The Shelter’s New Hire is a Cat Lady and Much More

Before Jesse, cats waiting to go from quarantine into “C.A.T.S.,” the shelter’s adoptable cat colony, would get sick and be euthanized.  Jesse Marie Falcon was chosen to fill the only new position authorized in Aiken County last year, Custodian/Adoption Counselor at the Aiken County Shelter, bringing the full-time shelter staff to four, plus two inmates.  She started on September 20th.

“I’ve always loved animals,” she says, “When I was younger (she’s 22), I wanted to be a veterinarian, until I learned how long you gotta go to school.” She has an easy laugh.  Now she hopes to return to Aiken Tech for its vet tech certificate.

“I love cats.  Well, I love dogs and cats, but I’m mainly a cat person.”  Jesse lives with 5 neutered male cats, a “talkative” female cat, a 4-month-old Rotty-mix pup from the shelter who thinks she’s a cat, her 6-year-old son, and her boyfriend.

When asked the difference between a cat person and dog person, she says, “Cats like me better…we connect more.”   She thinks again and laughs, “Cats are more mature than dogs.”

Jesse’s path to her current position was almost as miraculous as the fact that it was created.  She had done community service for a DUI at the shelter and impressed the Chief and Senior Vet Tech with her performance.  When the position came available she had been looking for work for over 8 months.
“It was bad,” Jesse says, “not even McDonald’s would call me back.”

Not so many of the shelter cats are getting sick anymore, now that they are under Jesse’s care.  The “Cat Closet,” or quarantine room where the cats are held for a minimum of 5 days, was given a deep cleaning and she maintains it and its residents.  She also cleans the office and C.A.T.S., and shows any animal to people looking to adopt.

Jesse sees all the court cases: cats near death, so thin and weak they have to be fed a liquid diet, then canned food.  One was finally adopted, she recalls, as if it were another miracle.

Twenty-six were recently confiscated from a hoarder.

“When they came in they were too weak to clean themselves, like they’d given up.  You couldn’t get near most of them,” Jesse says, “You can touch them now.  They’re not coughing, and their eyes aren’t all gooey.”  Sadly, unless adopted, they still will die.

According to Jesse, the black cats in C.A.T.S. are the most loving, even more than the calicoes and tabbies, but some people…

“They see them and say, ‘Ooh, I gotta leave!’ and walk right out again,” she says.

Nick and Chief, jet black with big green eyes, unrelated “twins” that only Jesse can distinguish, take turns in her lap.

“I love this job; I really do,” she says stroking one of them, “its way better than any job I ever had.”

 Jesse is a blessing to our shelter.  You can thank her by adopting a cat; better yet, make it two.  

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

“Cat Stats” for 2011

Total Cats Received:  2,169 (approx.)

Average in C.A.T.S. colony: 20

Adoptions:  142 cats

Euthanized: 2,019 cats (93%)

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

JUNE BUG 

This Lab/Terrier  is a doll. 2 yrs and 39lbs of pure love. $70 includes shots, neuter, microchip.

CHLOE 

Gorgeous peach Persian mix.   

10 yrs young and already spayed, she’ll settle in with a grateful purr.

 

 

FOTAS Introduces a Trailer Named ‘Herbie Brown‘

Herbie Brown’s story began three years ago this month with the first transfer of Aiken County Shelter dogs to a no-kill shelter in New England.  Since then, Mark Choper and the drivers for Fairway Horse Transport have helped FOTAS save literally hundreds of dogs who probably would have joined our County Shelter’s heart-breaking euthaniasia statistics.

Neither words of praise nor appreciation can do justice to how Mark’s business has blessed our homeless animals at the County Shelter through rescue and huge food donations.  The only down side to his service to our cause is that the transfers are necessarily tied to transporting horses, making coordination with our partners a nightmare.

That’s where the FOTAS magic stepped in.

A couple of volunteers dreamed of a feasible way to travel with their too-many dogs.  The dream involved an old Airstream trailer, light enough to be easily pulled by an SUV, and reliable for providing HVAC for the family pack at any destination.  For years the project languished as a fantasy.

Then the complications of coordination and scheduling for the growing transfer program pushed a transfer vehicle to the front of the FOTAS wish list, and FOTAS miracles began to happen.

“Weren’t you looking for an Airstream?” the email read.  The ’69, already gutted, was on Craig’s List in Georgia for $3,500.  While trying to make that deal work, a ’78 Airstream Land Yacht appeared in Lexington, SC for $3,000, and this deal almost made itself.

“My uncle loved this trailer. It’s been everywhere,” the seller said, “He eventually lived in it until a few months before he died.” Then he added, “And he liked to help people.”  And so, for $3,050, Herb Brown’s nephew repacked the bearings, replaced the power converter, delivered the RV to the County Shelter, and threw in a $300 stabilizer hitch. 

Herbie Brown, the future FOTAS transport trailer, was no sooner parked next to C.A.T.S. (the cat colony at the shelter) then FOTAS received a magnificently generous grant from a private donor specifically for our transfer program.  The grant will fund the acquisition and refitting of our vehicles and pay enough of our transport expenses to firmly establish the program.  And we have added two more rescue partners.

If that isn’t pure magic, what is?

Unfortunately, without aggressive spay/ neuter, micro-chipping and heartworm prevention, there are never going to be enough Mark Chopers or Herbie Browns, beyond our adoptions, to assure that no adoptable dog has to die.  There are not enough miracles or magic for that. 

Under current intake numbers, a reasonable projection says that the FOTAS transfer program may increase a dog’s chances of surviving by about 13%, not good odds.  Put another way, we can transfer about 3 of the 22 who will be put down. 

2012 could be a landmark year for our shelter.  We need volunteers to prepare dogs for future transports and new homes, and for events and fundraisers.  Believe in miracles.  Make a difference.  Join us!

 
FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For Jan. 9th thru 15th 2012

Received: 59 dogs and 26 cats

Adoptions: 6 dogs and 2 cats

Euthanized: 29 dogs and 17 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of theWeek” 

POOKIE – Staffordshire terrier mix, 1 yr. 

Soft as a bunny and sweet as a kitten! 

Loves to run.

$70 includes shots, neuter, microchip.

GRIS – 4yrs. Male.

Neutered, declawed, and affectionate.

A purrfect companion for $20.

Three is a Charm at the FOTAS Hunter Pace

It was the third year that Three Runs Plantation donated its magnificent equestrian amenities to host the FOTAS Hunter Pace 2012, and the turnout by the event’s 100+ riders was surpassed only by the 111 local businesses who donated to our first Hunter Pace Silent Auction, and the Red Pepper Grill’s ability to put out a delicious lunch for 250 people, and Nanci’s Cedar Creek neighbors who delivered 250 gorgeous cupcakes for dessert to her porch.

“It is just amazing how a community can give,” said Edie, FOTAS Chairwoman of the Silent Auction, “And it is not easy in this economic climate.  Businesses are hurting.”

True enough, but random acts of generosity must ease the pain, because 111 contributions were assembled into 79 auction items by a remarkable team of four women, all from the Cedar Creek community. 

Two Sandras, Janet and Edie began in late October with a list, divided among them, of where to solicit in the area.  But by early November their “Let’s go do this,” was replaced by “How are we going to do this?” Then a couple of things turned the project around. 

 One of the Sandras is part of a team of Cedar Creek volunteers, the heart of the County Shelter Volunteers Program, who work with the dogs and puppies four days a week.  Sandra is driven by the first-hand experience with the Shelter’s heart wrenching need. 

“She’d go back again and again and whine,” Edie said with clear admiration for Sandra’s tenacity.  The donations started rolling in.

Then a local estate planner offered a complete estate planning package worth about $2,000. “That was when I started to think more positively,” she said.

There was the business owner on the phone who launched into a tirade about how the county shelter had cost him a dog, then turned around and donated a beautiful table fan.  At another site, a patron of the business being solicited heard the pitch and reached into her pocket offering the eight dollars and change she had with apologies that she couldn’t afford more.

With the holidays upon her, Edie cleared auction items from her dining room table to serve 16 people for Thanksgiving, and again and more for Christmas, then lay awake nights worrying about the auction’s presentation.

The Cedar Creek Property Owners Association was to loan six tables that turned into ten.  And when the question arose as to how to display the artwork donated, someone suggested the Aiken Historical Museum, and the Museum came through with the screens for the display.

“Presentation is everything,” Edie says, and took responsibility for the artful bid sheets and the resourceful displays, often using tissue covered Clementine crates to elevate items.

The Silent Auction made thousands of dollars for our County Shelter.  The Hunter Pace and luncheon made thousands more.  And to make the occasion even more perfect, FOTAS volunteers helped 6 dogs and 3 cats get adopted at Petsmart and at the Shelter.  What a great day for our community shelter!  

 

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For Jan. 2nd thru 8th  2012

Received: 38 dogs and 14 cats

Adoptions: 13 dogs and 2 cats

Euthanized: 21 dogs and 23 cats

Compare to Same Week 2011

Received: 66 dogs and 43 cats

Adoptions: 10 dogs and 0 cats

Euthanized: 33 dogs and 30 cats

MIA – 3 yr old spayed female tabby

A cuddler with an endearing purr.   

$35 includes shots, spay, microchip.

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

SHADY  – 2-yr-old pit-mix.   

This lovable guy will help you meet people everywhere you go!  

 He’s a charmer.

$70 includes shots, neuter, microchip.

Regarding Persons of the Year 2011 and a Community for 2012

In selecting “The Officer” as the 2011 Person of the Year, the Aiken Standard’s New Year’s wish was “that 2012 can be a year of healing and a year of growing.” 

The wish specifically acknowledges a community and a family stunned by tragedy and deep in mourning; and, as such, FOTAS will take this opportunity to lend our collective voice to that hope, and support to the Richardson family.

“Public Safety,” is often a blessing and a benefit that we take for granted, like the sun that lights and warms or the air that cools and sustains us, until it is not there.

In our work with Aiken County Animal Services, FOTAS volunteers have the opportunity to learn how our Animal Control Officers work to protect the two-legged and four-legged citizens of our community.  These agents are on call 24/7 assuring public safety and animal welfare to the best of their ability.  None of us would want to witness, nor intervene in, some of the tragic circumstances they encounter.  To each Officer we would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation for the challenging job they undertake on our behalf. 

The three women honored as a Team by the nomination for Person of the Year were collectively astounded, and individually deeply honored to be singled out for such recognition.

As founders and board members of Friends of the Animal Shelter, Inc., they have worked hard to forge their team and to establish a public charity as deeply dedicated to its professed mission as FOTAS has become.  “FOTAS, Making a Difference,” is what the logo says, making a difference in the lives of thousands of animals and in hundreds of humans who are directly and indirectly their guardians here in Aiken County.

There is nothing quite as powerful as an opportunity recognized, seized and exploited, especially when it can improve the lives of an entire community.

FOTAS was an idea whose time had come.  The founders were the right people present at the right time, but without the nascent desire throughout our community to make a badly needed change, nothing could have happened. Leadership is an initiative that inspires followership. 

Our Chief Animal Control Officer Bobby Arthurs continues to look for ways to improve Aiken County Animal Services, through the ethic and efficacy of his officers and his shelter staff.  Their ideas and initiatives routinely surface for expanding spay/neuter, maintaining useful records, enabling public safety and cooperation, and for saving as many animals as they possibly can, in an environment never intended for such a lofty purpose.

Results are what accrue to an unprecedented Public-Private Partnership.  The founders of FOTAS set the stage for a community that professed to be animal-loving to live up to its self-image; hence, FOTAS volunteers and donors to the cause continue to grow, and our Aiken County government could not be more supportive.

Aiken County will see its new shelter in the year to come; and thus the year of “healing and growing’ will, in part, manifest.  

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

 

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For Dec. 26th thru Jan. 1st 2012

Dogs taken in: 44

Cats taken in:  15

Dogs adopted: 3

Cats adopted: 7

Dogs euthanized:  13

Cats euthanized:  7

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

 

DASHER – 3-yr-old handsome shepherd mix

a big boy who wants to be a loyal companion. 

$70 includes shots, neuter, microchip.

SAMANTHA – 3 yrs old, part-Siamese beauty.  

 Big blue eyes say, “Love me.”  $35 includes shots, spay, microchip.