Happy 4th Birthday FOTAS

We keep coming back to what Gandhi said: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."  What about a large rural county; can they be judged as well?  Four years ago this week, Friends of the Animal Shelter, Inc. was created to confront that very question.  How great can a home community be when it is handling thousands of its unwanted animals like refuse?

FOTAS started in 2009 raising money and making upgrades to the existing facility: a roof and floor for the overflow pens, a large dog play yard, a lovely adoptable cat house, laundry equipment, grooming tub, stainless cage banks for surgery patients.  We established a volunteer program, a foster care program, and a transfer program.  We helped Aiken County residents confront the dirty secret that well over 5,000 animals, most of which were adoptable pets, were arriving at the county shelter annually and almost all of them were dying there.  But with all the work that went into our current county animal control facility, everyone who actually went there knew the upgrades were mostly lipstick on a pig.  Aiken County needed, and justly deserved, a new county animal shelter.   

FOTAS, since its inception, has seen itself as an ally and partner of county government.  Animal control is a public obligation, a component of health and safety; animal welfare and advocacy is not. A community has to determine who they want to be, how they want to operate in and on the world in terms of its relationship to the innocents and dependents within it.  FOTAS has given animal advocates in our community a voice and the resources to leverage that voice.  And God smiled upon that effort by providing a team of county employees, elected officials, and shelter staff to join forces with the will of the Aiken County community, and to chart the way to a brand new Aiken County Animal Shelter, along with the programs to support its success.

FOTAS paid for the study to determine the appropriate course to an adequate county shelter.  When it was determined that a new shelter was the only effective and efficient way forward, FOTAS paid $125,000 for the architectural and engineering plans.  This was 25% more than the original figure agreed upon.  The county found the perfect piece of property on the corner of May Royal and Wire Road, and on March 3rd of this year we broke ground with a high-spirited ceremony.  The building is expected to be completed by the end of the year.  FOTAS has undertaken the responsibility to "Fit, Furnish and Finish" the facility.  The Fit, FURnish and Finish fundraising campaign is underway, and there are numerous opportunities to participate and to contribute.  For more complete information, contact FOTAS or go to the website.

We can be excited about our new building, but FOTAS also realizes that a building alone is not the answer.  Without a cultural shift to make responsible pet owners part of the fabric of our community, no building will ever be large enough.  To that end, FOTAS established the Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) one year ago.   SNAP now partners with the County Voucher Program and the SPCA Albrecht Center and hundreds of dogs and cats have been fixed, meaning literally thousands fewer unwanted animals. 

We have so much to be grateful for in the last four years, and as FOTAS begins its 5th year, so much to look forward to.  This time next year, our new County Shelter will be humming.  We hope to encourage more and more community pride and involvement.  Our vision is that no adoptable pet will have to die there.  FOTAS is one reflection of Aiken County's moral progress - and its greatness.  Join us.  Please help. We still have a long way to go.

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”

The WEEK of July 8th thru 14^th ‘13

Brought in:  73 dogs and 44 cats!!

Adopted:  17 dogs and 1 cat 

Put down:   43 dogs and 36 cats!

Aiken County Shelter  “Pets of the Week”

SISSY  – Hound mix. 1.5 yrs.   A sweet, playful forever friend!  Yours for only $70

 

DALE – Tabby kitten. He is adorable! Your new baby for only $35

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Groundbreaking is Latest County Shelter Milestone

Two speakers, one from County Council and one representing FOTAS, invoked Gandhi’s quote about a people’s moral progress to mark the significance of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new county shelter last Sunday.

It was Gandhi’s belief that how a nation treats its animals reflects its moral progress; it was the speakers’ contention that, with our new county shelter, our Aiken County community’s moral progress has taken a great leap forward.

So last Sunday’s groundbreaking was a huge celebration of a major milestone.

In 2005, over six-thousand animals came into our county shelter and almost all of them died there.  The facility was the county government’s response to a 1990 problem: one hundred animals per month, not thinking that eventually they would have to contend with over one-hundred animals per week.

In fulfilling competing responsibilities to public welfare, no time or attention allowed animal welfare to be considered.  No provisions were made for adequate ventilation, waste management, or disease containment.  No future was considered for the animals or the facility that housed them.

Until 2009, the unclaimed animals that could not be crowded into our current shelter still lived their five days in roofless open pens in the dirt.  While the building’s air and trenches spread disease inside, the ground held the diseases outside.

It wasn’t that members of County Council weren’t aware that something needed to be done.  Kathy Rawls knew.  But the moral outrage can’t come from our elected officials; it must come from their citizens.  It was that moral outrage that gave birth to Friends of the Animal Shelter, known as FOTAS.

FOTAS began in spring of 2009 with a benefit breakfast that raised $2,700.  That summer a concrete pad was roofed over for the dogs in the overflow pens.  A year later, C.A.T.S. (Cats at the Shelter) opened as our county’s new indoor/outdoor adoptable cat colony.

As the FOTAS family grew in numbers, we championed the renewal of the county’s 1-cent sales tax, helping secure a million dollars towards an adequate county shelter. 

FOTAS paid for the county to hear from a nationally recognized shelter expert to determine the scope and best direction for the project.  In 2011, FOTAS committed $100k of private funds for the architectural and engineering plans for a new county animal shelter, then ultimately paid $125,000.

March 3^rd,  ceremonious shovels went into the ground at May Royal and Wire Road, as members of County Council lined up with FOTAS officers, our architect, Cary Perkins and our Chief, Bobby Arthurs, to celebrate the achievement.

Thanks to Assistant County Administrator, Andy Merriman, and an amazing public-private partnership, this project will be fiscally responsible and no-frills; adequate to meet both public and animal needs; and, highly attractive to community involvement. Happy, healthy animals are more adoptable.

FOTAS now needs help raising $400k to furnish the new shelter.  We will insure its future with SNAP, our targeted spay/neuter program, working with the SPCA.  Please contribute anything you can.

Be proud, Aiken County. Progress, even moral progress, is evident.  

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”

February 25^th thru March 3^rd     

Received: 44 dogs and 35 cats

Adopted: 19 dogs and 1 cats

Euthanized:  30 dogs and 17 cats

EVA – 2 yrs. Soft, silky, smart and yours for $70

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!”

 

ALBERT – 18 mos. Lab mix.  Bust into spring with this running buddy!  Only $70 

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