FOTAS Partners with SPCA to Make Possibility Reality for County Shelter

All that exceeds FOTAS’ accomplishments are our possibilities!  Here are a number of recent reasons for our optimism.

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 29^th thru November 4^th     

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.

Volunteer Family Marks FOTAS ‘Making a Difference’ for 3 Years

It was 1999, and Marcia and her teenage daughter, Samantha, were at a local veterinarian’s when they spotted the notice of urgent need for two homeless dogs on the wall.  Having recently moved to Aiken with their equestrian experiences and equestrian dreams, they had a farm and decided that they could save the dogs.

Unfortunately, the clinic had just shipped the dogs to the county shelter, so Marcia and Sam set out Wire Road to rescue them.  At the shelter, when they told the woman seated beyond the glass window what they wanted, she acted as if recovering the two dogs was not just impossible, but absurd.  The dogs could not be found and she would not bother to ask anyone to look.  That was 1999.

For ten years, Marcia, husband Dan and Sam, would recoil in horror at any mention of the Aiken County Animal Shelter. 

Then, around 2006 or ’07, one woman chose to challenge the status-quo regarding homeless pets.  She was serving on a policy committee for county animal control and was appalled at the prevailing attitudes about our public shelter.  The woman began by walking one dog, proposing one volunteer policy, recruiting one animal advocate, at a time. 

Then a transfer policy, one dog or cat saved, an entrenched attitude, one ally, one risk, one favor, and one miracle at a time, FOTAS was born, summer 2009, already teamed with a renewed and reenergized county shelter staff. 

One day, Marcia and Sam see the article about FOTAS and the Aiken County Animal Shelter in the paper.  The story tells how badly foster homes are needed for puppies and kittens.  It quotes the shelter’s commitment not to euthanize healthy litters that are fostered.

“We can do that!” the mother-daughter team decide, and off they go to join the cause.

That was seven or eight litters, lots of lessons and many stories ago: like the promise that if they kept a puppy they were out of the fostering business…well, except for Misty May who Sam adopted because she had to.

“That’s the only one we ever kept,” Marcia says sheepishly. Then she gives credit to their Chow-cross, Nina, who says, “No more dogs!” and means it. 

Samantha’s career has taken her and Misty May to Florida, but Marcia and Dan carry on. Their vacant barn hosts the litters and the fallow garden pen makes a secure play yard. 

In the last three years, the couple has learned that a determined dog can climb a 10-foot barrier to escape a box stall; that a normally sweet stray can be pretty fierce about protecting her pups; that not all babies survive; and, that the job comes with enough joy and miracles to be worth it.

“Any day you save a dog’s life is a good day,” Marcia says.

On Friday, Dan and Marcia hooked their double-axle pickup to Herbie Brown, the FOTAS Rescue Waggin’, to haul nine lucky dogs to catch a transfer north.

Now that’s Making a Difference! 

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For July            2012    vs.  2011

Received	449	461
Adopted Cats	18	7
Adopted Dogs	34	46
Transferred	41	12
Euthanized	(72%)  324	(81%)  373

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

BRANDY – 1yr. Lab mix. Affectionate, energetic, intelligent.  Highly trainable great pet!   $35!

JESSE – 1yr, gorgeous green-eyed tabby, already spayed.  Come get her for $35!

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

half price thru 9/8/12!

 

FOTAS Celebrates Our “Animal Nut” and an Adoption Event

Birgit’s Max is 13 years old now and his age marks the time since Birgit began rescuing animals in Aiken County.  Molly’s Militia had Max when Birgit adopted him.  She brought him home to her husband and two other dogs, and then started fostering dogs herself.

Birgit spent eight years fostering dogs for Molly’s.  She fostered adult dogs, and puppies, dogs with behavioral issues, dogs and puppies with health problems.  Some were not adoptable and stayed on; some didn’t make it and broke her heart. 

After eight years Birgit took a badly needed break, but she couldn’t stay away.  When she started fostering again, she would help the SPCA some, but mainly worked with the Aiken County Animal Shelter. 

“My heart has always been with the Aiken County Shelter,” she said, “At times I had as many as 20 dogs!  So when FOTAS started their volunteer program with the County Shelter, it was natural to get on board.”

When asked how many dogs have come through her home, she doesn’t know; she’s lost count.  She had to stop doing the puppies because she could no longer handle the emotional devastation of parvo losses.

But Birgit still specializes in the tough cases: the skinny ones from neglect or abandonment, those heartworm positive, the sick ones, and abuse cases with trust issues.

“Gosh, people aren’t perfect,” she says, “But they expect animals to be.” 

Birgit currently has eight permanent resident dogs, along with horses she doesn’t ride, cats, her foster cases, and a husband who gives her the support she needs to do what she does which is love and care for them all.

“If you have a partner,” she advises, “They have to be supportive or it won’t work.  You really need the support.”

Since joining up with FOTAS three years ago, Birgit has become the captain of the FOTAS adoption events.  Once a month she loads the kennels and crates, table, sign boards, and bin of leashes, treats, bowls, food, water, newspapers, towels and toys, the donation jar, envelopes and brochures into  her truck and heads out to the county shelter. 

She picks the dogs, puppies, cats and/or kittens for the event, loads them and their paperwork, and heads for Petsmart.  By 10am she is set up in the store where she and her assistants will stay until 3pm, hoping for a good home for their charges.

This month, Birgit will be heading a special FOTAS adoption event sponsored by Brusters Ice Cream in front of Publix on Whiskey Road,  July 28^th from  11 to 3pm.

Herbie Brown, the FOTAS Rescue Waggin’ will be there with adoptable dogs.  Brusters will pay the adoption fee for the first adoption.  They will also provide a free ice cream cone and “doggie sundae” for every adoption that day.

Come on out.  Learn about volunteering, fostering, adoptions and transfers.  Eat some ice cream.  Meet Birgit, who says of her role in it all, “It’s what I do; it’s part of me.”  She’s a star.  

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”

STRIPE - 1yr, boxer mix.  The volunteers adore this guy!  Your best buddy for $70

 



DELILAH, tortoise tabby & SAMSON, golden boy – 5 yrs.  They love each other and hope to stay together. Only $35

Fostering Pups is a Fine Family Affair

The Wiseman family: Grant, Heather, and their twins Abby and Audrey, can tell you that a great way to unwind from a tough day is with puppies. 

Heather has an after-work ritual of scooping a ball of fur out of its pen to play or stroking it to sleep in her lap. 

Currently, there are two puppy pens in the sunroom that opens onto a fenced yard.  One of the pens has four seven-week-old, weaned pups.    

These four are the “hobbit” litter: Dobby, Dori, Oliver and Scarlett.  Dobby, the runt, has the face of a quizzical spider monkey.  His foster- family is finally optimistic about Dobby’s prospects for overcoming developmental lag in his motor skills.  Brother Oliver dines on white rice while recovering from a digestive upset.  Fat and playful, Oliver’s tummy troubles don’t seem to slow him down.

In the other puppy pen, a small terrier-mix called Nala scrambles at the sides while we look in.  She has a week’s experience with mothering “Fred,” “George,” and “Ginny,” her three babies named from Harry Potter characters.  Nala displays the nervous insecurity of a new mom made pregnant as a babe herself.  Her three scattered puppies still look like drowned hamsters.

Nala’s babies are the eighth litter in a year that the Wisemans have fostered from the Aiken County Shelter.  The latest two litters were both two days old when they arrived.  The puppies don’t always come that young, but the family has learned a lot over the last year, and they prefer that the puppies come as soon as possible, even if it means having a litter whelped in their home.  They haven’t done that…yet.

“If they spend even a week at the shelter,” Heather says, “We can see the difference.  The puppies take time learning how to trust you.”  She runs her hand along the curved spine of the sleeping shape in her lap.

Why did the Wisemans decide to do it, especially, with young twins and three large permanent dogs of their own? 

It began as an exercise for the twins, now twelve, when they were much younger.  The family fostered one pup at a time then, and the rule still is: if we keep one, we are out of the fostering business.

The job comes with its share of heartache.   A neglected stray’s legacy to her pups can be parvo.  But the occasional struggle to save the ones they can, and even the inevitable losses, have brought surprising gifts.  The family learns and grows closer.  The parents watch their girls deepen as people. 

No matter its fate, each tiny creature is assured a name, and the experience of Love.   All the pups are immortalized on iPads and in photo albums, and most are transferred to exceptional shelters, and adopted to very good homes. 

The Wisemans are deeply committed to fostering service, and recommend others try.  But if you can’t foster puppies, we urge you to donate time, food, toys, and especially old newspapers, for those who do. 

  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”

July 2^nd thru 8^th

Received:   50 dogs & 28 cats

Adopted:     8 dogs & 3 cats

Euthanized:  20 dogs & 39 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

ASTRO & HEIDI – 4 mos. Lab/hound mix.   Brindle female, black male siblings who already walk beautifully on a leash.  $70 each. 

LULU – Domestic short-hair baby.  She’s too cute to be here instead of in your lap.  Only $35! 

 

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

 

Together We Can Squeeze a Dream Out of Reality

Last Thursday, in the County Administrator’s conference room, anticipation filled every seat at the large table.  Represented was a full spectrum of stakeholders there to evaluate preliminary concepts for the new Aiken County Animal Shelter from multiple perspectives.

The architects had assimilated data from numerous site visits and meetings with shelter staff, volunteers, County Council and FOTAS representatives.  They had taken into account severe budget constraints as well as the realities of animal numbers, program demands, and the cultural pride of the Aiken County Community. 

They had researched the most cost-effective options in the field of animal holding facilities.   They were armed with the facts: what works; what constitutes a balance of efficiency and effectiveness; and how those options might converge in a wonderfully practical community animal shelter; no doubt, the last one that Aiken County will see in the lifetimes of those present.

Every perspective imaginable was represented around the table.  There were a variety of engineers, lawyers, project managers, public servants, farmers, city folk, dreamers and those with their feet firmly planted on planet Earth, and the architects.

The group addressed a creative challenge: to take all of the images and information, and then endorse a response to the stark choice facing the Aiken County community’s approach to animal control. 

If you look at last month’s figures (“By the Numbers”), the seriousness of this issue is apparent.  With the exception of feral cats, all animals coming into the shelter must be held for five days.  The shelter was designed to hold 100 animals and 623 came in.  With those numbers, humane obligations like segregation for vicious animals or quarantine for sick animals become a sardonic joke.

Therefore, the factors driving the choice of design concept for the new County Animal Shelter were:

·       Will it be able to humanely address the county’s animal control obligations?

·       Can staffing level operate it effectively?

·       Is the design the most efficient to operate (i.e. utilities and work-flow)?

·       Will it enable necessary program support (spay/neuter, foster, transfer, volunteer)?

·       Will the Aiken County Community embrace it and get involved?

·       Can we afford it?

Thirteen people stayed in the room for three hours discussing the alternatives from these perspectives.  The final decision was unanimous, because it was the best decision.  This team, working together, taking a phased approach, can squeeze a dream out of reality.

Established fact says that if you build a basic, humane, public shelter, the animals will be more adoptable and the community will be more involved in their care.

Our new public shelter is blessed with a lovely tree-filled site, big enough for walking trails, park benches and ball-tosses.  Mother Nature will assist with shade, fresh air and sunlight for a variety of spaces in the “Phase I” design.

We will start with the bare essentials and build from there.  One day, the Aiken County Animal Shelter will be a place where all the two- and four-legged creatures that can, leave better than when they arrived.  

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 2012”

Citizen drop-off:  209 cats & 182 dogs

Officer pick-ups:   73 cats & 149 dogs

Adoptions/ Transfers:  26 cats & 35/45 dogs

Euthanized: 294 cats and 264 dogs or 91%!!!

SASHA- gorgeous ragdoll.  Young, spayed and yours for only $35!

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week”  
Half-Price Special goes until July 7^th!

WILMA- 2 yrs. Big, affectionate and a great watch dog!  Half-price at $35! Take her home!

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