Humane society sees more animals at shelter during ‘tumultuous year’

“If 2007 was tumultuous, 2008 was sheer survival,” Paulette Dean, executive director of the Danville Area Humane Society, said as she opened the organization’s annual meeting Monday.

Dean said the shelter took in 5,671 animals during 2008 — mostly dogs and cats, but with the occasional horse, goat, gerbil, rabbit, ferret and other small animals that took up at least temporary residence at the shelter.

A total of 243 dogs found new homes in 2008, compared to 159 in 2007. The number of cats who found new homes also increased, with 142 adopted, compared to 120 in 2007.

A $25,000 grant from the E. Stuart James Grant Charitable Trust allowed the shelter to continue its spay/neuter rebate and adoption subsidy programs, which provided financial assistance for about 1,200 sterilization surgeries in 2008.

The Grant Trust also gave the shelter $75,000 toward a planned expansion of the shelter, a larger small animal wing that will include increased space for cats, as well as more isolation space for injured or ill cats.

Dean said the shelter will have to raise another $125,000 for that plan to come to fruition, but the grant is a good step toward its success.

The shelter also received $5,000 from the Community Foundation of the Dan River Region for the Senior Pets for Senior Citizens program, and $500 from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to help with the medical bills of a dog that had been abused.

Dean said two new programs will be introduced in 2009.

One will help owners with the cost of advertising about the lost animals, under special circumstances. The program, called the “Chewy Louie Fund,” is named in honor of a dachshund successfully rescued from a puppy mill last year.

Chewy Louie was adopted and was learning to adjust to his new life, but escaped from a kennel while his owners were on vacation. The dog’s body was found by the Dan River, and donations were made to start the fund.

A second program, which Dean admitted would be controversial, is a campaign to “get all dogs off chains.”

Dean promises to start petitions outlawing the practice of leaving dogs chained outside for their entire lives. The shelter will also begin raising money to offer dog owners kennels that will free their dogs to run — if the owners agree to spay or neuter the pet.

Four special announcements were made at the end of the meeting: the naming of two areas at the shelter after animal advocates, and the presentation of two William Schwarz Animal Hero awards.

An area that houses sick, abused and special needs dogs is being named after Andrew Boor, who, Dean said, “had a special spot in his heart for animals that had been unloved.” Boor passed away in 2008, but members of his family were on hand to accept a plaque.

The family of David Powell was also on hand to accept a plaque in his memory. Powell volunteered at the cat adoption program for the shelter. The cat room is being named in his honor, and he was also named a recipient of the William Schwarz Animal Hero Award.

A former police department drug dog was also honored with a William Schwarz Animal Hero Award. Kirby, a member of Danville Police Department’s K-9 Unit, spent eight years working with K-9 Officer Jerry Riggins.

Kirby died last year, but Riggins, his wife Deane, and Police Chief Philip Broadfoot attended to accept the award.

“He was a great dog,” Riggins told the group of about 35 people who had assembled for the meeting.

• Contact Denice Thibodeau at (434) 791-7985.