Steeplechase to Woofstock FOTAS at work for County Shelter

F.O.T.A.S. is how Aiken County Animal Control spells Animal Advocacy, and gives new meaning to Public-Private Partnership.

Last weekend, FOTAS represented our County Shelter among many community non-profits at the 2012 Fall Steeplechase.  With the help of South Aiken Serteens, we educated the public about our foster, transfer, and adoption programs, and opportunities to volunteer.  Four dogs found new homes as a result of our presence. It was a breezy, glorious day!

Next Saturday, November 10^th, FOTAS brings back the Woofstock Festival of Mutts and Music at Highfields, kicked off by the Mutt Strut relay and fundraiser.  Get people to sponsor you, your dog, your family; raise $100, $200 or $300 and be eligible for great prizes.

The superstars that raise $300 by Saturday, November 10^th, are entered to win the 64G, cellular, wifi iPad tablet, plus get the T-shirts, prizes, and have a blast with their dog, family, friends’ dogs, or all of the above.  Virtual Walkers can raise money,too.  $300 by 11/10 gets your name in the hat to win.

Of course you don’t have to raise money to participate.  A whole family and all their dogs can parade in the Woofstock Mutt Strut for $25, or one adult for $10, child under 12 for $5. 

Once you have the dogs out, you might want to see if they are the Best Kisser, can perform the Best Trick, or are sporting the Best Costume.  Register for those three contests between 11 and 12 o’clock at Woofstock. 

Three student judges won their titles by entering the Woofstock Essay Contest and answering the question, “What can we do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens?”

Sophia Frank, Christian Madden and Sofia Ferreira will be helping to select the winners of the Dog contests: Best Kisser (11:30), Best Trick (12 noon), and Best Costume (12:30). 

Even if you are not participating in the Mutt Strut Relay and walking for Aiken County’s homeless pets, you can come out for the contests, or just come out and have a blast, with or without a dog.

The Woofstock Festival, a day full of family fun, food, and music, is a huge community event made possible by volunteers, local clubs and businesses, and the residents of Aiken County who love their animals. Every dollar raised, after expenses, will go towards our new county shelter.

The vision for the new Aiken County Animal Shelter is a happy, healthy place that is the heart of a responsible, animal-loving county.

If you are unavailable next Saturday, consider becoming an approved county shelter foster home.  Unfortunately, the need for temporary guardians for puppies and kittens, and dogs waiting to be transferred north, is constant.  Contact the County Shelter, or go on line, to get an application. There are so many, many ways you can help FOTAS help our Aiken County Animal Services provide our community with a great animal shelter. 

We can’t do it without you, and you may find the most rewarding commitment you’ve ever made – spelled F.O.T.A.S. 

  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 15^th thru 21^st    

Received: 48 dogs and 30 cats!

Adopted: 6 dogs and 4 cats

Euthanized: 45 dogs and 41 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

MONTY 

1 yr. Soft, lovable ,bright Lab/Pitt mix

For just $70. Tiny price for a great friend.

   

 

COCONUT 

Precious young adult female.

                            Yours for only $35.                              

 

So Many Ways to Enjoy Woofstock and Do Good

Truly, it is not that hard to raise $300 dollars. Find 12 people to donate $25, thirty to chip in $10, sixty kind-hearted souls at $5 a head, or mix it up. Given the cause, it should be easy, especially on Facebook, or an email to friends and family about the good their help will do. Plus, there is that possibility of winning the fancy iPad for doing a good thing well.

Raise $300 by Saturday, November 10^th, bring the money to Woofstock, and you are automatically eligible to win the $825 iPad tablet, and get the T-shirts, and have a blast with your dog, your family, your friends’ dogs, or all of the above.  Or you can raise $300, stay where you are, be entered to win, and hope the phone rings. 

Enter the Walk-for-the-Animals Mutt Strut Relay and never leave your home. A “Virtual Walker,” is someone who cares enough to raise or donate money, but will not be present at Woofstock. Virtual Walkers will miss a special festival, but they can be anywhere in the world and support someone here in Aiken, and a very special cause.  There is still time to do it.

Of course you don’t have to raise $300 to participate.  A whole family and all their dogs can parade in the Woofstock Mutt Strut for $25, or one adult for $10, child under 12 for $5. 

Once you have the dogs out, you might want to see if they are the Best Kisser, can perform the Best Trick, or are sporting the Best Costume.  Register for those three contests between 11 and 12 o’clock at Woofstock. 

Three student judges won their titles by entering the Woofstock Essay Contest and answering the question, “What can we do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens?”

Sophia Frank, Christian Madden and Sofia Ferreira will be helping to select the winners of the Dog contests: Best Kisser (11:30), Best Trick (12 noon), and Best Costume (12:30). 

Even if you are not participating in the Mutt Strut Relay and walking for Aiken County’s homeless pets, you can come out for the contests, or just come out and have a blast, with or without a dog.

The Woofstock Festival, a day full of family fun, food, and music, is a huge community event made possible by volunteers, local clubs and businesses, and the residents of Aiken County who love their animals. Every dollar raised, after expenses, will go towards our new shelter.

The vision for the new Aiken County Animal Shelter is a happy, healthy place that is the heart of a responsible, animal-loving county.

Join us at Woofstock on November 10^th.  Enter the Mutt Strut Relay and walk for the homeless cats and dogs. We promise a memorable experience.

Or, if you are busy that day, think about becoming a foster home.  Unfortunately, the need for temporary guardians for puppies and kittens is constant.  Get involved.  It may be one of the most rewarding commitments you ever make. 

  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 15^th thru 21^st    

Received: 48 dogs and 30 cats!

Adopted: 6 dogs and 4 cats

Euthanized: 45 dogs and 41 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

  MONTY – 1 yr. Soft, affectionate Lab mix for $70.  Tiny price for a great friend caption

COCONUT- precious young adult female. Yours for only $35

 

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

Mutt Strut at Woofstock for the New County Shelter

Mutt Strut?  Yes, it is an opportunity to do something fun with your family, especially the four-legged members, while making a big contribution to Aiken County’s homeless animals. All of the funds from this year’s Woofstock Festival and the Mutt Strut will go directly to FOTAS’ Capital Campaign for our new Aiken County Animal Shelter.

We will tell you how to get involved (even if you won’t actually march in the Mutt Strut Parade), but let’s look at what can happen if you walk a dog for a cause.

Last April FOTAS participated in a similar event in Columbia.  The fundraiser was for a new facility that offers high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter.  FOTAS had an opportunity to compete with other area rescue groups and win thousands of dollars worth of spay/neuter surgeries.  All we had to do was find sponsors for a dog walk.

FOTAS volunteers contacted other FOTAS members who contacted friends and families all over the world to sponsor their participation in the event. 

FOTAS volunteers walked their own dogs; they walked shelter adoptable dogs; and, they had enough people supporting their efforts to win the competition, and that was just the beginning.

The funds awarded provided FOTAS with an opportunity to launch a pilot for a targeted, subsidized spay/neuter program that we call SNAP: Spay-Neuter Assistance Program.  Due to the need to transport the dogs and cats to Columbia, the Wagener-Salley area was chosen for the pilot.

The project began August 1^st, and before all those SNAP funds are exhausted, nearly 100 animals will have been spayed or neutered.  The number of unwanted cats and dogs that this project will prevent is almost incalculable, especially given that only two intact dogs, plus just two intact cats, can conceivably produce nearly half-a-million offspring in only 7 years. 

It all began with a dog walk.

While SNAP addresses the prevention end of Aiken County’s unwanted animal population, the obligation to collect and house the overwhelming number of homeless cats and dogs that already exist is the other end.  The current County Animal Shelter has no humane way to house them all, or, in spite of our best efforts, to rescue most.  More than 7 out of 10 die there. 

Help is on the way with FOTAS’ Capital Campaign.  The Woofstock Festival is our signature fundraiser and it begins with a dog walk called The Mutt Strut.  All of the proceeds from the Mutt Strut and the Woofstock Festival will go to the Capital Campaign to be invested in our extraordinary new Aiken County Animal Shelter.

Here’s how to participate in the Mutt Strut:

Register to walk, or to be a virtual walker. There are forms on line and around the area.  The fee includes entrance to Woofstock. Get people to sponsor you and win prizes.  Raise $300 and enter a drawing for a 64G iPad.  Get a dog, and come out on Nov. 10^th.

It  all begins with a dog walk, and then good things can happen. Join us, please.

  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”

September 10^th thru 16^th   

Received:  61 dogs and 29 cats

Adopted:     5 dogs and   1 cat

Put down: 16 dogs and 33 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 
So much LOVE for so little!

BOOTSIE - 

BOOTSIE – Shepherd mix.  Young and smart enough to be your best friend!  $70 is a deal!

TINKERBELL -  13 wks. Female tabby.  Big eyes.  Cute as she looks  $35 for kitty, purr-FREE!

 

 

 

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

Woofstock Festival Begins with a Challenge to Youngsters

“Out of the mouths of babes…” says scripture, and we are counting on the children for their wisdom for a very special event.

If you are the parent, grandparent, guardian or role-model of an elementary school-aged child, FOTAS has a wonderful opportunity for you to share with your youngster: help him or her enter “Meg’s Essay Contest.”

Meg is a little brindle terrier who was rescued from the Aiken County Animal Shelter last April.  Her owner is Edie who is in charge of FOTAS’ Woofstock Festival 2012.  The Essay contest honors our County Shelter’s lucky dogs and cats.

The Essay Contest intends to put children in grades 1 through 6 in charge of addressing a key question at the heart of this year’s Woofstock festivities.

Meg’s Essay question for the children to ponder is, “What can we do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens in Aiken County?” 

Last year 5011 unwanted, neglected or abused dogs and cats were received at our county shelter; 3,808 or 76% died there.  As awful as that number is to confront, over the last five years it is down almost 20%.

Let’s ask the children: “What can we do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens?”  Talk to them.  Help them ponder, and write about an answer. 

On November 10^th FOTAS will hold our second Woofstock Festival, “Mutts & Music.”  The organizers have pulled out all the stops in providing a celebration of families and their pets. 

Woofstock is also an essential fund-raiser for FOTAS’ partnership with the county in providing a new county animal shelter, one that is adequate to the humane treatment of its homeless animals, and to the participation of communities bent on reducing those numbers.

The Woofstock Festival of Mutts & Music promises fun activities for all ages: music by 93.9 BobFM, Tony B. of WKSX 92.7 FM, and 4 Cats in the Doghouse.  There will be contests, demonstrations, a Mutt Strut Parade, vendors, crafters, food by the Willcox, Papa John’s, Coach T’s, Papa Russ’ Bar-B-Que, and Brusters.  And we are just getting started.

The Essay Contest will be judged in three “flights:” grades 1 & 2, 3 & 4, and 5 & 6.  Entries must be made on the Official Essay Contest form.  Here are the Rules and how to get a form if you do not already have one:

ESSAY CONTEST RULES

Essays must be received by FOTAS no later than Monday, October 1, 2012.

Contest is open to students in grades 1 - 6.

One winner will be selected from each “flight:” Grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6.

Each winner will be awarded:

• Chance to co-judge the dog contests at Woofstock (best trick, best kisser & best costume)
• iTunes $10 gift card
• A commemorative Woofstock t-shirt
• 2 free tickets to the Woofstock Festival

Essays must be written on the official form.

To get yours:

Call  803-522-0471 or email woofstock@fotasaiken.org and request one be sent.

Go to the FOTAS website and the Woofstock Tab has everything!

FOTAS wants to hear what the children are saying.   

See you at Woofstock: Mutts & Music 2012!

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”

  August 27^th thru September 2^nd  

  Received: 57 dogs and 43 cats

Adopted: 6 dogs and 3 cats

Put down: 50 dogs and 24 cats

 

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

ELMER FUDDAmerican Bulldog mix 3 yrs. 51 lbs.   
Super-friendly and great to walk on a leash!  $70 includes everything but the love!

NUGGET –  14-week male tabby.  Cute as a bug that purrs!  $35 for kitty, purr-FREE!

 *All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip and are half price thru 9/8/12!

Save April 13th and 14th for Community Rescue and Improve our Community

How can we improve our community?  Try joining a few hundred fellow citizens at a grand film party on April 13 or at a huge dog festival the following day.

On Friday, 13 April, FOTAS’ rescue partner, Equine Rescue of Aiken, will be hosting two viewings of the Sundance Film Festival’s award-winning documentary, “Buck” at Aiken Center for the Arts.

The film’s subject, Buck Brannaman, is a horse whisperer, said to be the inspiration for the main character in the book, The Horse Whisperer.  "Horses… fill in places we're not capable of filling ourselves,” he says, “They've given people a new hope, a new lease on life…"  That is, if they have the chance.

Spread across 80 acres of rolling hills, Haven Hills Farm is the home of Equine Rescue since 2006, and dedicated to providing a safe haven for horses, and more recently dogs and puppies, who have been victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment.  Once rehabilitated, responsible forever homes are sought for those who are

eligible. The rest live out their days at Haven Hills.

Equine Rescue takes the horses from Aiken City and County animal control.  Often the least adoptable and most expensive cases, according to the philosophy of Equine Rescue, “They still need a chance.” 

So do many of the people who come to the Rescue, like those doing community service,  veterans needing to heal, passionate volunteers, or even the bereft widower who recalls the solace of equus and being useful.

Feed and hay alone cost Equine Rescue nearly $2,300 a week.  Add routine care: vet, dental, farrier, then emergency vet services, meds, fly spray, grooming supplies, halters and lead lines, and there is an opportunity.  We get to give back to the animals that give our Aiken County community so much, our horses.

On April 13^th, the afternoon showing of “Buck” is complimentary, including popcorn, with the opportunity to donate to Equine Rescue.  The evening show will host a party with wine, sumptuous hors d’oeuvres, dessert, and a silent auction, all for $20, and more opportunities to donate to a wonderful program.  Check their website for more info: www.aikenequinerescue.com.

From now until that auspicious Friday, FOTAS will also be recruiting for “Team FOTAS Aiken.” If our team is one of the  “Top 5” rescues participating in Pawmetto Lifeline’s amazing festival, “Bark to the Park,” we can win thousands of dollars in essential  free spay/neuter services for our Aiken County voucher program. 

Bark to the Park is a blast for dog lovers, but if you’d rather not have that much fun you can be

a “virtual” participant and still help us win.  (Click here to join TEAM “FOTASAIKEN COUNTY”)

For those focused on animal welfare, the ways we can improve our community are simple: Rescue to adequate facilities; Adopt to responsible homes; and, Educate the community to prevent the neglect and abuse that often comes from unwanted animals.  The answers are simple to articulate, but costly to implement.  Join us by contributing what you can.

  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 the MONTH of FEBRUARY 2012

Animals Received:  315  

Returned to Owners: 22 (7%)

Adoptions:  50 dogs and 20 cats

Transfers:  68 (7 to SPCA)

Euthanized:  205 (65%)

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

RANGER

2yrs.  60 lbs.  Walks well on a leash and wants to be your new best friend.

MOLLY

1yr.  Gorgeous, purr-fect gal! $20