NEWS- Humane Society of Fairfax County Dedicated to Rescuing, Housing and Adopting Homeless Animals HSFC STATE OF THE ARK FALL 2005 PAGE 1

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1 NEWS- LETTER Humane Society of Fairfax County Dedicated to Rescuing, Housing and Adopting Homeless Animals ADOPTIONS Through November 30, 2005, the Humane Society has adopted out 330 animals into loving homes: 279 cats 38 dogs 2 birds 3 horses 4 rabbits 4 guinea pigs A special thanks to all of our foster homes, home visit volunteers, socializers, outreach program volunteers and adoption placement volunteers. HELPING THE COMMUNITY Since inception, the HSFC has been there to help with abused and abandoned animals whether we took the animals into our care or helped with vet bills for those who could not afford the care, but did not want to give up their animal. Beginning in 2004, we began to track the latter those community members that we have helped with pets that they did not want to give up. PAGE 1

2 HELPING THE COMMUNITY Through September 2005, we provided financial assistance for 13 animals to receive the medical care they needed. This included a young service dog hit by a car that was assigned to a severely epileptic man, two dogs suffering from parvo, removal of growths on a dog, annual medical care for 2 dogs and 1 cat, colon surgery on a cat, etc. In addition, we fronted the pet deposit for a family relocating to an apartment so that they could keep their pets. Through August 2005, the feral outreach program trapped, neutered and released (TNR) and/or helped medically 246 cats and kittens. Through September, we have responded to 4,647 phone calls and 4,761 s. Examples of calls and s received include referrals of 84 low cost spay/neuters, 98 humane education calls and s, 126 requests for wildlife assistance and 21 requests for vet referrals. MORE NEW FACES AT FAMILIAR PLACES!!! We sadly say goodbye to our co-office manager, Stacey Overman, who needed to leave us due to family commitments. We happily say hello to our new co-office manager, Shannon Pederson. She s so efficient you d think she d been working with us for years. She and her husband, Mark, have an eighteen month son, Colvin, who is adorable and a Golden Lab, who places a close second in cuteness. Shannon will share the position with Marlene Hammer and we are confident the two of them will keep our offices and daily activities running smoothly. We also welcome our new cashier, Mostafa Oukili to the organization. His duties will keep him busy at Second Chance 2 in Falls Church; however, we hope to benefit from his business savvy at Second Chance 1 in Fairfax, when needed. A huge welcome to both Shannon and Mostafa. May you have many happy experiences working for us and enjoy knowing you are helping to save animal s lives. BEAUTIFUL WEATHER, BEAUTIFUL CARS, AND BEAUTIFUL DOGS That s what you would have found had you stopped by HBL Porsche dealership on Saturday, November 5th. Porsche of North America not only allowed us, they asked us to hold a dog adoption event at their Tysons Corner dealership as part of their national Cayennes for Canines campaign. And in return, HBL agreed to loan the Humane Society one of their certified pre-owned Cayenne SUVs for 6 months. So we took 7 of our adorable adoptables to HBL and they were on their best behavior. Well almost. Boomer did have a minor disagreement with a visiting Beagle. We re sure it was all about politics it being so close to election day and all. And by the end of the day, five adoption applications were completed and prospects of forever homes are looking pretty promising for Bernie, Hank, Krypto, Tina 2, and Penny. Check out our website for the many photo ops of the day. So a huge thank you: o to our friends at HBL for the Cayenne and the big check for $3,000, o to MIX and Smooth Jazz for their promotion and prizes, o to our faithful volunteers Cara Donato, Lauren Deahl, Dan Larivey, Kelly Fiddler, Betsy Thompson and her daughter Randi, Jeanne Taylor, Lisa Millican, Rachel Szyszk, Amanda Goza, Ann Marie Benedict, Kim Clark, K.C. Edwards, and Vicki Kirby for transporting and handling our best friends for the event PAGE 2

3 o to the many drivers-by who spontaneously donated cash into our buckets (thank heaven for those long red lights) o to the HBL patrons who filled our Cayenne with food and supplies for the Katrina pets o and most importantly, Lynne Mayo, for working with HBL in coordinating this event. HERE AND BACK AGAIN - A VERY FULFILLING TRIP TO HELP FURRY HURRICANE VICTIMS On September 29, six travelers (Cara Donato, Lauren Deahl, Mary Kendall, Tim Tuggle, Cindy Capone and Christine Bowen) endeavored on a journey of hope and need down to New Orleans. We were two trucks pulling horse trailers and the HSFC van filled to the gills with supplies donated by the local community for the animals and rescuers down in the ravaged area of the Gulf Coast. After a twenty plus hour trip, we finally reached our destination site Muttshack Shelter in the Northeast quadrant of New Orleans. There we banded together with other concerned animal lovers to care for over a hundred animals. There was no electricity or running water; however, there were generators and volunteers ventured out daily to get gas and water for the site. A typical day was wake up at 6am to walk dogs for the first of many times during the day, non-stop search and rescue, medical attention as necessary in the triage area, daily care including feedings, scooping litter, etc, providing some play time for the animals, etc. All of this was done in 90+ degree weather with 80%- 100% humidity. By 9:30 a.m. we were soaked with sweat and covered with bug spray to keep the biting black flies off of us. If we were lucky, we made it downtown by 8 p.m. to have dinner offered by the National Guard and to take a shower. If not, PB&J sandwiches sufficed. Assuming nothing else went on for the night, we would hit our sleeping bags under the stars or in our tents by about midnight. For the six travelers, the Katrina and Rita disasters have had enduring personal and professional outcomes, mostly in the form of new guests at the inn. Five malnourished cats (four kittens and 1 adult calico) and two starving rabbits with bites on them were brought back to the Humane Society. All but the adult calico cat made it through both Katrina AND Rita. Medical attention has been sought and is still being given in some cases and they are starting to settle in. The kittens are currently up for adoption. If you are interested in adopting, please stop by the building. We are still in constant contact with Muttshack. The need is still very real and will be for some time. We encourage all of those willing and able to assist in any way possible. Volunteers are desperately needed and as far as the animals of the region are concerned that need is real and immediate. LATEST HAPPENINGS Did you hear it.. The loud explosion of fireworks? You guessed it that was us celebrating the ground breaking of our new dog kennel. So now we re just counting the days until construction is completed and we can start filling the dog suites with happy adorable adoptables. Weather permitting we hope to be up and operating by spring. We ll keep you posted with the date of our grand opening. I know you won t want to miss this monumental day! PAGE 3

4 The Fairfax City Fall Festival on Oct. 9th was a great success. Our booth had lots of new gift items for sale and we had a great turnout despite the event cancelled due to rain on the scheduled day before. Even though we were forced to use the rain date, our volunteers came through for us, as always. We had a new company, Bark Bark Bakery, donate a large gift basket filled with dog goodies. We raffled it off and made a pretty good profit. A huge thank you to Crystal Burhan for the basket and the 5 other baskets she made for us to sell. Another new item we offered for sale were car magnets, which were a huge success. We do have a few left if anyone is interest in purchasing one. Come by our main offices to see the selection available or visit our booth at the Fairfax Craft Show held in Fairfax High School on Nov. 19th and 20th. October 14th will be a day we remember for a long time. We had over 80 volunteers from Greater DC Cares help us at the farm in Centreville. The list of chores we accomplished that day would fill a book. One of the most exciting things they did for us that day was build several picnic tables and benches, which we know will get a lot of use. Our volunteers will finally have a comfortable spot to sit while playing and socializing with the dogs. And next years volunteer picnic will make it possible for everyone to have a place to sit and relax. Speaking of the volunteer picnic..what a great time we had. The weather was perfect, the veggie burgers were yummy, four tables were filled with homemade goodies, and over 35 volunteers enjoyed each other s company. Our thanks to all who gave up a cherished weekend day to attend. In September we participated at the annual health fair given by Freddie Mac Corporation. We displayed lots of valuable information and hopefully educated many potential pet owners. Our thanks to Lynne Mayo for her time and energy making this event a success. Clifton Saddlery.we love ya! On their biggest sale day of the year they were still thinking of our animals and us. They held a bake sale and staffed a table of handouts and literature, as well as collected donations. In addition to all this they also collected donations for our next trip down to help Katrina s helpless animals. A special thanks to Teresa McDermott and Sue Clairmont for their incredible generosity. The Petsmart Fall Adoptathon on Sept. 16th, 17th and 18th was a great success again this year. Over 30 adorable animals found forever homes. Petsmart has been a huge advocate for homeless animals and this event proved once again how much they care.. Mark your calendars for December 10th. We will participate in the Fairfax Corner Santa Pet Photos and have an educational booth as well. Weather permitting, we might bring a companion animal or two so they can visit Santa and give him their Christmas lists. A big thanks to Tom Vincent for choosing the HSFC as the beneficiary of the annual Bark Bowl event for the 2 nd year in a row. We provided snacks and drinks to the flag footballers participating in the event as well as staffing an information table. Thanks to all that volunteered on this extremely hot day. Troops Troops and more troops. Girls Scouts and Boys Scouts really do pledge to do their best and they have done their best for us. Michael Kidd, along with over 25 scouts from his troop, spent the day laying concrete block and pouring concrete at our farm in Centreville. They successfully stopped our dogs from digging out of the upper exercise yard. Now we hope they can come back soon and figure out a way to keep them from jumping over the fence! A million thanks for all their hard work. Shari Bedker s 8th grade Girl Scout Troop earned their silver award helping our animals Nov. 12. Despite the weather they managed to clean, dust, scrub, sweep and get completely filthy doing barn and kennel chores at our farm. I hope they enjoyed the day as much as we enjoyed them. PAGE 4

5 WITH FONDEST MEMORIES OF ANIMALS WHO HAVE TOUCHED OUR LIVES Tina, our beautiful Shepherd mix was with us for what only seemed a minute. She was rescued from a rural shelter in the hopes we could find a family of her very own to love. Unfortunately, she was in the last stages of cancer and we needed to end her suffering. I know she felt the love we had for her in her brief stay with us. Hopefully, this helped to ease her pain at the end. Rose, an incredibly beautiful and loving horse whose life with us was too short. She has left wonderful memories behind to help us with her passing. May she always have alfalfa under her feet. Lefty, a black Persian cat who was left at our door one cold winters day. He touched so many with his gentle ways and sweet disposition. There is no doubt our love for him kept him with us longer than was meant to be. Our little man will be greatly missed but remembered with a smile on our face and a tear in our eye. EMERGENCY PET PREPAREDNESS Hurricanes, wildfires, floods if disaster strikes, are you prepared to protect your pets? A few simple steps can help ensure you won t be caught off guard. Display a Rescue Alert Sticker A personalized sticker on your front door alerts rescue workers to the type and number of pets indoors. Arrange a Safe Haven Should you need to evacuate, have a list of reputable boarding kennels, shelters or local hotels that accept pets, or arrange ahead to being your pets to a friend s home. Red Cross disaster shelters will not accept pets. Prepare an Emergency Travel Kit Store an emerge ncy kit and leashes near your home s exit. Include a pet first-aid kit; a two- week supply of pet food, water, and pet medications, food dishes, disposable litter trays, and photos of your pets (in case your pet is lost and you need to make posters). A flashlight, blanket (handy for scooping up fearful pets), and carrier or traveling case are also helpful. Choose a Designated Caregiver Give a set of house keys ahead of time to a trusted friend or neighbor in case you are unable to return home to your pets. Arrange for a temporary or long-term foster home in case you cannot care for your pets. Prepare Your Pets Collars and tags with upto-date contact information are essential for all pets. Being pets indoors at the first sign of warning of a storm or disaster. Should your animal become lost, know where your local shelters are located, and start looking for a missing pet as soon as possible. Prepare Your Home o For high winds: Utility rooms, bathrooms, and basements offer safe havens clear of such hazards as windows or flying debris o For loss of electricity: Fill up bathtubs and sinks with fresh water ahead of time o For flooding: Select the highest room in your home that has a counter or shelves where your pet can take shelter. (Source: ASPCA Action; Fall 2005) CHECK HERE FOR ANIMALS Kudos to Governor Mark Warner who signed into law the Spay and Neuter Fund, which allows Virginia residents to conveniently check off donations for animal population control on their state tax returns. Income tax check-offs are becoming an increasingly common tool to facilitate animal welfare in many states. IS THAT A COYOTE I SEE? Coyotes, canis latrans, are 35 to 40 pound dog-like mammals that are entering the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area and have a very good chance for survival here. They have thrived in other cities in the United States. Being generalists, they eat plants, animals, and even garbage. Their main diet is rodents, other small mammals, fruits, and vegetables, all of which is available in our area. While we can co-exist with coyotes, we need to do so while respecting their wild nature. PAGE 5

6 The Threat: If coyotes lose their natural fear of people (due to people feeding them), then they have the potential to attack. Numerous small children and adults have been attacked in other cities, after being fed by people. In addition to human safety concerns, we need to consider pet safety as well. Outdoor cats and small dogs serve as potential prey, while larger dogs may also be attacked if viewed as competitors. Coyotes carry many diseases, viruses, and parasites, some of which may be fatal, like rabies. The Solution: Prevention is the best medicine! If everyone works together and follows these simple guidelines, we can keep the coyote population down and minimize problems. Keep your pets and their food and water indoors. Supervise your pets if they do go outside. Spay/neuter your dogs to prevent hybridization. Keep pets current on vaccinations. Supervise young children when outdoors. Teach them that it is okay if a coyote is seen in the distance but never go close enough to touch or feed. Children should tell an adult if they ever see one. Take your garbage can to the curb the morning of your scheduled pickup using a tightly secured container. Cleanup any fallen birdseed, fruits, or vegetables. Use closed containers for compost rather than open piles. Trim shrubs and trees to their natural shape. Since unkempt yards attract rodents, and therefore coyotes, please maintain your yard. Treat any rodent problem you may have according to the package s label. If you choose to fence your yard, it is helpful to make it at least six feet tall, arching outwards at the top, and buried one to two feet. But, no fence is completely coyote-proof. Take extra precautions near any potential den sites during pup-rearing season (May- August) due to coyotes aggressive parental nature. Most importantly, DO NOT FEED COYO- TES! If You See A Coyote: Don t panic! Simply seeing you may strike enough fear in the coyote to leave immediately. If after seeing you, the coyote does not leave, then try to make loud noise and turn on any nearby lights. If your stubborn coyote still does not leave, you can try throwing rocks at it, eliciting the flight response. If the above techniques do not work, or you are nervous at all, call your local animal control. This information was provided by Shannon Pederson while working on her Master of Natural Resources for Virginia Tech. HOLD THE DATE DECEMBER 4, 2005 Come one.come all to the annual HSFC Volunteer Holiday party scheduled for Sunday, December 4 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the administrative offices in the City of Fairfax. Bring a gift of $15 or less for our always fun gift exchange and a dessert or appetizer to fill our bellies while we enjoy the tales of the success of the past year. Please RSVP by November 18 to We re looking forward to seeing everyone. A SUCCESS STORY Received from a previous adopter. Hello, You probably receive several of these types of s every week, but I just wanted to send a much overdue thank you to your center for my cat, which I adopted from the HSFC about 7 1/2 years ago. He was known as "Smoky" when I adopted him in early January of 1997, and I called him Newton. It was estimated that he was about 7 years old at the time. I remember walking into a room (I think on the second floor of your building) where he was all alone. He immediately came up to me and rubbed his head against me, and the center personnel were surprised because he was usually a very shy cat. That was my "signal"--i took him home that day. He spent a couple of days under the bed but we soon became close companions. He had quite a life--he and I lived in the Washington DC area for several years (with one year on Minnesota) until I married a State Dept. Foreign Service officer, and last year PAGE 6

7 Newton was able to join us here in Amman, Jordan. He was a good traveler, among other things! My friends used to tease me that he was almost like a dog, because he would stand waiting patiently by the door until I would get home at the end of the day. He liked nothing better than to sit on my lap and never once was anything but sweet and affectionate. Last week, he stopped eating and became very lethargic. The vet here, who had been treating him for some arthritis in his back legs, said that it was probably the result of chronic health issues, and on Saturday morning I decided that he was uncomfortable (if not in pain) and we had to put him to sleep. To the end he was loving and uncomplaining. He was truly a gift to me for the last 7 1/2 years and I just thank you so much for the work that you do. Gratefully, Rhonda (Mohrmann) Carlson Amman, Jordan FUTURE ISSUES OF STATE OF THE ARK Anyone wishing to include an article in the next issue of State of the Ark should submit content in writing to the Administrative Office, Attention, Mary Kendall, by January 15, In addition, anyone interested in helping put the newsletter together, please contact Mary as well. HUMANE SOCIETY MISSION The Humane Society of Fairfax County, Inc. (HSFC) is a non-profit, private organization established in The mission of the Humane Society of Fairfax County, Inc. is to promote humane education; to prevent all forms of cruelty to animals, both domestic and wild, by every legitimate means; and to assist the community with all matters pertaining to the welfare of animals. HOURS & INFORMATION HSFC Administrative Office 4057 Chain Bridge Rd. Fairfax PETS Hours of operation: Monday - Friday 10-5 Saturday 10-4; Sunday - Closed Cat and Small Mammal Adoptions- Administrative offices Chain Bridge Rd. Fairfax PETS Adoption hours: Monday - Friday 10-4 Saturday 10-3; Sunday - Closed Second Chance 1 - Thrift Store 4057 Chain Bridge Rd. Fairfax Hours of operation: Monday - Friday 10-4 Saturday 10-3; Sunday - Closed Second Chance 2 - Thrift Store 929 W. Broad St. Falls Church Hours of operation: Monday - Friday 10-4 Saturday 10-4; Sunday - Closed HSFC Farm Lee Highway Centreville All visitors must call ahead Dog and Horse adoptions -by appointment only HSFC Outreach Cat Program (ACAT) Cat Adoptions held at area Petsmart and Petco stores-check our website " or call PETS for dates and times United Way Campaign # 9142 Chief Administrative Personnel Co-Office Managers: Marlene Hammer & Shannon Pederson Full-time Thrift Store Manager: Elisa Botera Full-time Animal/Farm Caretaker: Cara Donato Board of Directors President: Vicki Kirby Vice President / Treasurer: Mary Kendall Corresponding Secretary: Marlene Hammer Recording Secretary: Lynne Mayo PAGE 7

8 Emergency Services South Paws Emergency Clinic 8500 Arlington Blvd, Fairfax, VA Hope Center for Advanced Veterinary Medicine 416 Maple Ave, West, Vienna, VA Prince William Emergency Vet Clinic 8610 Centreville Rd, Manassas, VA Fairfax County Animal Shelter (Warden) Wildlife Assistance Hotline PAGE 8