By Gary Willoughby, Aiken SPCA Executive Director
As we say goodbye to another year, I can’t help but look back at last month and how wonderful it was for animals in our community, both the ones temporarily in shelters and in loving families.
A couple of weeks ago, thanks to generous contributions from our supporters throughout the CSRA, we had two days where all adult animals had their adoption fees sponsored. The result was more than 40 pet adoptions in two days, including some dogs that had been overlooked so many times before.
Writing their names on the adoption board, posting their adoption photos on our Facebook page and giving them a final pet goodbye was an unbelievably positive experience for our dedicated staff and volunteers who participated there in person and cheered us on over the World Wide Web.
The adoptions were not only fun to see, but they allowed us to bring in another 40 animals that need homes, too. We brought in a variety of puppies, dogs and cats that were strays in the City of Aiken, and we were also happy that we could go next door and transfer in a total of 23 dogs and puppies from the Aiken County shelter.
Adoptions are rewarding and fun, but they are a small part of the animal welfare world. Knowing this, we were excited to apply for and receive a grant from the ASPCA to provide free rabies shots and other vaccinations for pets that otherwise may not have seen a veterinarian this year. We were awarded sufficient funding to vaccinate more than 450 animals just in time for Christmas.
We had a large number of staff members, volunteers and medical staff on hand not knowing how many people would participate right before the holiday. The turnout that morning was something that none of us who were there will ever forget. Cars were lined up well before the clinic began; some were there two hours ahead of time. We had to start early, as even with lining up cars three across our long parking lot, we couldn’t fit them all.
It took us less than two hours to care for all of these animals brought in by their very appreciative owners. The economy has been tough on a lot of these people who shared their heart-wrenching stories with all of us who were there to help. Some had lost their jobs and thought that there was no way their pets would get their shots this year. Many waited nearly an hour for the chance to make sure their pets would stay healthy another year.
The clinic was also a good opportunity to educate pet owners on a variety of topics, including the need to try and budget for annual veterinary visits in the future. We handed out educational information, surveyed each pet owner and distributed the contact information for every veterinarian in the CSRA and emphasized our clinic was no replacement for having a veterinarian for their pets for annual checkups and for if their pets get sick or injured in the future.
With lots of adoptions out of our shelter with our first ever Home Free for the Holidays promotion, lots of transfers back into the shelter, and our first-ever free vaccination clinic that helped more than 450 pets already living in the community, we wanted to make one final push on the prevention side of animal welfare, with a spay/neuter special like we’ve never done before.
Thanks to the generosity and commitment to the cause of just a handful of people, we were able to sign up 50 cats and 150 dogs for free spay or neuter surgery, including a rabies shot and a microchip. We put the word out to the public on Tuesday and by Friday, every single slot had been taken!
Many of these unaltered pets were living in homes with other unaltered pets, making them much more likely to bring into the world litters of puppies and kittens that we don’t have room for right now. We are so thankful for the support from the community in 2011 and wanted to pay it forward with a huge push at the end of the year, getting more pets out of shelters, helping animals already in homes, and preventing more unplanned ones in 2012.
As always, the Aiken SPCA thanks you for your continued support.
