnumber dogs in homes across the U.S. and, according to a survey conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, their people are spending plenty of money on them. The survey suggests that there are 77 million cats in American homes, compared to 65 million dogs. And, the cat people apparently try to keep their pets happy -- they spent $4.2 billion on cat food in 2002, and $168 million on cat treats. Read more from the Mail Tribune.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The basketball courts at the 12th Street Gym took on quite a different look last week, as the gym and the People-Pet Partnership (PPP) joined forces for a unique pet adoption drive. The "New Body, New Buddy" drive, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association and the Pennsylvania SPCA, collected cat and dog food, toys, treats, towels and blankets for shelter animals. In addition, homes were found for two dozen homeless animals, bringing to over 900 the number of homes PPP has found for abandoned animals during its three years of existence.

SPAY/NEUTER NEWS

Richmond, Virginia - The Richmond SPCA has decided it needs to spay or neuter 9,000 pets a year to keep the Richmond-area pet population from increasing, so that has become the goal for 2005. A new program, which will provide spay/neuter services free of charge to income-eligible people, will help the SPCA meet its goal. Estimates are that fully half of the 9,000 proposed surgeries will be done at no cost to the animals' people. Just since October, the agency has performed more than 500 free surgeries. Read more in the Times-Dispatch.

Bristol, Virginia - The Margaret B. Mitchell Spay/Neuter Clinic has only been open for business for a couple of weeks, but business is already booming. Mitchell, founder of the Bristol Humane Society, left the society $650,000 when she died, providing the impetus for construction of the new facility, which will serve northeast Tennessee and southeast Virginia. The clinic is modeled after the highly successful Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic in Asheville, N.C. Surgery teams from the Asheville clinic are working in Bristol while the new clinic gets fully operational. Fifty-two animals were spayed or neutered during the first week alone. Read more from the Bristol Herald Courier.

Augusta, Maine - The popular Help Fix ME spay/neuter program, which helps senior citizens get their animals sterilized, spent its entire $100,000 allocation in just six weeks last summer. The animal welfare group Spay Maine is trying to drum up support for more funding, promoting legislation that would funnel 100 percent of the state's pet food and livestock registration fees to animal welfare needs. (Fifty percent currently goes to the general fund.) Under the program, people who meet income guidelines pay $10 to sterilize a cat and $20 for a dog. More information about Help Fix ME is available by calling 1-800-367-1317. For the full story, read the Portland Press-Herald.

FABULOUS FUNDRAISERS

Los Angeles, California - It may be the fictional wedding of the year in the comics pages, but the cartoon character "Cathy" is having a real-life impact on homeless animals. As Cathy and Irving prepare to tie the knot on February 5, some $10,000 in real money has been raised through the cartoon couple's online gift registry for homeless animals. The comic strip twice mentioned the couple's gift registry, and donations have poured in ever since. The money will benefit Pet Orphans of Southern California, the shelter where cartoonist Cathy Guisewite and her daughter work as volunteers. Editor & Publisher is keeping tabs on Cathy's gift registry. (Listen to interview with Cathy Guisewite on Best Friends Radio.)

Austin, Texas - From the Eagles to "The Lion King," the River City Pops choir belted out animal-related tunes at its "Animania" concert last week. Featuring a blend of four-part harmony and high-impact aerobic dancing, the group performs just two concerts a year. Each has a theme, and last week's was animal-related, with proceeds going to the Austin Humane Society.

Audience donations to a humane society wish list included cash, canned pet food, toys, and cleaning and medical supplies. In keeping with the "Animania" theme, every song performed was written by groups with animal names, or had animal names in the title. Austin's Channel 8 has the full story.

Sarasota, Florida - It's hardly what you'd expect at Saks Fifth Avenue, but on "Dog's Night Out," guests and their pooches shared the posh surroundings. Tiny galvanized steel buckets filled with bone-shaped dog biscuits were strategically placed throughout the store, and an array of fancy pet supplies were available for purchase. The shopping extravaganza and a subsequent gala at the Sarasota Hyatt raised money for the Animal Rescue Coalition, which provides low-cost and free spay/neuter services in the area. Read more in The Herald.

IN YOUR COMMUNITIES

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - A Virginia man was convicted in federal court last week of selling videos of pit bulls engaged in dog fights. Under a 1999 federal law, it is illegal to peddle depictions of animal cruelty across state lines. Robert J. Stevens, 64, was the first person to be convicted under the law after a trial, although several other defendants have been charged under the law and entered guilty pleas. Although an appeal may follow, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which investigated the case, hails this conviction as "landmark," predicting that it will open the doors to other cruelty investigations and convictions. Read more from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Richmond, Virginia - Virginia residents with an interest in animal welfare issues will have an opportunity to lobby their legislators during Virginia Animal Welfare Lobby Day 2005. The event, scheduled for February 3, is being coordinated by the Animal Welfare Coalition of Hampton Roads. Those who attend will receive training, updates on all bills currently before the Virginia legislature, and a chance to meet with their legislators. For more information on bills that have been filed, read the newsletter on the Heritage Humane Society website.

San Francisco - Kimpton Hotels, with 38 hotels and restaurants nationwide, has long offered pet-friendly accommodations. But now the chain has taken its concern for pets to new heights by extending care to the pets of all its employees. Through a partnership with Pet Assure, a pet health-care organization, Kimpton is offering a comprehensive pet benefit program. The full program, in addition to providing savings at network veterinarians and pet-related merchants, provides all pets with an ID tag that connects to a service that can provide pet identification information 24 hours a day.

Flint, Michigan - Three years ago, then-10-year-old Lucia Clouse saw a circus for the first time. Appalled by what she saw, she stayed just nine minutes. So, when the Shrine Circus planned a visit to Flint this year, the seventh grader took action. She organized an informational picket outside the arena, and gathered signatures on a petition that will be sent to President Bush, calling for a ban on the use of animals in circuses. Read more in the Flint Journal.

INTERNATIONAL

Ottawa, Canada - Pointing to less than glowing statistics concerning felines in the city, the Ottawa Humane Society is launching 2005 as "The Year Of the Cat." In a city where only 5 to 7 percent of stray cats are returned to their people, the humane society project will feature incentives to increase cat adoptions, attempt to properly match cats with responsible people, distribute cat welfare newsletters to schools, and expand educational activities in high-abandonment areas of the city. For more, read the Ottawa Sun.