It Took a Town, a Mayor and Many Angels

Aiken County Animal Advocates

THE VOICE OF PAWS

(Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc.)

Aiken County Animal Advocates as posted in the AIken Standard on April 25, 2014

By Joya DiStefano

Another Pit Bull Terrier has been found tied and starved to a skeletal shadow of its natural magnificence, and Mayor Michael Miller and his City Council are taking steps to intervene and, hopefully prevent, the abuse of any animal within their jurisdiction. By a newly revised Animal Control Ordinance, the City Council of Wagener shall set forth regulations for its citizens to assure that the health and safety of persons and animals are protected.  Wagener can take pride in the guidelines to be adopted, and any residents, or their neighbors, who are unsure of the current quality of care for any animal, would be well served to consult the Mayor’s Office.

What is it about Pit Bull Terriers that make them so frequently the victims of ignorance, neglect and cruelty?  For more than a hundred years, the American Pit Bull Terrier was the standard of the all-American dog.  Think of RCA Victor, Buster Brown Shoes, and the Little Rascals.  The United Kennel Club describes the essential characteristics of the American Pit Bull Terrier as “strength, confidence, and zest for life. This breed is eager to please and brimming over with enthusiasm.  APBTs make excellent family companions and have always been noted for their love of children.”  If there is an inclination towards aggression, it is to other dogs, a potential problem that training and supervision can avoid.

And then there are those times when the neglect of animals is no accurate reflection of the owners’ devotion to their animals.  We mentioned a case last month where an ailing mother and her severely disabled son had a pack of dogs that were breeding and wandering out of control.  The neighbors were up in arms.  County Animal Control was torn between the obligation to enforce county ordinance and the desire to help a handicapped young man who loved (and needed) his dogs, all of them.

Dottie Gantt, a life-long Wagener resident has her finger on the pulse of her community, and not many needs that come to her attention go unaddressed.  Dottie recruited Dr. Timmerman and his wife to step in with FOTAS funding for the spay/neuter surgeries necessary to get the pack under control.  She then brought the need for adequate fencing to the attention of Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc. (PAWS), a newly formed 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to help homes, and communities, keep animals out of shelters.  Then Mayor Mike stepped in and what follows is the rest of the story.

BEFORE

“The fence is completed, except for the concrete at the entrances and running a water line inside the pen.  Licking tips on the existing water spigot provide on-demand water, and all the dogs love it. (Confined to a wheelchair, the owner was having difficulty making sure the dogs had adequate water.)  I want to thank a couple people who volunteered to help, and who turned out to be much more than helpful. 

AFTER

Years ago, when the Ostrich farming fad hit, I already had a pair of Ostriches that I‘d bought through an ad in The Progressive Farmer.  At the time, they were considered "exotic animals," regulated by the DNR, which required an escape-proof enclosure and on-site 24-hour supervision. 

While at work one day, a surgeon buddy ask me if I knew of any farmers around Pelion that would provide temporary home for a kid who had suffered traumatic injuries in a motorcycle accident and had nowhere to go.  I happened to know a farmer who had a vacant mobile home on his property who might take him in, so I called him.  He preferred to sell me the trailer for $200, and move it to my farm; thereby solving the 24-hour-supervision requirement.

The “very-secure-enclosure” I intended to solve with 300'x100' chain link pen, quoted by a fence company at $6000.00.  I was going to swallow the cost, but an old high school friend, Tim Buchner, decided he, too, wanted to get into the Ostrich business.  When I told him about the costs, he said that we could do the fencing ourselves and save hundreds of dollars.
  
After the first mile or so of fencing, we got pretty good at it; with my inclination to get the fence up ASAP and Tim's determination to do it right the first time, it turned out quite well.   So when I set my mind to do the dog pen, I called Tim to ask what we used to do to "get it right."  He didn’t try to explain the process very long before he realized it would be much easier and time-efficient to just come out and do it.

Heartfelt thanks go out to: Tim Buchner and Grady Rhodes from Wagener for the (accurate) site work and construction; Mr. Tony Harmon, owner/operator of his own concrete business in Lexington. Tony is an expert at concrete finishing and an artist at stamped concrete; Mr. Dean Gooding at Sox Fence & Supply Co, 1500 Lake Dogwood Dr. West Columbia, SC 29170; and, certainly Dottie Gantt for recognizing the need and caring enough to get something done.”

Dottie's Fosters

This is not the only service Dottie Gantt has performed on behalf of the Wagener community, its mayor and its animals.  Dottie is the coordinator of the affordable and accessible spay/neuter project run out of Town Hall and currently funded by FOTAS.  If you have a cat or dog that needs to be fixed, please go sign up.  Outdoor living cats are also being trapped-fixed and returned by volunteers that Dottie oversees.

Another of Dottie's Fosters

But right now, your own Dottie Gantt needs you.  She took on a bunch of (6 or 7) desperate, lovely loving dogs and she now needs help fostering and finding them homes.  (See them on her Facebook page or our PAWS facebook page.) Also, if you can find it in your heart to help with temporary foster-care for animals needing guidance and support on their way to their forever, loving home please contact Dottie.  



Let’s help her out, before we use her up!  You, too, can be a Wagener Angel!

A retired organizational problem-solver and radical educator, Joya Jiménez DiStefano is an artist, Servant Leader, and co-founder of FOTAS, Inc.

www.PAWS4NoKill.org

info@paws4nokill.org

www.facebook.com/PAWS4nokill.org

twitter.com/Paws4NoKill 

pinterest.com/paws4nokill

instagram.com/PAWS4SNYP

Acting as if the God in All Life Matters

Aiken County Animal Advocates

THE VOICE OF PAWS

(Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc.)

By Joya DiStefano

This Aiken County Animal Advocates Columns was posted in the Aiken Standard on 4/17/2014

“Why spend $600 (or more) on one sick dog, when there are so many healthy ones who need homes?”  This common query is aired far less often than it is pondered when addressing the overwhelming problem of unwanted dogs and cats in our community shelters. 

The fact is that if a heartworm positive dog is picked up or surrendered to animal control, Aiken County policy says that it cannot be adopted out to a private citizen; it may only be transferred to a reputable rescue organization.  Such organizations will only accept the heartworm positive dogs if the money for treatment accompanies the dog.  Treatment and transportation runs between $600 to $700 dollars; hence the opening question.

Snoopy

Just before Thanksgiving of 2011, an elderly rat terrier named Snoopy came to our home.  After many weeks languishing in a shelter cage, Snoopy had been adopted by an elderly friend who had loved a rat terrier long gone.  The widow thought to share her twilight years with the little old dog who reminded her of another past. 

Because Snoopy had not been neutered he could not go home with our friend for Thanksgiving.  As an approved foster home, we opted to provide short-term foster care over the holiday.  Then our friend had second thoughts.  My husband fell in love with Snoopy.  Snoopy stayed.

Snoopy and his Dad

First, Snoopy had neck spasms.  Then Snoopy was attacked by two large dogs and spent post-surgical time with drainage tubes in his neck wounds (we refer to it as the “extreme chiropractic” as the neck spasms never returned).  

Snoopy hitching a rid ein Hitchcock Woods

Snoopy’s extreme enthusiasm for food would cause his head to pop into view over the kitchen island while multiple food dishes were prepared.  He rapped the “Gimme-the-Food!” song as back-up rhythm for the hops, “RUFF! Ruff-RUFF! RUFF-ruff-ruff-RUFF!”  

Snoopy required a private dining room (the kitchen lavatory) and a soup can in his dish to slow his chowing down.   We called him “Snooper-G,” the rapper.  He got a bit too fat because the upward tilt of his adorable head trained my husband to give him just one more treat.

A few weeks ago, the dogs were tumbling out of their car, as they do most mornings when we arrive at the back side of Hitchcock Woods for our daily hike.  Snoopy was asserting a personal fantasy about his canine prowess by buzzing PeeDee, our 60-pound “shar-pitt,” from behind. 

PeeDee suddenly whirled and snapped a growl that caused Snoopy to haul up short and wrench to the side.   One yelp and Snoopy’s hind legs were gone.  The rest of the pack must have sensed the urgency as I scooped the tiny paraplegic up.  They piled back in the car and we went straight to the vet who made a quick referral.  Snoopy had back surgery in Columbia that afternoon.

Why spend all that money on one elderly dog who wasn’t even supposed to be ours?  We are far from rich, when it comes to money anyway.  We have way too many dogs, by any sane reckoning.  Why not just “put him to sleep,” or euthanize him?  Let’s face it, the pretty language makes killing for the sake of convenience or economics tidier.  Snoopy was not ready to die; therefore, we were not ready to let him go.  Saving him was an option.  We took it.

Snoopy in Rehab

Yes, I had to carry Snoopy out to express his bladder and help him poop if he hadn’t already soiled his bed, and, yes, I had to do a lot more laundry.  But I think I know the answer to that opening question, “Why spend $600…?”  

Love calls; we hear the call, and either we answer or we turn away.  God is Love.  Life is Love.  The heartworm positive dog is Love.  The motherless puppies and kittens are Love.  The abandoned animal along the road is Love.  Money is not love; it can only provide the means to express Love.

If you hear Love call from a treatable dog in our County Shelter, you can make a tax deductible contribution to “PAWS4Heartbeat” at www.paws4nokill.org.  If you would like to reduce the number of unwanted puppies and kittens arriving at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, you can make a donation to SNYP at www.paws4nokill.org.  

Sixty of us at $10 each can save a treatable dog; ten of us can spay a large female dog. When you donate your amount, just click on Make This Recurring in the paypal box. Credit cards accepted or set up a paypal account and have it deducted from your checking account each month.
It's easy to do, just CLICK HERE to DONATE NOW!

Money is not Love.  If you have a couple of weeks to show Love to a needy dog in transit, call Mary Lou at the Aiken Foster Network hotline: (803) 275-0841or email her at MaryLou@paws4nokill.org. 

There are so many ways to act as if the God in all Life matters.  Together we can stop the unnecessary killing.  Act now. Please.

A retired organizational problem-solver and radical educator, Joya Jiménez DiStefano is an artist, Servant Leader, co-founder of FOTAS, and founder of PAWS, Inc.

www.PAWS4NoKill.org

info@paws4nokill.org

www.facebook.com/PAWS4nokill.org

twitter.com/Paws4NoKill 

pinterest.com/paws4nokill

instagram.com/PAWS4SNYP

Good-Bye Herbie Brown

Aiken County Animal Advocates

THE VOICE OF PAWS

(Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc.)

By Joya DiStefano

This Aiken County Animal Advocates Columns was posted in the Aiken Standard on 03/07/2014

I took the Camp Rawls-Cooks Bridge route back from Wagener and a leisurely conversation about rescue and spay/neuter.   Passing the brand spanking new Aiken County Animal Shelter on the corner of May Royal and Wire Road, I decided to stop, say hello to my friends, and have a look around.  

The adoptable cats building (C.A.T.S. – Cats at the Shelter) in its new place looked real good.  It fits.

The activity on the front walk involved the new county adoption coordinator, Annette, finalizing an adoption photo-op, as I stepped into the spacious foyer with its long reception desk and gorgeous graphics. 

My footsteps echoed in the new emptiness.  I made my way down the hall to find the staff multi-tasking, doing their jobs and settling into the new digs.  Chief Bobby Arthurs, aided by his wife, was finishing up a day’s work organizing his new office.

Our conversation moved from the miracle of the new facility to our continuing partnership in community outreach and support for responsible pet ownership.  We talked of food donations and humane enclosures for low-income pet owners.  We revisited our awareness of the needs in the farthest reaches of the county and the challenges of the many organizations attempting to address them.  At some point the subject of Herbie Brown came up.
  
“FOTAS sold Herbie Brown,” Chief Arthurs said, and made a face like he was trying on shoes that were too small.  I was stunned.  Sold?  Yes, quietly and out of state.  And I was thinking how fortunate the shelter had been to have Herbie’s marvelous generator while they went a week without power after the storm.  Who is Herbie Brown, you ask?  Allow me to explain.

Before there was a FOTAS, there was a transfer program that saved shelter dogs by shipping them north.  The transfer program was the inspiration (and perspiration) of the FOTAS president and it relied entirely on the generosity of one man and his horse transport business up and down the east coast. 

 As FOTAS grew so did the desire to contribute, and one very large early donation was tagged for the transfer program.  The decision was made to secure a means for transporting shelter animals without having to rely solely on the kindness and schedule of the horse business.

The idea for refitting an old Air Stream RV came from a fantasy that my husband and I had shared for a means to travel with our overly large family of dogs.  The Air Streams are easy to tow, register, and insure and can be pulled with almost any vehicle.  The way we found the 1979 Land Yacht model that became FOTAS’ Herbie Brown began the fairy tale. 

My husband and I were travelling in Europe when a friend notified me about the ’69 Air Stream in Harlem, GA for $3,500.  We could have it for $3,000 if we paid cash.  So to find a ’79 in better shape for $2,500 in Lexington, SC; and have it serviced and delivered by the seller, was justification enough to name the trailer after the man’s deceased uncle and original owner, Herb Brown.  “My uncle liked to help people,” the seller said, feeling his uncle would be pleased with the RV’s fate.

The transformation of Herbie Brown into the signature “Rescue Waggin’” that it became symbolizes animal welfare efforts in recent years.  

One volunteer assembled the team that gutted the RV and rewired it.  A young man, unemployed and soon to be a new father banged out the dents, sealed the leaks, and laid the subfloor.  Moore's Discount Carpet’s provided the vinyl flooring and the best floor man to lay it.  The king of handy-men designed and built Herbie’s pens in Windsor.  FOTAS' unemployed database manager did the painting from the materials donated by Sherwin Williams. The housing for the generator was done by Eric at Premier metals.  The finishing touch was the artwork done by Sign Works.  

Herbie Brown FOTAS Former Transport Vehicle

Herbie was a star and the gift of a team of craftsmen stretching from Lexington to Wagener to Windsor to Aiken and into the Valley.  Each contributor gave what he could and put his whole heart into the project, knowing it was Good.  Herbie sported the thank you to the list of these contributors on both rear corners.

In his brief career with FOTAS, Herbie Brown made the spay/neuter transport program an event in Wagener and the Valley; he paraded with the Veterans on Memorial Day and in the Wagener Christmas parades; and, he was a star attraction at Steeplechase and Woofstock.  By his very presence, Herbie Brown signified a community rallying behind a worthy cause: an adequate appropriate public shelter, at the very least.

That he will not stand beside the new facility, the creation of which he helped inspire; that he will not await the grateful participants in low-cost spay/neuter programs; that he will not proudly proclaim the signature success of a public/private partnership in the many ways we gather, is unfortunate and very sad. 

Herbie Brown and what he represented will be missed no less than he was celebrated…and cherished. 

Update July 2014:

Herbie Brown was recently replaced by FOTAS

FOTAS New Transport Vehicle

A retired organizational problem-solver and radical educator, Joya Jiménez DiStefano is an artist, Servant Leader, co-founder of FOTAS, and founder of PAWS, Inc.

www.PAWS4NoKill.org 

info@paws4nokill.org

facebook.com/PAWS4nokill.org

twitter.com/Paws4NoKill 

pinterest.com/paws4nokill

instagram.com/PAWS4SNYP

Becoming a no-kill county one foster home at a time

Aiken County Animal Advocates

THE VOICE OF PAWS

(Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc.)

By Joya DiStefano

This Aiken County Animal Advocates Columns was posted in the Aiken Standard on 12/20/2013

The artistry of an Annette Van Der Walt animal photo makes the subject so lovely, so real, so compelling that you can almost feel its presence in your home. One of those portraits can save an animal's life and has many, many times. Annette does not subscribe to the pity-me approach in her pictures, oh no; she captures an image that sings, “I am special! Adopt me and I will make your life special, too!”

You merely need go to Annette's Facebook page or the page for Shelter Animal Advocates Aiken Foster Network and see a fiercely focused endeavor. Two friends and cohorts reorganized their rescue efforts last spring to save Annette after she lost her husband of more than 30 years and was buried in an avalanche of grief. 

As the weeks passed, December and Kenny Clark, owners of BarkMart in Graniteville, and Mary Lou Seymour, a passionate career rescuer, advocate and community organizer, needed their friend, Annette, back on the team. And back Annette came, born to rescue; and the team got to work.

“Dogs were dying in my county,” recalls December. “Too many dogs, dogs that people overlook. We wanted to give them a voice.” The team gives them more than a voice; they give them back to life, whole, healthy and ready for that precious second chance because of the foster-care network that they are building for no-kill rescues that pull county dogs.

Shelter Animal Advocates Aiken Foster Network builds life-saving bridges between animals in the Aiken County shelter who are unable or less likely to be adopted than the lucky few who find their way to the county shelter's “Adoption Floor,” and a network of rescue organizations dedicated to saving the tough cases.

These animals (mostly dogs) have either tested heartworm positive, have health or behavioral issues, are too old or too black (yes, there is a nationwide bias against black dogs and they are, therefore harder to place and die more often) and are more likely to be routinely euthanized or else their time has just run out in a high-kill shelter.

Last month 333 animals came into our Aiken County Animal Shelter; 63 percent died there, 23 percent were dogs and 40 percent were cats.
In November 2003, 316 animals came in and only 23 of them were adopted. In November 2008, 404 were received, 69 adopted and 361 were euthanized. In November 2012, 306 came in, and 229 (75 percent) were destroyed. 

What this tells us is that little has changed regarding intake in the past 11 Novembers, but a growing array of rescue efforts have made a big dent in what ought to be a shameful and unnecessary statistic.

Annette, December and Mary Lou are not only Shelter Animal Advocates, they are disciples of a movement that is quietly transforming shelter practices across the country, sponsored by the No Kill Advocacy Center (nokilladvocacycenter.org). 

At first glance, given traditional practices in “open” high-kill shelters typically run as a component of community “animal control,” the no-kill movement can appear radically idealistic; that is, until you look at the case facts across the country.

We even have some shining examples here in South Carolina, most notably in Spartanburg County where they have a “save rate” of 90 percent. That means they have virtually eliminated the routine killing of healthy dogs and cats in their county shelter.

How, you ask? The “10 Points of the No-Kill Equation” does a good job of summing up the road to success:

  1. Feral Cat Trap/Neuter/Release (TNR) Program 

  2. High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay/Neuter

  3. Rescue Group's Transfers
  
  4. Foster Care

  5. Comprehensive Adoption Programs 
      (including off-site adoptions)   
  
  6. Pet Retention Programs

  7. Medical and Behavior Prevention/
      Rehabilitation Programs 

  8. Public Relations/Community Involvement

  9. Volunteers

  10. Proactive Redemptions

With the efforts Aiken County Animal Services has begun in recent years, primarily through their partnership with Friends of the Animal Shelter Inc. (FOTAS), and the opening of the new County Animal Shelter next month, the time has never been better for the county to rally to the No-Kill challenge.

The team from Shelter Animal Advocates is doing their part and invites animal enthusiasts, and animal novices throughout the county to get involved. The support this group offers to those willing to provide guaranteed short-term (roughly two weeks) foster care is amazing.

“Our goal is to deliver healthy, socialized, highly adoptable dogs to our rescue partners. We follow ‘our dogs' closely when they leave our care, and only work with partner rescues who will update us on the dog's progress towards final adoption,” said Mary Lou.

The group provides everything you could think of to achieve the goal of matching great dogs with great homes: good quality food, vaccines and medicine, toys, leashes and collars, all treatments for parasites, training, 24/7 support, veterinary care, transportation and a support network. The foster volunteers get to choose the dog they will foster and become the guardian angel that stewards the lucky candidate to its new life.

Shelter Animal Advocates are leading the way for Aiken County to join Spartanburg and Greenville county shelters in the No Kill Nation. 

If you are an animal-lover, and you want a dose of real purpose in your life, they have made it very easy to become part of the transformation. For more information, call Mary Lou at the Aiken Foster Network hotline: 803- 275-0841 or email her at MaryLou@paws4nokill.org. You will be on the right side of history. 

A retired organizational problem-solver and radical educator, Joya Jiménez DiStefano is an artist, Servant Leader, co-founder of FOTAS, and founder of PAWS, Inc.

www.PAWS4NoKill.org

info@paws4nokill.org

www.facebook.com/PAWS4nokill.org

twitter.com/Paws4NoKill 

pinterest.com/paws4nokill

instagram.com/PAWS4SNYP

Never Say We Can’t Save Them All

Aiken County Animal Advocates

THE VOICE OF PAWS

(Palmetto Animal Welfare Services, Inc.)

By Joya DiStefano

Once upon a time in far away Zambia lived a girl immersed in the torrent of living things enveloping and invading the family farm.

Her childhood memories are of weaver birds nesting along the Zambezi River, her mother tending to the strange animals that appeared in her house and cheetah, monkeys, deer and always dogs.

The girl entered womanhood aware of, and bonded with, animals in ways few humans understand, much less experience.Her 20s found her in South Africa, where she studied, met Piers, her husband of 30 years, and where she became a dedicated animal advocate.

From circus animals working hot summers, to the cruelties of product testing, or to cleaning 15,000 oil-drenched penguins, the plight of animals consumed her.

She joined many volunteer rescue groups as she and her husband moved from South Africa to the Caribbean and ultimately to Aiken County, where the challenges of a public animal shelter that killed nine of every 10 animals that came through its doors defined her life.

“I feel I was born to be a rescuer,” Annette said in her soft pleasing accent that actually improves on the British. She was. No one can have 12 dogs of their own and still be pulling dogs and networking to find a ride to the nearest transport to save one more.

My husband and I met Annette Vanderwalt at her then rented farm beyond I-20 on Wire Road four years ago. We had been recruited to take a dog or two to Greenville to meet a transport going north the next day. It was on our way.

Annette mostly relied on Facebook to develop her network of supporters and opportunities for Aiken County Shelter animals. One only has to go to her Facebook page to see how she did it.Beware, if you are busy, the focus and passion can pull you in to the drama and trials of the rescue world she portrays. She takes stunningly beautiful photos of animals to improve the chances of survival for those in need.

You may find yourself with a new cat or dog, or networking your own connections to save another. And why not? What could be more rewarding?

Annette’s results were astounding. With one rescue out of New Hampshire she saved 500 dogs in two years plus another 100 to other rescues up north. Never say to Annette Vanderwalt, “We can’t save them all.” Her wrath is instantaneous. She does not think we can; she knows it. She can tell you place after place that is already doing it and a bunch more that are trying. That is her goal; these compatriots are her network.

Then a year ago tragedy struck. Annette had said her routine goodbye to Piers on Nov. 16.

He was a merchant marine, and she had grown used to his long absences. It was Piers’ job that made her rescue work possible.The phone call came on Christmas Eve. Piers died at sea off the coast of Indonesia. They had just bought their own farm.Annette is still working her way back through the searing grief and the shattered life.

She has help, like Maks the foundling pointer. Re-homed to New Hampshire to take some of the pressure off, Maks disappeared, only to be captured when Annette flew up to search for him.But it was Maks who knew exactly what kind of support Annette needed to get through Piers’s memorial service.

And it is her closest friends who knew what she needed to get through the rest of the days after his death, one by one:
Rescue.

They bugged Annette relentlessly when she dropped off the radar. They needed her energy. They needed her pictures. Annette needed rescuing and who better to do it?

It is a long way back and it has been rocky. Almost to the day, a year after Piers left home for the last time, their first “home dog,” as she calls her rescue clients, Chess passed away at 13. Chess had come off a dock in the Dominican Republic. Another piece of life with Piers was gone.

So what does Annette do to go on? She saves the heartworm-positive dogs at the shelter, the ones with zero chance at the adoption floor. She and her partners push social media to raise the money for treatment.

She rescues the black pit bulls. She puts the dogs whose time is running out in front of as many people who might care as she can and she saves them, one after another, again and again.If you want to know how it feels to be part of a community of love and hope, go to Annette Vanderwalt or “CSRA Shelter Animal Advocates: Aiken Foster Network” on Facebook, and find living proof of lives saved, and that sometimes even the rescuer is rescued.


A retired organizational problem-solver and radical educator, Joya Jiménez DiStefano is an artist, Servant Leader, and co-founder of FOTAS, Inc.


www.PAWS4NoKill.org

info@paws4nokill.org