Aiken County, You Made Us Proud Last Weekend

A woman arrived at the FOTAS booth at the “Wild Read” Festival.  She had just finished walking her dog and then a shelter dog, on the “Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound” trail at the County Shelter.  We had five adorable shelter puppies up for adoption, two brindles and three Ridgeback-mixes.  She fell in love with one of the male Ridgebacks and left to get her husband.

Meanwhile Betty comes by and is entranced by one of the male Ridgebacks.  She knows her daughter and son-in-law have been looking for just the right puppy.  She goes off to get her daughter. 

When they come back, the original woman and her husband look to be adopting the very puppy that was THE ONE.  But destiny had already determined the outcomes for two lucky dogs and two lucky homes. 

But that moment when it appeared that the perfect pup might have gotten away provoked a cell-phone picture of the remaining sibling to be sent to Betty’s son and daughter-in-law.

The festival ended and the pups went to foster care before the family received an enthusiastic affirmative decision on the other puppy.

FOTAS wants to celebrate and congratulate our wonderful Aiken County community for the way it came out last weekend to these two kick-off events dedicated to improving the lives of our citizens.

On Friday evening Dr. Sybil Davis hosted a reception and orientation for the initial participants in “Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound.”  The ten-week program encourages people to come out to our County Shelter and walk some marked trails with a dog. 

As the name suggests, this program promotes both human and canine health as well as community involvement with our animal shelter.  It encourages participants to either bring their own dog that might benefit from exercising with them, or pick a county shelter companion who would definitely benefit from time out of its cage learning to walk on a leash.

On Saturday the Aiken Womans Club launched a month-long celebration of reading with its “Wild Read” Opening Calls at three library branches and “Pawsitively About Dawgs Festival” at the Aiken County Public Library

 The Aiken Woman’s Club is a local volunteer community service organization and member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, “…an international women’s organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service.”  They accomplish this mission by volunteering for projects in six major areas: arts, conservation, education, home life, international outreach and public issues.

Aiken’s “Wild Read” is organized around Jack London’s classic dog story The Call of the Wild, hence the kick-off theme and the opportunity to tell such a heartwarming tale.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For September 26th thru Oct 2nd  2011

Dogs taken in: 60

Cats taken in: 70

Dogs adopted: 19!

Cats adopted: 1

Dogs euthanized: 30

Cats euthanized: 70

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 10/7/11

 

FRISBEE – About 9 mos, 42 lbs. A very sweet and a little shy spaniel/beagle mix gal.

LUCAS -10 weeks old and cute as a bug!

 For more photos visit http://fotasfhotos.blogspot.com

Rescued Dog Deserves a Loving Forever Home

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

It began with children from the neighborhood. They saw the large, golden dog tied to the front of an empty dwelling with nothing but a nylon ski rope. They saw that the rope was eating further and further into the flesh of his neck each time he lunged against his tether.

Thank God those kids told their parents, and the parents called the sheriff. The sheriff notified Animal Control. It was after hours when Officer Ford went to the scene.

By that time, a collar had been conveniently inserted between the dog's neck and the nylon rope, but this ruse could not conceal the lacerations.
"The dog was almost decapitating itself," said Officer Ford.

But what Ford found most notable was that, despite the abuse, this handsome dog was, "Very loving, with no sign of aggression."

Ford took the dog and called the county vet tech, Sandy Larsen, to let her know he was bringing in a seriously wounded animal. Larsen came immediately to the shelter and called the county vet. Following his instructions, she not only attended to the injured animal, but seeing how special the dog was, she immediately tested him for heartworms.

"If he was heartworm negative," she said, "I was determined to save this dog.

They named him Roper.

Roper's original owner was cited for animal cruelty and custody of Roper was awarded to the county.

Roper is now completely healed and sports a beautiful wide red collar of which he is quite proud. The volunteers all love him. He's very much the dog that he appeared to be on that fateful night: alert, intelligent and loving. He deserves a safe, devoted, forever home. We have high hopes for his adoption. Roper's already a celebrity and has been on TV.

The lessons we can take from Roper's story are many. It's unfortunate that we must begin with the fact that it is unlawful to tie a dog in any way that it can harm itself, or leave the animal without food, water or shelter.

We obviously hope that no dog has to be tied at all, preferring a good fence, but failing that, there are humane ways to ask a vigilant dog to safeguard our property. We could think of ourselves as their guardians, and demonstrate that we appreciate the jobs these loyal creatures do on our behalf by the way we treat them in return.

As a community we can learn from the initiative of the children who first reported Roper's condition. If you see an animal suffering from cruelty or neglect, call. Roper's life depended on it and, sadly, so will the lives of others.

The County Shelter's Dispatch number is 642-1537. You can also use that number if you are interested in adopting Roper. The Sheriff's number for non-emergency calls is 648-6811. For emergencies the number is always 911.

It is upon all of us to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Let's not let them down.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or www.fotasaiken.org.

Study Shows Needs of Shelter Not Met With Current Facility

From The Aiken Standard

By HALEY HUGHES - Staff writer - email:hhughes@aikenstandard.com

Boulder, Colo.-based Animal Arts is studying the needs of the Aiken County Animal Shelter to determine whether it is best to proceed with an expansion or other alternatives to better serve the community and the animals that end up at the shelter.

Firm principal Jeff Keast recently shared a presentation with Aiken County Council in which he identified several areas of the shelter that do not sufficiently support shelter operations, including inadequate plumbing, cat housing and ventilation systems.

In fact, there is no air conditioning or HVAC system in the dog kennel area. Cross ventilation is provided only by industrial size fans. Ideally, an HVAC system should provide 12 air changes an hour on average, Keast noted.

All of these factors lead to the spread of disease, he said.

"I think everyone knows you need a new shelter. I hear time and time again that people don't like going to a shelter because it's too depressing. We want the shelter to be part of the community," he added. "If you want to create an environment where it shows you are successful at taking care of animals, people will want to be a part of it."

The goals for the Aiken County Animal Shelter include comfortable housing, a choice of environment and opportunities for physical and mental exercise and companionship.

Seventy-five percent of the design effort will focus on noise and odor control and meeting HVAC and wash and drainage requirements, according to Keast.

In May, the Animal Control Advisory Committee approached Council with a proposal - that it raise $100,000 in private money to pay for architectural services while the County internally finances the new facility and pays itself back when the third round of Capital Projects Sales Tax collections begins.

Aiken County Council entered into a memorandum of understanding with Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) in June to front $1 million to "fast track" a new shelter.

Upon the completion of Animal Arts' needs analysis, FOTAS and the Animal Control Advisory Committee will recommend to Council that either a new shelter be built, the existing one be renovated or an existing facility be purchased and improved.

The arrangement should accelerate work on the shelter and leave more money for actual bricks and mortar.

The Aiken County Animal Shelter has been allocated $1 million in the next round of sales tax.

"This is our one chance to do this shelter right, to make sure healthy animals coming through in-take don't become sick," said FOTAS President Jennifer Miller. "There are so many great things animal shelters can do to keep animals healthy. There are current standards and codes, and we don't meet them."

FOTAS believes a new shelter, or at least a renovated one, is desperately needed.

The current shelter is undersized, lacking the room to adequately separate animals that have been approved for adoption and those that are sick or vicious, according to the advisory committee. Air circulation is poor. The shelter's surgical facilities are also inadequate; there are no surgical preparation or recovery rooms. The euthanasia rate is high.

"We want a shelter for the next 10,15, 20 years from now. We don't want to Band-Aid it, but that's not to say we want to keep on going and build bigger and bigger shelters," Miller said. "Council will have to decide how best to complement the recommendations with a limited budget."