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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Malari and Brenan Page excitedly adopted the loveable cat Gliman — or G-Man, as he’s currently called — during the Adoption Fair of the Halfway Home Pet Rescue at their new facility on South Main Street in Caribou. |
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Though they annually spend countless hours pairing homeless cats with loving families, volunteers of the Halfway Home Pet Rescue found themselves looking for their own new home last July, when it was brought to their attention that their former Pioneer Avenue address was in violation of Caribou’s zoning laws.
Not only has the rescue recently found a new home at 489 South Main Street in Caribou, the new facility has already helped three animals find new, happy homes.
“[John and Chi-Chi Belanger] offered the building to us so that we could try it for six months and see how we feel,” explained Halfway Home Pet Rescue President Norma Milton on Oct. 20 during the shelter’s weekly Adoption Fair. “I look at the facility and think ‘we’ll never want to leave here in my lifetime.’”
Owners of Belanger Diesel, John, Chi-Chi and the entire Belanger family have been actively involved with the pet rescue for years. They are among the handful of loyal volunteers who foster feral cats and kittens in their homes, providing a loving, nurturing place for the animals to stay while they acclimate to human interaction.
Milton says that if it were not for the Belangers’ generosity with commercial space accommodation and very good pricing, the rescue wouldn’t have been able to relocate.
“It really wasn’t a big thing,” John said, explaining that occasionally he’d stop in to visit his wife while she was volunteering at the shelter and he saw just how filled up the Pet Rescue was. Though volunteers were originally aiming to purchase their own facility for the rescue, it was not proving to be economically feasible.
Instead, John suggested the shelter move into commercial space
“We couldn’t afford to do this if it hadn’t been for them,” Milton said.
The rescue’s former 11 Pioneer Avenue location — where it existed for over two years— is also Milton’s home; that factors in to Milton’s list of her favorite aspects of the new building.
“Number one, I get my home back as a home, and you have no idea how good that feels,” she said with a tellingly light smile.
“Number two, we’re in a location that is perfect for the town and for the animals,” Milton explained. “We’re in the right zone, we’re in a good traffic area so people can find us,” and she continued to describe how the floor plan perfectly accommodates the needs of the shelter — from cleaning, to office space and big windows with lots of natural lighting for the cats to enjoy.
“I think it’s going to work well for them — I hope so,” John said.
Belanger Diesel has experienced increasing levels of cuteness since the shelter moved it; whereas previously a window in John’s office overlooked storage items, the view has since been replaced with adorable kittens and cats waiting for new homes.
The pet rescue’s move from Pioneer Avenue to their new Main Street location has been ongoing for the past two weeks and the official grand opening ceremony for the new location takes place on Sunday, Nov. 4 from noon to 3 p.m.
While some things will be changing with the new shelter, namely the hours of operation, much will stay the same.
Continuing at the new location include the Free Pet Food Pantry, the fund-raising thrift store, the collection of old printer ink cartridges, still workable cellular phones and gently used shoes (also fundraisers) and, of course, the nurturing care of adoptable cats.
Animals that aren’t ready to be adopted — young kittens, sick and feral cats — will still be nurtured through the successful foster program which is managed by dedicated volunteers like Julie Damboise, Judy Robertson and the Belangers. Milton will also be fostering special needs felines in her home as well.
She described a recent scenario that highlights the importance of having nurturing foster homes for the animals, particularly an adoptable cat named Priscilla and her five kittens that were living under a building before they were brought to the Halfway Home Pet Rescue.
“The owner was trying to get rid of them and throwing firecrackers under the building,” she added. “And those babies came in extremely traumatized.”
The Belanger family took in the five kittens and, with their patience and gentle care, three of the kittens have already been successfully adopted into loving homes.
The remaining two kittens will be viewable at the next adoption fair, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27 at the new location — even though it’s not fully up and running yet.
“So many of these cats are really deserving of good homes, and we decided that we’ll still do the adoption fairs on Saturday afternoons from noon until 3 p.m.,” Milton explained.
Changes are still being made to the new building — including the additions of a free-range cattery — but Milton is optimistic that the move and facility changes will be completed in time for the open house.
Additional information about HHPR can be obtained by visiting countypetrescue.org or viewing their Facebook page.
