More about SAVE

(This post picks up where the June 20 post, about 2 animal-helping places, left off.)

Piper Huggins, executive director of SAVE, the animal shelter in Princeton Township, says, "We can't call ourselves a 'no-kill shelter'; what we are is a limited admission shelter."

By that she means, "We're very, very careful about the animals we bring to SAVE." For instance, she says, a 16-year-old cat might make an unlikely adoptee and so if SAVE is asked about taking in such a cat, staffers may instead refer to an animal sanctuary such as Tabby's Place.

She says, "It's all about bringing in cats and dogs we can find homes for fairly quickly . . . and at the same time, screening the applicants so we can be sure the match is a good one." SAVE, she says, wants to move animal out the front door as quickly as possible, into "forever homes."

At the same time, Huggins stresses that they take animals back if the adoption doesn't work out. That must be a sad experience for animals who find themselves back where they started from. Question: do animals experience lowered self-esteem when that happens; could they put together cause and effect? In this case, since they returned to the start point, would they assume they were the reason for the return?

SAVE's foster program can help make an animal more adoptable, Huggins believes. For instance, a dog with potential might be socialized to the point of adoption while living with a foster family -- and at the same time, that dog isn't taking up shelter space another animal might need.

Right now, the shelter can accommodate 60 cats and 15 dogs.
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'Gimme (a well-run regional) shelter'

Animal shelters are in the news. The idea of a regional shelter, serving Hopewell, Lawrence and Ewing, resurfaced this week in Hopewell Township, where a tract off Reed Road has been ID’d as a potential site for the facility.

Such a place would immediately improve the chances of animals that now are “sheltered” by the Hopewell Valley Vet Group, where they can stay for seven days only before being euthanized. The pressure is now on volunteer rescue groups to place such animals before their time runs out, but ironically, the vet group’s facility doesn’t allow people to come in and see the animals up for adoption.

Ewing’s shelter has been the cause of great unrest during the last year, and lacking one at all, Lawrence uses the Trenton shelter – the reason for last week’s demonstration at Trenton’s City Hall. So if a new shelter is approved, its three possible beneficiaries have already proven their need for its existence.

The group known as EASEL, or Ewing Animal Shelter Extension League, supports a regional no-kill animal shelter in Mercer County, one that some reports indicate EASEL wants to run. Exactly how and by whom that would be done, how staff members would be qualified and how EASEL defines “no kill,” which means different things to different people – are among the myriad questions that deserve detailed answers if this regional shelter idea begins to move toward reality.

With luck – and credible leadership, lots of persistence and money to do it right – maybe 2010 will be the year when Mercer County's animal shelters take a giant step forward.
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'Shelter' in name only?

After last Wednesday's rally for the Trenton Animal Shelter, did anything there change for the better? A few dozen animal advocates, led by longtime volunteers at the shelter – which they say is understaffed and in deplorable condition – had marched and chanted in front of City Hall at noon.

Demonstrators spoke of the need to fill vacancies for animal control officers (ACOs) at the shelter and the growing need for volunteers to do some of the work that paid employees would ordinarily do. They cited animals without water and dirty litter boxes.

In a written response, the city’s director for health and human services denied, point by point, the accuracy of the protesters’ claims. Another city official disputed the argument that the $75,000 to be paid to a consultant could instead go to hiring three ACOs.

One city councilman (Manny Segura, at-large), reportedly the only city rep at the protest, had visited the shelter. He found people sharing a closet as an office and described as “terrible” that “there’s not even enough space for the animals.” He said other city council members have ignored his reports.

Segura advised the protesters to bring their message to a city council meeting, and one of the demonstrators’ leaders said they’ll return “next month” if conditions don’t improve.

As usual, the animals are in the middle, unable to speak for themselves about the living conditions at the Trenton shelter. How and when can this situation be improved?
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