New Shelter is a Place of Hope

New Shelter is a Place of Hope

By Joanna Samson, FOTAS Director

As seen in the "Aiken Standard" on 1/26/14

Last Monday, my good friends Tom and Len picked me up to take me out to the new Aiken County Animal Shelter.  The last time I had been there, the new shelter was an almost completed shell – the triumph of its full potential not yet evident. I was anxious to view its progress.

We took a left into the newly paved parking lot at 333 Wire Road and pulled into a freshly painted parking space.  Tom turned off the engine, and the three of us sat in silence, lost for words.

Gone were the piles of construction debris, dump trucks, rolls of wire, unpacked boxes of equipment, piles of lumber and rolled up fencing material lying on the ground, electricians wiring outside fixtures, carpenters installing signs and outdoor cage banks, and painters touching up trim.

Instead we gazed upon a simple structure consisting of three separate long rectangular buildings placed side by side - the Lynn Carlisle Main Administration Building in the center with tall glass doors for public entry, flanked on one side by the Animal Control building and on the other by the Adoption Center – and connected in the middle by two walkways for staff and public access.  

The previously hectic construction activity had yielded to a few landscapers placing sod and an electrician on a ladder in a walkway checking a lighting fixture.  The new Aiken County Animal Shelter, painted in peaceful shades of cream and aqua with accents of soft coral colors on the trim, was dazzling in the soft glare of the Carolina sun in January.

I was overwhelmed by gratitude – to Kathy Rawls and rest of the County Council who staunchly refused to back down from its commitment to ensure a basic humane standard of care for the thousands of homeless animals charged to its care each year; to the countless FOTAS volunteers and supporters who believe that it is their responsibility to find all of the adoptable animals a loving home; to the founders of FOTAS whose patience and persistence and vision of humanity never waivered from the daunting task in front of them; to the County’s administrators and architects who made the collective vision the reality before us.

The new Aiken County Animal Shelter is not a Taj Mahal.  It is a beautifully simple structure built on a modest budget with both public and private funds and resources.  It is a structure built with design considerations that prioritized function and a healthy environment without sacrificing aesthetic concerns.  

It is a testament to what can be accomplished when government partners with private citizens to make the world a better place.

It is a testament to a community joined by dedication and hope.

In the next few weeks, as Bobby Arthurs, the County shelter staff and FOTAS begin the arduous process of moving the animals under its care to their new home, I know that today’s peace will give way to the chaotic sound of as many as 200 animals being cared for under one roof.

But that’s okay: the internal peace of knowing we all – the County, FOTAS and the entire community – did the right thing will endure.

I recently found these lovely words written by author Jim Willis:

“I looked at all the caged animals . . . the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. And I was angry.

"God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?"

God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly.

"I have done something. . .

I created you.” 

Thank you citizens of the Aiken community, for this compassionately noble effort.

Photo below is of Sandy Staiger, FOTAS volunteer and artist painting a mural in one of the new Shelter's multipurpose rooms.

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”

Jan. 13, 2014 - Jan. 18, 2014

8 dogs and 0 cats adopted

Year to Date:  

41 terrific pets adopted

THANK YOU AIKEN COUNTY COMMUNITY!

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

**All adoption fees include:  spay/neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

ROSCOE   American Bulldog mix,  male, 1 yr old, 39 lbs  Only $70 

CLINT EASTWOOD   Tabby -- Male --5 mos. old, 7 lbs  Only $35

IT TAKES AN ARMY!

IT TAKES AN ARMY!

by Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Board of Directors

as seen in the "Aiken Standard", Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013

Since the start of the recession in 2008, the number of abandoned and neglected horses has skyrocketed as a result of financial hardship caused by changed circumstances.  We’ve all heard the heartbreaking stories: horses left on a farm without food and water when the owners are forced to move, or abandoned by feckless owners in parks and other people’s pastures, even in a stranger’s trailer at a horse show. 

Aiken County is not immune to this disturbing trend.  Just two weeks ago, Bobby Arthurs, the County’s Animal Control Officer, received a call from a good Samaritan, who found a small bay mare wandering along a county road in South Aiken.  The Samaritan caught the mare and put her out in his own fields for the weekend, and now he wanted the County to pick her up.  What does the County do in these situations?

According to Mr. Arthurs, the vast majority of calls he receives about stray horses involve an accidental escape, and with the help of neighbors and the responding deputies, those horses are returned home immediately.  Of the few that have to be transported to the shelter, most are claimed by the owners within 24 hours.  

On rare occasions, the owner cannot be found.  In those cases, the County holds the horses for a 10-day period to allow time for the owner to surface.  If the owner cannot be found, the County’s veterinarian tests and inoculates the horse, and then it is transferred to Equine Rescue of Aiken (ERA) for any necessary rehabilitation and “rehoming”.  According to Jim Rhodes, the manager of ERA, all but one of the 25 or so horses transferred to ERA from the County over the years has been successfully re-homed. 

Thanks to the efforts of FOTAS and ERA, the new Aiken County Animal Shelter under construction on May Royal Drive will be better able to handle the occasional emergency need to hold a stray horse.  The County plans to construct two small, temporary holding pens with run-in sheds that will double most of the time as additional dog play areas. FOTAS, who has been raising money to furnish and equip the new shelter with fencing, cage banks and the like, asked Mr. Rhodes for advice on how the paddocks and run-in sheds could be designed.

“To our great delight,” says Jennifer Miller, President of FOTAS, “Jim offered to have ERA raise the money and install the new paddocks, which allows FOTAS to expend those funds on other critical furnishings and equipment for the new shelter.  ERA has been and continues to be a great partner in handling these isolated incidents.”

“It takes an army,” says Mr. Rhodes about the amount of people and resources necessary to properly rescue and re-home an abandoned horse.  He’s right.  

It also takes an army of goodhearted people, responsible government and generous donors to build a community animal shelter.  To the good citizens of Aiken and Aiken County, thank you.

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”

Oct. 20 - Oct. 26, 2013

8 dogs and 1 cat adopted

Year to Date:  

601 terrific pets adopted

THANK YOU AIKEN COUNTY COMMUNITY!

Aiken County Shelter “Pet of the Week!”

**All adoption fees include:  spay/neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

SALLEY -- Bull/Carolina dog mix ... 3 yrs old ... 36.6 lbs       Only $70.

BELLA ----    Domestic short hair female kitten.  2.9  lbs      Only $35.

FOTAS Spay/Neuter Program Gaining in the Valley

Between April 1^st and April 28^th this year, 172 unwanted dogs were received at the Aiken County Shelter, and 96 throw-away cats.  These numbers are one snapshot of the magnitude of the problem FOTAS is helping the county address.  Our Spay/Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP), launched last summer in Wagener as a pilot, is proving to be one of our most effective tools to reduce the numbers of unwanted litters of puppies and kittens.

On March 4^th of this year, we opened another SNAP project in the Valley with the help of the Burnettown Mayor’s Office and the SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare.  We had such an overwhelming response in Wagener that we thought the Burnettown operation would follow suit.

The Wagener Program launched on August 1^st last year and within two days we had enough animals enrolled to fill three large transports.  The participation exhausted the grant with Pawmetto Lifeline in Columbia in three trips.  Thank God for the generosity of the SPCA who picked up the program and enabled us to fix nearly 200 animals by the holidays.

Once the SPCA’s new Albrecht Center opened its high-capacity spay/neuter clinic on Willow Run Road, we had high hopes for SNAP to branch out to targeted areas throughout the county.

Chief Enforcement Officer Bobby Arthurs and his staff help target trouble spots with high numbers of strays and unwanted litters.  The Valley qualified.

Understanding that we are trying to raise the funds to fit, furnish and finish the new county shelter, the SPCA has again been hugely generous with its resources.  Already, they have allotted 75 surgeries for the program.

The Valley SNAP needs more help.  Although the program opened officially on March 4^th, we have had trouble finding an effective means to communicate with Valley residents who need assistance to fix their pets.  We are delighted to have spayed or neutered 28 dogs and 15 cats to date, but we were hoping to do that many by April 1^st.  We need more help.

The process is quite simple. If you or someone you know needs help getting your animals fixed, here are the steps:

• Go to Burnettown Municipal Building (Town Hall) and sign up;
• Fill out an enrollment form that tells us species, gender and a few pertinent facts.
• Wait to be called for a surgery date; and,
• Bring your animal to Burnettown Hall, or take it to the SPCA yourself (you must be enrolled to qualify).

It costs $15 for the surgery and another $5 for a rabies shot if it is not current.  That’s it.

We also are looking for a local resident to volunteer with the administrative tasks: making calls, on-site registration and loading.  You will get to meet the celebrity Herbie Brown who has been drafted by SNAP to transport participants.

Herbie Brown

FOTAS is profoundly grateful to the SPCA Albrecht Center, and we appreciate those who have already participated, or have given to this effort in other ways.  We cannot build enough shelters.  We cannot re-home enough animals.  We have got to pool our time and resources and make SNAP, and equivalent efforts, WORK.

 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”

May 6^th thru 12^th, 2013

Brought in:  81 dogs and 50 cats

Adopted:  6 dogs and 6 cats 

Put down:    26 dogs and 78 cats!

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” HALF PRICE!!

 

CAREN – 2yr Bull Terrier mix.  Right out of the Little Rascals.   

42 lbs of fun HALF PRICE!  $35

 

  









BAXTER – A silver baby with big blue eyes! If someone gets him first, there are more kittens! Only $35

  

 

   *All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

 

 

Sasha and Suzanne, a Love Story

On March 24, 2013, a woman pulled her blue car into the Graniteville Cemetery and led a regal golden German shepherd out on a leash.  The woman walked into the cemetery, unleashed the dog, then ran back to her car and drove away.

The dog waited in the cemetery for the owner to return. She waited. No one could get near her. The story made Crime Watch and Facebook.  Suzanne was at the beach and decided she would see if the dog was still there when she got back to Graniteville.

Suzanne is a nurse, a concealed weapons trainer, and a dog-lovin’ single mom with four children, three under the age of ten.  When she first set eyes on the abandoned dog, she began a vigil at the cemetery.  She would establish ties with the animal.  But Suzanne was not alone, either in her concern for the dog or her attempts to catch her.

“It was like a three-ring circus up there,” she said, “People would come and drop whole bags of dog food on the headstones.  They’d leave pizza, hot wings, and leftover meals.  The cemetery board wanted her out of there.”

One guy brought his wife, a camera and a pit-bull who was to…run the elusive dog down, while his wife caught the heroic capture on camera?

Suzanne, young Jeremiah, Mr. Wayne and her neighbor Mike spent countless hours coaxing the poor dog.  Suzanne would get off work, get the kids, and stay at the cemetery until dark.  They named the dog Sasha.

When Aiken County Animal control was called, Chief Bobby Arthurs enlisted Suzanne’s aid.  She knew where the dog would run.  The first try with a tranquilizer dart sent Sasha to the woods where she disappeared and slept it off.  The next day, it took five men and a net to capture her.

Sasha was impounded.  She would have to be retained for five days.  She would be tested for heartworm.  What if the test was positive? Suzanne was already committed to giving Sasha a home with her, the kids and their other two little rescued dogs.  She didn’t want Sasha to have to stay in the shelter.  Our current shelter cannot keep dogs healthy.  They do the best they can, but it is not a place for vulnerable animals. 

Sasha tested negative for heartworm. Suzanne went to the shelter every one of those five days and took Sasha out of her pen and walked her, petted her, and helped her remember how to play.  When she brought Sasha home she had kennel cough.

Sasha has her own crate, like a private cave, in Suzanne’s bedroom.  The door is usually open.  Sasha is never alone.  She goes to work with Suzanne, if her oldest daughter is not home, and their big Suburban is now Sasha’s car.  She loves the kids and her two “brother dogs.”  But Suzanne is Sasha’s number one human now, and the feeling is obviously mutual. See “Sasha’s Rescue” on Facebook.

 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”

OUR PROGRESS!

MARCH	2012	2013
Received	333	297
Adopted	83	50
Transfers	56	89
Owner return	21	18
Euthanasia %	53%	42%!

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

SNIPES - Pure Beagle. 1 yr.  22 lbs.  This sweet boy needs to get out of this cage! Only $70

EARTH –  2 yr.  Green-eyed tabby.  He so badly wants a forever home!  Only $35!

 

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

Bone-i-fide Bakes for Dogs and Rescues Cats!

If you pass Bone-i-fide Bakery on Laurens, you may see happy cats playing in the window.  They are available for adoption from the Aiken County Animal Shelter, and you don’t have to go to the shelter to adopt.  You can do it right inside the store.

If you are not seeking a feline companion, but would like some “cat time” while you decide which yummy treats to take home to your dogs, you are encouraged to cuddle those cats in the window and help them become happier, finer pets, and even more likely to find a permanent home.

When Carly took over the Bone-i-fide Bakery in 2010, one of her first goals was to establish relationships with area rescue groups and local shelters.

“I was especially drawn to the County Shelter,” she said, “Because I had customers who were involved there, and with FOTAS, and they were all so friendly, helpful and welcoming.  I also knew the need was great.”

Chief Enforcement Officer, Bobby Arthurs, and Senior Vet Tech, Sandy Larsen, are happy to transport two or three adoptable cats to Carly’s window at Bone-i-fide Bakery.  At least twelve cats have found good homes since Carly’s business became an approved “foster home,” and adoption partner with the County Shelter. 

With the good food and good loving these cats get from Carly and her patrons, you can see the change in them almost immediately: they are the happiest, healthiest homeless cats you will find anywhere nearby.

Those familiar with this unique downtown business already know that the cat window is only one of the ways that Carly supports animal welfare in our community. 

Early in FOTAS efforts to raise awareness of the plight of animals in the grossly inadequate County Shelter, Bone-i-fide Bakery agreed to have an adoptable shelter dogs sign in her business.  Bone-i-fide Bakery has also hosted numerous “adoption days” at the store for local rescues. 

Carly and her husband have four rescue dogs of their own and two rescued cats. 

Jake, an Aussie-Lab mix escaped, shortly after Carly and her husband adopted him.  No amount of searching or advertising enabled them to find him.  He was a County Shelter adoption and, therefore, he was micro-chipped.

Seven months later, they got a call from a local vet that he had been brought in.  It was the microchip that made that long-awaited reunion possible.

Bone-i-fide Bakery is a gourmet dog bakery and specialty supply store that caters to pets with special dietary needs.  Dogs with food allergies and skin issues can have highly restricted diets.  Carly can do the research and find the exact recipe suited to the pet’s requirements.

It is FOTAS' mission to help the Aiken County Animal Shelter become a happy healthy place that never has to euthanize an adoptable animal.  In every way possible, Carly’s Bone-i-fide Bakery is a true partner in that effort. 

We urge you to adopt from our County Shelter and then head down to Bone-i-fide Bakery, or vice versa, if you want a great cat! 

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”

March 18^th thru 25^th

Received: 46 dogs and 29 cats

Adopted: 12 dogs and 2 cats

Euthanized:  21 dogs and 50 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

WYLIE – 3 yrs.  50lbs. Pitt with a valentine nose!  Loves to play ball.  Good, good, good! Only $70

 

 BEAN  –  Young adult male.  A sweetheart. Purrfect for any cat-lover.  Only $35!

 

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.