Yesterday, FOTAS held its second Woofstock Festival of Mutts
and Music. With the weather forecast,
sponsor/vendor/exhibitor support, and community interest as predictors of
success, it must have been spectacular.
All of the proceeds from the event will be invested in our new shelter.
Last month, accompanied by some very special adoptable dogs,
FOTAS engaged the community on the needs of our County Shelter at St. Mary’s
Chocolate Festival and Fall Steeplechase.
More than 5,000 unwanted, mostly adoptable, dogs and cats a year are
still coming into a grossly inadequate facility.
Since January FOTAS has transferred 431 dogs to no-kill
shelters up north. They move through an unbroken chain of relationships from
our inadequate shelter to volunteer foster homes, to transfer partners, to the love
of responsible, well-vetted homes.
Combined with our county adoptions, we are saving twelve- to
fifteen hundred pets a year, and still seven out of ten animals coming into the
county shelter die there.
Naturally, we cannot build, adopt or transfer our way out of
this heart-breaking reality. The real
solution to the horrific euthanasia rate of impounded animals is to address the
problem at its source: the elimination of unwanted litters of puppies and
kittens through spay/neuter and responsible pet ownership.
Beginning last spring, through an opportunity offered by
Pawmetto Lifeline in Columbia, FOTAS volunteers moved deliberately and actively
into facilitating low-cost, targeted spay/neuter services through the new
Spay/Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP).
Wagener area citizen’s response to the program was huge and saw
that more than 80 cats and dogs were fixed before funds were exhausted in
Columbia. That is when Aiken SPCA
stepped up to the plate and became the critical partner for FOTAS SNAP in
Wagener, picking up the surgeries for an additional 50 to 60 animals.
FOTAS and Wagener owe a huge debt of gratitude to Gary
Willoughby, the SPCA’s executive director, who dedicated private funds received
to continuing two spay/neuter transports of up to 20 animals each to their
clinic this month.
As FOTAS continues to expand SNAP, piloted so successfully
in Wagener, to other county trouble-spots, the SPCA will be ramping up their surgical
capacity in the new Albrecht Center. The
partnership emerging between the two organizations has the potential to move
our county ever closer to never having to euthanize an adoptable pet!
There are so many ways you can help us achieve this
goal. One way is to make a donation to
our Capital Campaign for the new county shelter. Another is to write a check to FOTAS-SNAP and
help fund targeted spay/neuter with the SPCA.
Or, now that the cold weather is upon us, the county shelter
badly needs warm blankets for its current residents who are relegated to the
overflow pens.
Donate: dollars, food, or blankets. Volunteer.
Foster. Adopt a shelter pet. Help make the possibilities realities. We need you; in fact, can’t do it without 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”
October 29th thru
November 4th
Received: 50 dogs and 44 cats!
Adopted: 10 dogs and 2
cats
Euthanized: 27 dogs and 34 cats
Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!
 | |
| Jazmine - Boxer/Mix: Walks well on leash. OK with cats. | Only $35 |
 |
|
LOONEY – 3 yrs 13lbs Siamese mix female. Gorgeous! Prefers to be
only, or top-kitty. Yours for only $35.
|
*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm
test, all shots, worming, and microchip.
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Your comments and input are always welcome. We appreciate any suggestions or thoughts that will help FOTAS with their goal to help the Aiken County Animal Shelter become a happy, healthy place that never has to euthanize an adoptable pet.