The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
ANIMAL RESCUES INCREASING
Local need grows: Donations, volunteers enable groups to care for animals
Folks at Friendship Animal Protective League expect this year to rescue more than 4,000 animals.
“It’s going well,” said Friendship APL Executive Director Gregory Willey, at the helm for eight years of the 60-year-old organization at 8303 Murray Ridge Road in Elyria. “It’s a charity so it’s a funny thing to say. When I took over we averaged 1,100 animals a year. We take care of everything from cats and dogs to Guinea pigs, ferrets, hamsters, horses, pigs, cattle, an iguana, alligator. That was a few years back. And we’ve had pretty much everything somebody would keep in a house.
“Donations have been doing better, but the need has grown increasingly,” Willey said.
“What we’re seeing increasing is requests for help with special needs or animals with disabilities. That has grown on an exponential scale with the cost of care and surgery on the increase as well. That’s the thing we have to compensate for.”
In Avon, rescues increased this year from 350 to 400 dogs, said Executive Director Michelle Reichlin at Fido’s Companion.
"... anybody who is rescuing sees them as part of their family, as innocent creatures that don’t have a voice and need to be cared for.” — Michelle Reichlin, executive director at Fido’s Companion
“There’s always a limit to the number of dogs you can help,” Reichlin said. “But we are constantly working for donations and fundraisers so we can continue to do the most we can to help. Basically rescues in general are easily overrun. If you look at dog pounds and facilities taking dogs off the streets, they are overburdened.”
Willey finds more owners approach the shelter for help because they cannot afford veterinary care.
“So we’re bearing the brunt of the cost,” Willey said.
“The expectations of what shelters can do and what we’re able to do are two different things. But we try to help a lot.”
The operational costs at Friendship APL total about $950,000 a year, he said, with most of the money raised through donations.
“We receive no government tax subsidies and no federal, state, county, or city funding,” Willey said, adding currently 175 animals are residents of the shelter or foster homes. Of them, 85 are puppies and kittens, he said.
“We’re coming out of the second wave of kitten season, the spring and the fall,” Willey said. “We have 10 puppies ages 7 months and younger, and 75 kittens one year or younger.”
Reichlin says the need for rescue operations and shelters is due to people who neglect to spay or neuter pets, and people who see dogs as things to throw away, as commodities.
“Listen, anybody who is rescuing sees them as part of their family, as innocent creatures that don’t have a voice and need to be cared for,” Reichlin said.
Operated 100 percent by volunteers, Fido’s Companion ensures each dog receives a spay or neuter, medical care, training and socialization, Reichlin
said. New foster home volunteers work with certified dog trainers to learn how to successfully bring a dog into their home, and train them. New transport volunteers ride along with an experienced transporter or handler before venturing out on their own, she said.
For the 400 dogs helped this year, Fido’s Companion spent about $250,000, which averages $500 a dog, Reichlin said.
“That includes medical care and training,” she said, adding the money is raised through individual and corporate donations, fundraising, and grants. Since the rescue does not operate out of a physical building, ways to donate are listed on the website, www.fidoscompanion.com.
Willey says as families enter the holidays with thoughts of a special former pet, a gift of toys, food or litter would be greatly appreciated at the shelter.
Groups often adopt the APL at various times during the year to help with ongoing needs for supplies.
“Those things are what keeps us afloat,” Willey said.
Since Friendship APL serves as a “no kill” shelter, its outreach extends to neighboring counties to rescue animals from the brink of death at dog pounds, he said.
The volunteers are prepared for broken hearts along with successes.
For example, in late August the Warren Police Department found two puppies along a road, and picked them up, he said.
“Their names were Oogie-Boogie and Jack Skellington,” Willey said.
“They were two superemaciated puppies picked up on a Sunday. They needed emergency care. I rushed them to our veterinarian. Jack was literally skin and bones. It took two to three weeks in emergency care just to get well enough to go to a foster home. They were shepherd pit mixes, and they’re five or six months old now.
Unfortunately — or fortunately – the foster ‘failed,’ and they’re permanently adopted into the foster home, which is in Brecksville.”
He appreciates the many rescue collaborations and networks.
“We directly or indirectly help 19 different animal shelters across the state,” Willey said.
The biggest trend he notices is a rising cost of care forcing animals into a shelter. Surgeries range from $800 to $3,000, depending on the veterinarian.
“Additional medical costs, these costs are rising exponentially,” he said. “Also, people’s expectations coming out of a shelter are increasing.”
Even the best shelters are still shelters, and a stressed animal can pick up a virus resulting in a shelter cough which goes away in 10-14 days, he said.
“No matter how nice a shelter it is, it is still a shelter,” he said. “People should expect extra challenges when they take an animal from a shelter. It is still a shelter animal. Some people want an adult dog because of the expectation that it is already house trained. But they may not realize what the dog has been through. We want people to have realistic expectations. After all, not every animal is perfect.”
But, yes, sometimes the shelter receives muchloved, well-raised pets from families dealing with sad situations, he said, such as seriously ill owners rendered unable to care for animals through no fault of their own.
And searching shelters before turning to a breeder for a new addition to the family can result in a great match, Willey said.
“That’s been a real trend in a right direction,” he said. “That’s a good trend. In Northeastern Ohio you’re seeing less animals going through euthanasia. We have a nice mix of people who are willing to adopt.”