TRR photos by Sandy Long Strays and cast offs wait patiently for loving homes. (Click for larger image)

Shelter from the storm

By SANDY LONG

When Bob Dylan sang about receiving “shelter from the storm,” he wasn’t thinking about Bettina, the Border Collie mix, or Fluff, the friendly feline, or the thousands of other pets that find themselves without a home every year. But I am. As temperatures fall and winter storms appear on the horizon, shelter can mean the difference between life and death.

For Sue Frisch, manager of the Dessin Animal Shelter in Honesdale, PA, it means getting strays off the streets, locating loving families for pets who find themselves without a place to call home and reuniting lost pets with their owners.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) recently found itself in the position of providing rescue and reunion services for more than 200 pets whose owners were evacuated following the World Trade Center disaster. Tiffanie Schadler was reunited with her Corgi, Pancho Villa, three days after being evacuated from her apartment near the Twin Towers. Dr. Larry Hawk, President and CEO of the ASPCA, notes, “It’s important to remember that these pets are four-legged family members. We’ve seen many owners simply break down in tears of joy after being reunited with a pet that they had not seen in days.”

Closer to home, staff members at the Dessin Shelter, who maintain a lost and found list, have witnessed happy reunions as well. But they relate sobering statistics that bring the reality of providing shelter into sharp focus. Though they strive to run a “low-kill” shelter, they are able to place only 30 to 35 percent of the cats that come to the shelter into new homes. That’s because they take in more than twice as many cats as dogs and space is seriously limited. For dogs, the picture is brighter; roughly 85 percent find homes, largely due to staff efforts at screening dogs for sound, non-aggressive temperaments and helping owners overcome dog behavioral problems.

Volunteers help to push the numbers higher by assisting in off-site adoptions at places like the Honesdale Agway, and by bathing and grooming pets to improve their chances of adoption. The day I stopped by the shelter, volunteer Mike Zielinski, of Bethany, was busy brushing out the roughed-up coat of a stray dog. The expressions of pleasure and gratitude were evident in both man and dog.

Other volunteer opportunities abound. Dessin needs people to visit area nursing homes with shelter pets, walk dogs, provide office assistance, help raise funds and assist with morning feeding and clean up routines. But the shelter’s biggest challenge is overcoming ignorance.

Cats can produce multiple litters in a year, exacerbating a problem for which the best solution is spaying and neutering. A similar situation exists for dogs. Eventually, the most adorable kittens and puppies become cats and dogs. If owners reject them, they are much harder to find homes for as adults and often end up euthanized as new litters arrive.

To address this issue, Dessin offers a low-cost spay/neuter program available to anyone. Vouchers are sold for $10 and are worth $25 toward neutering a male cat and $35 toward spaying a female cat. Vouchers for dogs sell for $20, and are worth $45 toward neutering males and $65 toward spaying females.

Beyond this program, Dessin also provides pet therapy, dog training classes and animal cruelty investigations. Adoption fees are $76.50 for male dogs and $96.50 for females, including spay/neuter, vaccinations, licensing, worming and screening for Heartworm. Cat adoptions include the same, while being screened instead for Feline Leukemia. The fee for male cats is $50; for females, the fee is $65.

Dessin has been sheltering pets since 1968, and the area served by the shelter includes Sullivan County. The shelter is well supported by the communities it serves, but Frisch sends this reminder, “We’re here to help, not to criticize or judge. We can recommend vets and kennels, link you to a respectable animal rescue organization, help you with a pet’s behavioral problems. And—we always have animals to adopt.”

In the words of folk music’s favorite mongrel, “Try imagining a place where it’s always safe and warm.” For the strays on our streets, Dessin aims to be that place, temporarily, and to find that place, permanently. Help them this holiday season by adopting an animal or providing financial or volunteer support. Contact the Dessin Animal Shelter at RR 3, Box 3043, Honesdale, PA 18431, 570/253-4037.

• The Dessin Animal Shelter is hours are Monday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• More than 300 animals have received medical care from ASPCA veterinarians. The ASPCA has had to arrange foster care for pet owners who can’t keep their pets in their temporary housing and adoptions for those forced to relinquish their pets, or those who died in the disaster. To assist the ongoing efforts of the ASPCA, send donations to ASPCA Animal Disaster Relief Fund, 424 E. 92nd Street, New York, NY  10128, or call 212/876-7700, extension 4512.