Pet Talk

    I just returned from a much needed, but short vacation where we visited a few relatives on the East Coast. Family time is always the highlight of my vacation, but this year there was a special treat. During a day trip we passed by the Cumberland County ASPCA in south Jersey and I commented on how I would love to stop there. The second time past, we pulled in and I walked in and asked if I could have a five-minute tour as a courtesy learning experience where I’m involved in animal welfare here at home.
    The director of volunteers was kind enough to give me a one hour tour of this 13,000 square foot facility, and my family was kind enough to sit patiently waiting. What an eye opener this was. This facility was fabulous, almost brand new, and squeaky clean, with a full staff and dozens of volunteers. There were four people on the front desk, at least 10 people working with the animals, and of course dogs and cats everywhere, not to mention gerbils, rabbits, hamsters and even a few chickens out back!
    This facility takes in over 4,000 animals a year. They have their own abuse investigation team, and their own spay/neuter clinic. They spay and neuter over 3,000 privately owned animals a year. I didn’t even dare ask their budget. I’ve learned during my time with the Maine Federation of Humane Societies that Shelters outside of Aroostook County, Maine have budgets in the seven figures, and I just can’t even begin to compute what it must be like to be adequately funded.
    The CCASPCA was overrun with blonde pit bulls, a lot of dogs which obviously came from abuse situations, scared, thin, big brown eyes staring at me from cage after cage, and then there were the cats, hundreds and hundreds of cats.
    In New Jersey the holding time is seven days by law, and then the CCASPCA holds as long as they can when the animals are healthy and adoptable, but given the need in the area, and 4,000 animals coming in, they are forced to make some difficult decisions on animals that are carrying contagious diseases so as not to contaminate the rest of the population.  
    I witnessed the staff interacting with the animals, and they had so much tenderness and compassion, so much love for these animals, and so much heartache when they had to put one down, and I felt such a kinship with these people.  I learned that as highly regulated as we are, they are even more highly regulated in New Jersey. They told me that the state actually monitors the number of gallons of cleaner they use and came in and told them they had to use more and then when they did, the department of energy came in and told them they were using too much water (necessary to rinse when you use these disinfectants).  Neither department really cared about common sense application of protocol, only numbers, it was all about the numbers. How frustrating that must be.
    We talked about so much, it’ll take me weeks to really sift through the information, but it was just such a treat to be able to have this tour and to have an opportunity to learn.
    That’s one thing we never want to stop doing here at Houlton Humane.  We never want to stop learning, we never want to stop growing, we never want to think that what we are doing is “good enough” because no matter how hard we work, how hard we try, we can always do something better.
    We are dedicated and committed to doing everything we can every single day to improve the lives of the animals in our care, to make sure they are safe, they receive the best medical care if needed, they are placed in the best homes.
    This coming weekend we will be attempting to place kittens in new homes. We will be hosting an adopt-a-thon on Saturday, May 29, in front of Beal’s Variety from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. These are beautiful healthy animals that have been in foster care and are now ready for adoption. Please stop by and visit with us, adopt a new pet, and since it’s a holiday weekend, we’ll also be having a bake sale with homemade baked beans, potato salad, and sweets so you won’t have so much to cook for Memorial Day picnics. Please support this event and thank you for all you do for the animals.