WAGGING TALES January 2016 ~ Issue 10 News, Events & Happy Stories for Staff & Volunteers of Charleston Animal Society MEET LISA: A LOCAL LIFE SAVER By Heather Thomas Lisa Bousquet spends most of her days helping people and saving lives. She enjoys making positive impacts in the lives of others. A few years ago, when she intervened in one particular dog s life, it changed her life as well. He was an underweight, starving, and scared Staffordshire terrier mix. Lisa found him trying to survive and keep warm. He was laying down trying to keep warm and when he saw me, these huge bat wing ears just popped straight up! He ran up to me and was so happy to have someone pet him. Lisa took him to Charleston Animal Society where she knew he would get the help he needed. She visited him several times at the shelter to check on him and play. The staff and Lisa agreed on the perfect name for him, Batman. Unfortunately, Lisa knew she couldn t take him home herself. Her job requires long shifts and she wouldn t be able to dedicate enough time to a dog. Batman, however, was recovering and back in good health. And he soon was adopted and given a second chance at life. UPCOMING EVENTS Saturday, Feb 6 th 9:45am - 2:30pm The Belle Hall Pup Bowl (Belle Hall Shopping Center) Friday Feb 12 th - Sunday Feb 14 th PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend (all area PetSmart stores) Saturday Feb 13 th Petco Love Changes Everything Adoption Weekend (all area Petco stores) Saturday Feb 20 th 11:00am - 2:00pm Central Square Pet Adoption Drive (Central Square At Watermark Apartments) Wednesday Feb 24 th 1pm through Friday Feb 26 th 1pm 2016 Association of Professional Humane Educators (APHE) National Hum Ed Conference (American Theatre, 446 King St, Charleston) (with addt l off site excursions, a preconference workshop, and a kickoff mixer at CAS). De Daltorio ddaltorio@charlestonanimalsociety.org is the contact for this. Saturday Feb 27 th 10:00am - 5:00pm Shallow Water Fishing Expo (Omar Shrine Temple, Mt. Pleasant) It wasn t long before Lisa knew she wanted to make a bigger difference in more lives. Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 1 of 6
Lisa went to Charleston Animal Society and applied to foster kittens. She feels that kittens are easier to take care of than dogs. She knew with a busy work schedule she could still impact their lives in a positive way by fostering. When I was home I could love on them and help the really scared ones learn to trust people. This past year she also started volunteering in the kitten and cat rooms. Her first day learning the ropes in the kitten room ended with an adoption (her own!). A stray black and white kitten with curled ears caught her attention. An American Curl breed with rare polydactyl (extra toes) on all four paws. He was thought to have some medical issues, but Lisa showed him lots of love and care. His unique look and Lisa s love for dragons got him the name Draco meaning dragon in Latin. Draco, now 8 months old and 7 pounds, is happy and healthy. He takes part in helping Lisa foster kittens and preparing them for their forever families. MEET SANDRA WILLIAMSON Meet Sandra Williamson, Spay Neuter Receptionist, who smiled the entire time we talked. I ll bet she smiles at everyone who comes in! Sandra is from Monck s Corner and still lives there, traveling an hour back and forth to work. Like every other employee I talked to, Sandra has animals that she rescued from guess where? In her case, it is 3 cats and 2 dogs. She s been at Charleston Animal Society 6½ years; 7 years in February; and plans to stay until they kick her out! (Not that that s happening ) Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 2 of 6
Sandra s day starts at 7:30 AM when she unlocks the doors and the spay/neuter surgical appointments begin arriving. She checks the animals in and turns them over to the veterinary staff. Anyone in Charleston County can bring their animal to be spayed or neutered. The fee is quite low compared to local veterinarians, but some people still have trouble paying and Charleston Animal Society always tries to find a way to help. Sandra says the staff is like family and she loves her job! Thanks, Sandra, for sharing the story about the German Shepherd and the jar! You ll have to ask Sandra about that! NEW PROGRAM IN HUMANE EDUCATION Not only does the Humane Education Department have a new employee, Misty Stinnett, she s developing a new program called Paws with a Cause. This is an innovative new program being developed from the ground up here at Charleston Animal Society. This program is for special-needs kids the very ones normally left out. Not this time though! This program is admittedly with everyone learning as they go being developed to help the students grow socially, as well as teaching them about animals. Classes are held every other Wednesday and students are learning about animal safety (such as, how to properly meet a dog). Students were able to practice with a life-size stuffed dog. Additionally, participants are learning about compassion and pet care, and the different strengths of animals dogs audio, cats visual. Program goals for shelter include teaching participants animal safety through body language lessons and activities. The goals for participants are to learn how to safely interact with animals while learning and practicing social skills and behaviors. It s a learning process for participants and Misty one that will be enhanced over time as they learn from the program. But it was high time ALL kids had a program available for them and we weren t letting a little thing like details get in the way. Stay tuned for reports of success on this impressive new endeavor! By: Winkie Welborn ROOSA S ADOPTION STORY Kara Thompson met Roosa during her first month as an employee at Charleston Animal Society. In her adoption kennel, looking depressed and always curled up rather than interacting with potential adopters, Roosa s face told her story. Sadly, no one seemed to want to take a chance on her. She was deaf and almost 10 years old. Full of fatty tumors, she also had a fractured pelvis, dental disease, and medical issues that required care for her remaining years. Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 3 of 6
Roosa had been brought to the shelter by a Good Samaritan who had found her and thought she may have been hit by a car. This was Roosa s third time in a year and half that she was found running at large as a stray. She had been adopted previously, ran away, returned to her owner, and ran loose again. This last time her owner didn t reclaim her. But thankfully, each time she was brought to Charleston Animal Society she was given another chance. Kara decided to spring her from her kennel and bring her to the lobby with her each time she worked. She helped Kara greet people. Everyone thought she was cute. Who doesn t think a beagle is cute? But as soon as they heard her age, people moved on. After several days and no adoption, Kara paid her adoption fee and became her Guardian Angel. Kara led her around again, showing her off, greeting, and talking with people. She talked to them about the benefits of adopting a senior, and what a great personality Roosa had but Roosa acted like a bump on a log. Her blank stare said it all. She was a poor old girl who needed someone to give her a chance. Kara remembers that it took her about 3 hours to get the courage to call her husband. She had just started working at Charleston Animal Society and she didn t want him to think bringing home an animal would be an everyday occurrence. She also had to consider that there were cats, a 4-year old daughter, and another dog at home how would Roosa get along? After Kara s shift, they rode home together. Roosa lay in the front seat shivering and tired, but Kara kept telling her this was going to be her last stop. She was going home to her forever home. Roosa just celebrated her 10th birthday. She has taken to the cats in her home, even though the cats like to run their tails under her nose. Her canine sibling treats Roosa like she has always been there, allowing her to run around in his yard and dig holes wherever she thinks she smells something. It was the security and love that Roosa was unfamiliar with understandable for a dog with Roosa s history. She still doesn t know how to chase a ball, squeak a toy, or even roll over for a belly rub. But she s only been a part of her new family for a short time and each day is new. Roosa has found that she loves to be with her family, loves to run crazy circles when Kara gets home, and most of all loves a billow of blankets she buries herself in at night. It took Roosa ten years to get there, but she finally found her forever home and a family to love her. And her family is looking forward to the future they have with her, never worrying she ll stray again. Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 4 of 6
CAROLINAS UNITE By: Winkie Welborn Carolinas Unite was a 4-day conference held in Myrtle Beach at the beginning of November. It was a terrific opportunity for networking with other shelters in the Carolinas. Charleston Animal Society was a presenter, sponsor, exhibitor, and advertiser. Not only that, they sent De Daltorio and Heather Grogan from the Humane Education Department to represent in a full presentation. They delivered a presentation entitled Kids, Kittens, and Cash, OH MY! There were about two dozen people in their session and the information was very well received. It was definitely an important topic to address, as many shelters don t raise funds through their education departments or have any education departments at all, and that doesn t have to be the case. At Charleston Animal Society, the summer camps bring in money. The Teen Club brings in money. The birthday parties bring in money. Canine College brings in money De and Heather s presentation highlighted the many different ways that Humane Education departments can bring in funds for their shelter and self-sustain their programs. As De recognized, many of the attendees of her session weren t the decision-makers in their home shelters. Fortunately, she made sure to accidently run into some of the decision-makers of several shelters and mentioned the monetary benefits of Humane Education. Our Humane Education Department should be proud of themselves. Job well done! De also related how participants shared their experiences in an exercise called Weight on my Shoulders, which addresses the ethical decisions made at shelters (one of the most important and hardest decisions faced on a daily basis). The exercise goes as follows: You have 10 dogs. 5 go to the adoption floor. 2 are fostered. 2 are sent to rescues (many rescues are purebred only). 1 dog is euthanized. How do you decide which dog is euthanized? Information is given about the 10 imaginary dogs breed, temperament, biting, medical issues, and other pertinent information far too much to share here. Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 5 of 6
Many participants used their experiences at their home shelter to help guide their choices. One participant put a dog down because it (hypothetically) had ringworm an entirely curable condition! The objective was to show that there are no easy decisions when it comes to the life of an animal. NEW INITIATIVE No Kill South Carolina was also debuted at the conference This new initiative, supported by Petco Foundation, aims to assist and encourage organizations throughout the state of South Carolina in applying best practices in animal sheltering and committing to saving more lives. The idea is to equip key resource centers throughout the state that will be able to share what they ve learned and experienced and support those in nearby communities so that they can save more lives as well. The motivation behind the effort is to realize a dream in which every animal is afforded quality care and the chance it deserves at being adopted. The initiative is based on the success achieved here in Charleston (check out the chart below to see how far Charleston Animal Society has come since 2007 with Live Release and Euthanasia Rates). Charleston Animal Society is a leader in this endeavor and all those associated with the shelter and community should feel an undeniable amount of pride at how far we ve come. Our commitment to the animals is unwavering and we look forward to a time in which we can realize that the entire state is a no kill state. No Kill South Carolina!! Issue 10 01.25.2016 Page 6 of 6