No More Homeless Pets
Weekly News

August 22, 2004
From super adoptions to spay/neuter successes, people working together to bring about a time when there will be No More Homeless Pets.

• Spay/Neuter News
• Adoption News
• Feral Cat News
• Fabulous Fundraisers
• Community Campaigns
• International News
  
  

TOP STORY: The devastating effects of Hurricane Charley on the human population in Florida have been well documented. What has not been widely reported is the heavy toll the Category 4 storm had on animals. Special Report

SPAY/NEUTER NEWS

Jacksonville, Florida - For the first time on record, the number of animals entering the Duval County shelter has been down for 12 months in a row. This result was predicted by organizers of the SpayJax program, which over the past three years has sterilized 7,994 pets of low-income residents. SpayJax was funded by the city of Jacksonville and administrated by First Coast No More Homeless Pets.

Statesville, North Carolina - The area with one of the highest kill rates in the nation has begun a nonprofit clinic to sterilize animals from shelters and rescues for a reduced cost, and to spay and neuter pets of low-income residents for $10 each. The clinic in Kernersville kicked off its program by sterilizing 21 animals from shelters and rescues, and plans to get the word out soon to low-income neighborhoods. The program began as a result of a task force formed by the Iredell County Humane Society after the stir created by the Charlotte Observer series "Death at the Pound," and is being helped with funding from the Winston-Salem nonprofit group Save the Animals. Read more in the Charlotte Observer. (Content is free, but registration is required.)

ADOPTION NEWS

Chicago, Illinois - The Anti-Cruelty Society hopes to break ground next month on a 1,200-square-foot animal rehabilitation facility designed to hold 100 animals with illnesses or behavior problems, and treat them until they are ready for adoption. The shelter will convert space in its existing building into the Bruckner Animal Rehabilitation Center, named after the late Chicago banker William Bruckner, whose daughter started the project with a donation. The society has raised half of the $1 million needed to finish the new center, which it hopes to use to save at least 1,000 additional animals each year.

Loudoun County, Virginia - Loudoun County Animal Care and Control broke two records this year, with its adoptions increasing by 15 percent and the number of animals it euthanized declining by 13 percent. This fiscal year, the shelter placed 1,008 pets, up from 877 the previous year. The shelter attributes this improvement to the use of weekly television and radio shows to highlight its pets, a successful Internet adoption program, and an increase in transfers to breed rescues. Now the shelter needs to work on programs to deal with feral cats and animals who are injured or ill. Read more about the shelter's improvements in The Connection Newspapers.

FERAL CAT NEWS

Washington, D.C. - Alley Cat Allies has joined forces with the Washington Animal Rescue League and the Washington, D.C., Department of Health for a once-a-month campaign to trap, sterilize, and release the city's feral cats. Known as the District of Columbia Cat Assistance Team, the program began with the trapping of 16 animals, who were sterilized and treated for minor medical problems at the rescue league's clinic - which already offers a free spay/neuter service to city residents. In an attempt to get a handle on the city's estimated thousands of free-roaming cats, TNR will be conducted in troubled neighborhoods once a month. Read more about this effort, and learn how you can volunteer, in the Washington Post. (Content is free, but registration is required.)

Atlantic City, New Jersey - An Atlantic City prosecutor has refused to pursue a case against the Humane Society of Atlantic County, which would allege that their trap/neuter/return program is illegal. The case had been pursued by a city resident who claimed that the humane society violated city law by caring for a feral cat colony that lived beneath the boardwalk and allegedly defecated and urinated on the beach. Prosecutor Billie Moore dismissed the case because he says the humane society didn't have legal control over the cats. Humane society director Steven Dash says the city has been completely behind his trap/neuter/return program, which has succeeded in reducing the free-roaming cat population by 75 percent. Read more about this case in the Press of Atlantic City. (Content is free, but registration is required.)

Stamford, Connecticut - It all started with a wild, sick kitten in the garden of Janine Paton's new house. Now, as the program director for the Feral Cat Project of Stamford-based Friends of Felines, she traps, neuters, and returns hundreds of cats throughout Stamford. Although this program is making great inroads in dealing with Stamford's feral colonies, it is handicapped by the lack of a reduced-cost spay/neuter program for local ferals. Learn more about Paton's project, and how you can help, by reading the story in the Stamford Advocate.

FABULOUS FUNDRAISERS

San Diego, California - The PETCO Foundation has announced that it will give the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA $1 million to benefit animal welfare programs and services at the humane society's facility - dubbed the San Diego Campus for Animal Care. In addition to $1 million in cash, the deal provides for the humane society to receive a percentage of PETCO's in-house fundraising efforts, and have the chance to take advantage of many marketing opportunities. In return, the main courtyard at the San Diego Campus for Animal Care will be named PETCO Plaza, and PETCO will be listed as the main sponsor at key humane society events. Read more on Yahoo! Finance.

San Diego, California - By encouraging customers to "round up" their purchases to the next highest dollar, PETCO Foundation's annual Round-Up/Spay Today fundraiser netted more than $817,000 between July 25 and August 15. Ten percent of the proceeds from the 2004 campaign will benefit SPAY/USA, the largest spay/neuter advocacy and referral program in the world, while the rest will go to local animal welfare groups selected by each of PETCO's 685 stores. The success of this year's campaign surpassed the goal of $700,000, and far exceeded last year's total of $625,000. Read more on Yahoo! Finance.

Dallas, Texas - Ten-year-old Jake Beach not only likes guinea pigs, he has a firm grip on the ideals of the animal rescue effort, and a remarkable drive to help animals. Combining these qualities, Jake has organized a Guinea Fest, an event to help raise awareness of the plight of abandoned guinea pigs, educate people about their care, and raise money for the Texas Rustlers Guinea Pig Rescue - the only such rescue in Texas. Jake hopes that his event, which will include a guinea pig dress-up contest and a guinea pig race, will not only raise funds and find homes for abandoned pets, but will also promote guinea pigs as wonderful lap pets and "TV companions." Read more about this remarkable boy in the Dallas News. (Content is free, but registration is required.)

Exeter, Rhode Island - Katie Divers was distressed when she heard the Exeter Animal Shelter might close, so the nine-year-old grabbed her cookbook and swung into action. By baking gourmet dog biscuits in flavors ranging from pizza to apple cinnamon, and selling them at a local general store, Katie seeks to raise $500 for the animal shelter. Here's hoping that some of the adults in the community take Katie's cue and find a way to keep the shelter's doors open! Read more about this unique fundraiser in the Standard Times.

COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS

St. Louis, Missouri - The infamous gas chamber that failed to kill "Quentin the Wonder Dog" last August is finally going to be history. St. Louis mayor Francis Slay said the city pound will switch to injections as a more humane form of euthanasia, thanks in large part to donations made by Quentin's new person, Randy Grim. The head of Stray Rescue, Grim has already donated $18,000 for the switch, and promises to give the city $10,000 each year for five years - money that Grim says was donated by a well-to-do benefactor because of Quentin's story. Read more about the St. Louis switch at STLToday.com.

The Colony, Texas - The SPCA of Texas has announced that it will no longer perform city animal control functions for The Colony, beginning in 2006, and will instead focus its resources on animal welfare programs, such as adoptions, cruelty investigations, public education, and animal rehabilitation. In making this change, the SPCA says it is following the example set by successful organizations in New York, San Francisco, Austin and Fort Worth. Read more about this change in The Colony Courier-Leader.

Chattanooga, Tennessee - The Chattanooga Humane Educational Society destroyed almost 3,000 fewer animals over the past fiscal year -- a 25 percent decrease -- and found homes for more than 1,100 more - a 63 percent increase. This improvement comes after a local television station did a three-part exposé on the society in 2003, exploring its 70-80 percent euthanasia rate. Since the exposé, the society has also made significant physical improvements to its shelter, begun to sterilize all animals upon adoption, instituted a low-cost spay/neuter program, and lowered adoption fees. Read more from the society's annual report in The Chattanoogan.

Kentucky - Earlier this year, Randy Skaggs's efforts on behalf of Kentucky's animals resulted in a new state law banning the killing of stray animals by gunshot. Skaggs is founder of the Trixie Foundation, the largest no-kill sanctuary in the state, currently caring for about 300 abused, abandoned, and neglected animals. As one of the area's most outspoken advocates, Skaggs continues to draw local and national attention to the plight of animals in Kentucky, and to monitor the practices and conditions at animal control facilities in all of the state's 120 counties.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

United Kingdom - The island of Guernsey has done so well in promoting spay/neuter among its people that it actually has a shortage of kittens, so that potential adopters may be put on a waiting list for months. The island is now importing homeless cats from the nearby United Kingdom, and may begin to allow limited breeding. However, humane officials in Guernsey emphasize they are still going to keep a very tight lid on the cat population, in hopes they can continue to help unwanted cats from nearby areas. Read more in the Guernsey Press.

St. Petersburg, Russia - About 50 cats help preserve one of the world's most renowned art collections, as part of the security system at St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum. First brought to the museum in 1764 by Catherine the Great, the cats are largely kept in the basement, where they help control the mice population, but they also have a selection of gourmet items on which to dine. All of the museum's cats are sterilized to keep their numbers under control, but upon hearing of the program, many local people dump their cats on museum grounds - resulting in the museum's very own cat adoption program.

Australia - Australia's RSPCA has launched Animals Online, a new matchmaking website for pets that links the RSPCA's eight shelters. Organizers hope the Internet adoption service will help boost adoption rates and equalize the rates among the RSPCA's facilities. In some, 70 percent of animals find homes, while only 40 percent are placed in others. Find out more in the Sydney Morning Herald. (Content is free, but registration is required.)