FOTAS follows example of successful Ore. group

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

Friends of the Aiken County Animal Shelter's vision is that the Aiken County Animal Shelter never has to euthanize an adoptable pet. The current euthanasia rate is about 74 percent, so it might seem like an unrealistic fantasy but FOTAS was created in the image of another FOTAS/county team that helped its community transform animal services.

In 2009, it was obvious that Aiken County Animal Services would benefit greatly from a nonprofit animal advocacy partner. Deputy County Administrator Todd Glover suggested that we look at Jackson County, Ore., a case he had encountered in his public administration research. Friends of the Animal Shelter Inc. of Jackson County became our role model.

Just to demonstrate that we are comparing apples with apples: Jackson County has a population of 192,992, is 2,785 square miles, has a median income of $42,027, and, in 2010, its shelter took in 5,157 animals; Aiken County has 160,099 people in 1,073 square miles, a median income of $45,769, and, in 2010, the county shelter took in 5,509 animals. 

That same year Jackson County euthanized 0 adoptable dogs and 17 cats. Aiken County euthanized 1,974 dogs and 2,001 cats. Most of those dogs were adoptable and, if we could keep them healthy, a large portion of the cats would have been, too.

So if Jackson County can do it, how can Aiken?

It is all in how FOTAS executes its mission: to improve the quality of life for shelter animals; to increase successful pet adoptions; and to promote responsible pet guardians who spay/neuter and provide for healthy pets.

Presently, FOTAS is focused on the relationship between the quality of life for shelter animals and successful pet adoptions.

The current county facility is grossly overcrowded and incapable of providing a safe, humane environment for the animals and staff who care for them or the kind of destination that entices the public to choose their next pet from the shelter.

The Aiken County Animal Shelter turns no one away, so there are hundreds of lovely, loving pets to be found in wonderful colors, shapes and sizes, all hoping for a forever home. If theses animals don't make it into the very limited adoption areas (17 cages for dogs, and 20 cats and kittens in the colony), and their mandatory five days are up, they die to make space for the new arrivals.

FOTAS recently brought in a national shelter expert to assess the situation and advise Aiken County how it can most efficiently and effectively fulfill its legal and moral obligations to the public and furry friends without voices. This professional's analysis and recommendations presented some serious questions and a critical challenge.

Is Aiken prepared to do what it takes to live up to the image of an animal-friendly community? This is the community shelter. These animals reflect community values.

Jackson County and FOTAS Oregon have formed a partnership, rallied their community, and virtually eliminated euthanizing adoptable pets. They have a shelter and shelter program which invites community involvement.

If they can do it, so can we. Please help.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.

Let's make Rudy's legacy our new shelter

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

Here's a letter that arrived last week:

Sandy,

This donation is for the Rudy Memorial Fund from Skyler (shelter name Grizzly). I met you and Rudy in May 2010, looking to adopt a shelter dog. You helped me over a couple of visits, and we settled on Grizzly. He was about 14 weeks old, and his mother was there, but his siblings had all passed away. My wife and I took Grizzly, now Skyler, on May 12th, 2010. He has grown into a 55-lb loving, gentle boy that is spoiled rotten. He enjoys all people, his long walks each day, playing with his kennel friends once a week at doggie day care and sleeping in his own king-size soft dog bed. He is so much a part of our family now that I wonder how we went 7 years without having a dog in our family.

I know Rudy will be missed terribly. He added a touch of home to the tough environment of the shelter. Hopefully others will donate to Rudy's Memorial and provide funding for some needed shelter items.

Sincerely,

Jim, Margaret and Skyler

Grizzly's story is painfully common. Unspayed females find themselves and their litters unwanted and dumped at the shelter. If no foster homes are available, the puppies (or kittens) get sick and die. Our collective push for spay/neuter must be multifaceted and relentless.

Helping shelter animals find their forever homes is the heart of our volunteer program. Hearing stories like Grizzly/Skyler's keeps the wind in our sails. We hope you won't wait seven years to experience the joys of a well-spoiled shelter pet.

The generous donations for Rudy's Memorial Fund that we have received so far will pay for half the cost of one stainless steel cage bank for the cats in holding. We hope to raise enough money to move the cats into an antiseptic environment under-roof in the fresh air. It is a stop-gap measure, as we are reluctant to spend precious dollars on expensive Band-Aids for a grossly inadequate county facility.

Twenty years ago, the current 5000-square-foot county shelter was built to house 100 animals; it then received about 1,200 a year. In FY11, 5,366 animals were brought into the same facility. The shelter received 5,509 calls on its one published phone line. That doesn't include those who gave up trying to get through.

Kennels designed to house one dog are crammed with 3, 4 and 5. The cats are held in a windowless closet and rarely stay healthy long enough to be adoptable. There are 17 kennels for the adoptable dogs, and except for the few lucky cats that make it into the relative luxury of the cat colony, all of the animals, sick or healthy, share the same air and have the same open drains running past their cages.

The need for a county facility that meets current shelter standards and can adequately serve the needs of citizens and animals is urgent and compelling.

Let's make Rudy proud of us.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, e-mail info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.

Cats at the Shelter Need Our Help

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

Since Rudy's passing last week, people witnessed Whitey curled on the cat house patio looking with large aquamarine eyes at Rudy's makeshift grave. There is a message in her vigil.

Rudy made his rounds daily to the patio of Cats at the Shelter (C.A.T.S.), the county shelter cat colony, to visit the cats and kittens.

He knew how hard life at the shelter could be and offered his squat, stolid presence to the cats and reassurance that they were not forgotten and that, with a little good fortune, life would get better.

If anyone knew about the ups and downs of shelter life, that 11-year-old, one-dog-welcoming-committee-in-residence did.

Our cats at the Aiken County Animal Shelter are in trouble and need our help. In the near term, this is literally a matter of life and death, as plans for an adequate county facility creep forward to address the problem long-term.

C.A.T.S., FOTAS' grandest contribution to quality of life to date, passed its one year anniversary last month. That milestone passed unacknowledged mainly due to the overwhelming numbers of animals coming in.

The tragic reality is the shelter holding area for cats is inadequate, overcrowded and disease-infested, and it is a small miracle for cats and kittens to make it through the required five-day holding period and come out alive to be transferred down to C.A.T.S.

The problem is not that the shelter staff does not care. The root problem is that dedication cannot compensate for inadequate space, too little time and overwhelming numbers. Still, you can do something.

Come down to the lovely cat colony, the first building right after the dog play yards, and meet our lovely residents.

In addition to Morris and Priscilla featured here, there are the "Love Bugs," Emmy and Emily, who specialize in affection. Our more independent adult cats such as Checkers and Herbie might like nothing better than to keep a barn rodent-free.

The fact the kittens and younger cats have survived the holding area, dubbed "Kitty Closet" by Kathy, our cat advocate, makes them extra hearty, healthy and happy. It is pure joy to watch them cavort in their almost palatial surroundings.

Cats are a near perfect companion, never needing to be walked, easy to leave for a brief holiday and always ready to remind you that your presence on Earth matters, almost as much as theirs.

But if you can't bring one home, maybe you can offer a little time with the ones who are waiting and enjoy their antics from a pew or on their patio. Their purrs of appreciation are guaranteed to lift your spirits.

As for the inadequate feline holding area, FOTAS is recruiting short-term help for a deep cleaning of the kitty closet.

Contact the shelter or FOTAS if you are interested in helping with this life-saving labor of love.

Rudy never forgot about the cats, nor should we.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.

There is Something Quite Special About Cedar Creek People

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted article

From FOTAS' beginning, residents of Cedar Creek were ready to dig in and help at the County Shelter. They became the heart of our adoption and transfer programs; so, in spite of increased intake, we reduced the euthanasia rate significantly.

Three Cedar Creek women put a sellout FOTAS golf tournament on the map. Two Cedar Creek clubs joined forces and held a "For the Birds" fundraiser with handcrafted birdhouses. At this event we met a construction engineer who volunteered to assist FOTAS with the county's New Shelter Building Program. 

Now it is all about Sandra and her "milestone-birthday-give-back."

Anyone retired hopes to achieve this milestone birthday, and as Sandra looked forward to hers, she decided to celebrate it in a way that would acknowledge two big loves: her friends and the Aiken County Animal Shelter.

Sandra is an animal lover, so it was easy to try out volunteering a couple of mornings a week with a friend at the County Shelter in April 2010. Then both women were derailed by health issues. 

Only Sandra was able to return to the shelter. Unable to drive, she hitched a ride with Caroline and Denise. Now she, too, works with the dogs at the shelter four out of six days it is open, making them adoptable and giving them every chance to find a good home.

"Love blossomed," Sandra said. "But exposed to so much need, I thought, what can I do?" She comes back to the present to answer her own question, "Anything. Everything."

Sandra is a planner. She worked on her party months in advance. The invitations included a FOTAS donation envelope. Her husband Dick's gift was to help her with the party plans, and to match every dollar that her friends contributed.

Thirty-three people were there to hear Sandra say: "I want to thank all my friends for being here with me on my birthday. Each of you is special to me in your own way. Also, thank you for appreciating my love and passion for helping animals, especially those in such desperate need ..."

Sandra, her husband and friends raised more than $1,200 for our community shelter.

There are many things that money can help with. We need cage banks to help keep healthy cats healthy long enough to get adopted, kennel decks for the overflow pens to get dogs who are waiting their chance off the wet concrete, puppy and kitten food, durable dog, cat and kitten toys, medical funds for dogs and cats in foster care and our own refitted transport trailer to ship dogs to our rescue partners. More than anything we need a new shelter.

There is something special about the people of Cedar Creek. There will be something incredible about Aiken County when we do our part to make our new shelter a reality.

What can you do? Something. Anything.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.