Lancaster Kennels to be featured on "Nightline"

Even though Lancaster County has been called out for its improper breeding techniques on both the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and People Magazine, the area will be featured again tonight on ABC's "Nightline" and will include live footage and an interview with an Amish breeder.

The breeder, who has around 500 animals on his property (the largest amount allowed by the state), will provide insight into an industry that is fueled by half-truths and suspicion.

Bill Smith, founder of Chester County's Main Line Animal Rescue, confirmed in an email on Wednesday that ABC News Correspondent Shannon Alfonsi and a crew have been shooting footage of commercial breeding kennels in Lancaster and Berks Counties for the segment. It was Smith who pushed to get Lancaster onto "Oprah," a publicity move that resulted in millions of people world-wide becoming more aware of the horrors of puppy mills.

The segment is scheduled to air at 11:35 p.m. tonight. However, it has been scheduled for the past several weeks, so there is a possibility it will be bumped to next week.

If you don't wish to watch "Nightline," the Animal Planet will be showing "Puppy Mills: Exposed" at 10 p.m. -- a special addition of "Animal Cops: Philadelphia."

Coming Soon: Puppy Mill Awareness Week!

The warm weather of spring may encourage college students to buy furry friends to keep them company during tiring games of Frisbee or lazy days at Strouds Run, but the ACHS wants to make sure they know exactly where their dogs are coming from.

From March 31st - April 4, the ACHS is hosting Puppy Mill Awareness Week. If you're not familiar with puppy mills, I suggest checking out the HSUS's puppy mill initiative, www.stoppuppymills.org. The Web site has all the information you need to know about these inhumane breeding operations that mistreat animals and raise puppies in shockingly poor conditions.

To help spread awareness about these horrific conditions, the ACHS is actively trying to inform as many college students as it can about puppy mills and how to stop unknowingly supporting them by buying from pet stores. During Puppy Mill Awareness Week, the ACHS will have tables set up at the College Gate and Baker Center from Tuesday, March 31st to Friday, April 4 from 11a.m. - 4p.m. every day with readily available information for students.

On Thursday, April 2, there will be a fundraiser at the Crystal on Court St. from 4-8p.m. (for those of legal age). Donations will be accepted at the door, and all tips will go to ACHS. There will also be great drink specials, so enjoy the winding down of a busy week while supporting the cause!

Puppy Mill Awareness week will end with a peaceful protest against Petland on East State Street in Athens from 11a.m.- 1p.m. on Saturday, April 4. Anyone who would like to participate should meet in the empty lot next to Hollywood Video prepared with signs voicing their opinions against Petland and puppy mills.

Even though the horrors of puppy mills may seem far away, a bust last summer in Parkersburg, W. Va. resulted in 1,000 dogs being saved from scattered run-down sheds on the property, some without access to fresh water. The animals had not received any veterinary care or basic socialization with other animals or humans.

If you're disturbed by puppy mills and their inhumane treatment of dogs, please click the link at the top of this page to sign a petition against them!

HSUS files lawsuit against Petland, Inc.

Late yesterday, members of the HSUS and other consumers filed a class action lawsuit against Petland, Inc. and Hunte Corporation alleging that the companies sell unhealthy puppy mill puppies to unknowing consumers.

According the HSUS press release, the class action lawsuit was filed in a Phoenix federal district court after an eight month investigation by the HSUS into multiple Petland stores that were directly linked to puppy mills.

The complaint was 34 pages long and included examples of pets that got sick or died after being adopted. Petland, however, denies it practices false marketing of sick dogs or utilizes the services of puppy mills.

Considering Petland is the largest chain pet store that supports puppy mills and Hunte is one of the country's largest distributes of inhumanely bred dogs, this is a major step in the fight against puppy mills! For more information about the horrors of puppy mills, check out the HSUS's Stop Puppy Mills initiative.

Post to come soon about the Athens County Humane Society's upcoming "Puppy Mill Awareness Week."

To Spay or Not to Spay...

I just discovered an article Sarah sent me with myths and facts about getting animals spayed and neutered on the Humane Society of the United States's Web site. If you are a pet owner trying to decide whether or not to get your animal fixed, I encourage you to check it out! Overpopulation is a major concern for animal lovers, and getting your pets spayed or neutered could seriously cut back on the number of animals that need to be put down each year.

Tessie Cam

As promised, here is a video of our adopted ACHS cat, Tessie, playing with her favorite toy. She's pretty ADD like her owners, so we have to whip the toy back and forth really fast in order to keep her attention... It's not the greatest video in the world, but it demonstrates how she keeps us entertained!! 

Spay and Neuter Basics

Anyone interested in getting their pet spayed or neutered through the humane society should be sure to check the ACHS Web site regularly for information regarding registration for clinics. Here is some basic information regarding prices and the spay and neuter process.

The clinic requires that animals' rabies vaccinations be updated if not current. If your animal does not have a updated vaccines, the clinic will automatically vaccinate the dog/cat for an extra $7. If your pet's vaccinations are updated, bring a copy of the certificate (not tag) along with you to registration.

Cats
Spay

• Without rabies: $47
• With rabies: $54
• In heat/pregnant: an extra $5

Neuter

• Without rabies: $37
• With rabies: $44

Dogs
Spay

Under 20 lbs: $52 w/o rabies, $59 w/rabies
20-40 lbs: $57 w/o rabies, $64 w/rabies
40-60 lbs: $62 w/o rabies, $69 w/rabies
60-80 lbs: $72 w/o rabies, $79 w/rabies
80-100 lbs: $82 w/o rabies, $89 w/rabies
100-150 lbs: $102 w/o rabies, $109 w/rabies
In heat/Pregnant: an extra $5

Neuter

Under 20 lbs: $47 w/o rabies, $49 w/rabies
20-40 lbs: $47 w/o rabies, $54 w/rabies
40-60 lbs: $52 w/o rabies, $59 w/rabies
60-80 lbs: $62 w/o rabies, $69 w/rabies
80-100 lbs: $72 w/o rabies, $79 w/rabies
100-150 lbs: $102 w/o rabies, $109 w/ rabies

Financial Assistance

Low income families that may not have the budget for spaying or neutering pets can apply for financial assistance through the ACHS. If you are receiving governmental financial assistance, bring a photocopy the ACHS can keep of necessary paperwork like a Social Securtiy Disability Letter, Ohio Works First schedule letter, WIC letter, or tax returns showing that you fall below the federal poverty line. If you do qualify for the spay and neuter subsidy, you must still pay a copay IN CASH at registration.

Assisted Prices

Cats
Spay: $20
Netuer: $15

Dogs
Under 20 lbs: $30 (spay) $20 (neuter)
20-40 lbs: $35 (spay) $25 (neuter)
40-60 lbs: $40 (spay) $30 (neuter)
60-80 lbs: $45 (spay) $35 (neuter)
80-100 lbs: $50 (spay) $40 (neuter)

100-150: $85 (spay) $70 (neuter)

Over 150 lbs: $100 (spay) $85 (neuter)

*You are responsible for providing accurate weight information at registration


Remember, keep checking the ACHS Web site for information regarding clinic and registration times!!

For More Information...

Without an actual shelter, the ACHS relies on all aspects of the internet to help get the word out to people interested in adopting a pet -- including Facebook. The group's Facebook page has contact information, pictures and provides an opportunity for people curious about pet adoption to ask questions and spark a conversation on the wall.

Along with providing information, the page also gives visitors the option to purchase a t-shirt for an ACHS fundraiser. The ACHS is currently selling two t-shirts, one funny and one more serious, for only $10.00. They are only available until March 17, so check them out! All money goes to the ACHS's mission to help ensure animals in the county have the opportunity to be spayed and neutered. If ordering online isn't your thing, ACHS volunteer Kat Allen will be at the Baker Center Front Room on March 10 and 12 from 5p.m.-7p.m. and March 14 from noon - 2p.m.

Bonding over spilled milk...

The other day I was sitting in my living room watching TV and drinking a glass of water. We don’t have a coffee table, so instead of holding my drink, I set it down on the ground in front of me. Sure enough, within minutes, I saw a small, gray and white face peek from around the chair. She crept forward, staring at me the entire time. Then she stopped, huddled to the ground next to my glass while continuing to stare at me intently. 

“No!” I said sternly.

She stared – lifted her paw to the edge of my glass.

“Noo…” I repeated.

Her eyes almost seemed to narrow in defiance as she reached into my glass and with one swift, fatal motion, knocked my drink over.

Then she ran away.

This situation (a game she seems to think) happens multiple times a day between me, my three roommates and our adopted cat, Tessie. My roommate, Shelley Goff, decided to adopt her from ACHS back in October 2008, and since then, even spilled milk can’t keep us from adoring every minute she spends at our home.

Tessie was born in a trailer park, and when she came to live with us she was only 10 weeks old and had fleas and worms. Now, over a year later, she is a healthy, slightly chubby (but in the absolute cutest way) part of our family.

Being raised by all girls – seven last year and four this year – she has certainly picked up some of our…bratty… behavior. Even though she has the “I want to be part of the action but you are absolutely not allowed to bother me” attitude of a 13-year-old girl, she still curls up with me in bed or joins us on the couch during movies.

“I love her so much more than she loves me,” jokes Goff after Tessie loudly objects to being picked up off the floor. Even though she scratches at furniture and never lets us hold her as much as we want to, having Tessie around our house has certainly helped cheer us up on many occasions. She knows our personalities, and plays with us each in a different kind of way. And, although it is annoying, spilling our drinks has even become a kind of humorous routine.

"I think she is just trying to tell us to keep the place clean,” Goff said.

It goes without saying that we think of Tessie as another roommate and not just a cat. I can’t help but feel that people often underestimate the importance of animals. They have distinctive personalities and interact with their owners on a daily basis, so not considering them a part of the family seems absurd to me. I admit it, we talk to Tessie as if we expect her to respond, and while sometimes she does meow back (particularly if we are yelling at her to stop doing something) it’s less of a need for a response and more of a desire for camaraderie that keeps us talking to her. Pets are loyal companions; I can’t even count how many times I have been in a bad mood and Tessie has jumped up next to me on the couch.

And besides, when I wake up and she is curled up next to my feet, how can I not say ‘good morning?’

Who could resist this face??

Cookies for Contraception: ACHS Bake Sale Part of Spay Day USA

The table on the first floor of Baker Center was littered with brownies, cookies, muffins, breads and other baked goodies. Holly Koprowski, an organizational communication major and ACHS volunteer, sat behind the table with a tin box for donations in front of her. During the 15 minutes I sat talking with her, at least three people stopped by the table, some donating money in exchange for a tasty treat and some just donating money.

"I think they come more for the cause than anything else," Koprowski said. "It's puppies and kittens!"

The bake sale, sponsored by the Ohio University Pre-Veterinarian program, was the ACHS's contribution to Spay Day USA, an annual event held by the Humane Society of the United States. The event occurs every year on the last Tuesday in February, and humane societies across the country participate in order to encourage pet owners to spay and neuter their pets.

Even though the ACHS has held many successful bake sales in the past, Koprowski had a bad dream the night before that left her feeling anxious about the event. However, her nerves were quickly quieted thanks to an outpouring of support from the university community. The bake sale, which also had a sign-up sheet for two different t-shirts advocating getting pets fixed, brought in $250 for the society.

"It was a lot more successful than I thought," Koprowski said. All of the money earned at the event went to sponsoring animals and the ACHS's mobile spay and neuter clinics. The treats, which were on sale form 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on February 24, were donated by the National Communication Association Student Club, the Pre-Veterinarian program, the ACHS and any friends that could be convinced to participate.

We just asked everyone we knew to bake something, said Koprowski, a lifetime animal lover thanks in part to her mother's job as a veterinarian's assistant. "We want to raise just as much as we can for the clinic and for Spay Day USA."

ACHS volunteer Holly Koprowski mans the bake sale table for Spay Day USA

Getting both male and female animals fixed is an important part of pet ownership that is often disregarded. Spaying or neutering pets can help with behavioral problems and prevents unwanted litters that can become a financial burden. In fact, the biggest portion of the ACHS's budget goes to ensuring pets in the region can get the operation. Humane society volunteers, however, aren't the only ones concerned about getting animals fixed. A YouTube video created by the Alliance for Humane Action and posted on the ACHS's Web site shows a more...unique... point of view...

Help Without a Home

Shelley Leiberman is homeless. Well, she’s not technically homeless, but her passion is. Lieberman is the Vice President of the Athens County Humane Society, a completely volunteer organization without a building to call home. However, the group has managed to dig its claws in enough to remain an active player in the crusade for animal rights in the region by finding homes, both temporary and permanent, for animals and organizing mobile spay and neuter clinics to help cut back on overpopulation.

Now, there may be some starry-eyed idealists out there with the belief that there can never be too many kitties and puppies in the world, but unfortunately for animal lovers everywhere, that is simply not the case. When there are too many animals and not enough resources, the animals are abandoned and left to survive cold winters without shelter or food. In fact, one of the main reasons the actual shelter closed down in 2005 was because people began using the site as a kind of dumping ground for unwanted litters.

“They were putting down three to five hundred cats a month,” said Lieberman. “Instead of spaying or neutering their pets, they were letting them just have kittens and dropping them off.”

As if that isn’t bad enough, there was only one part-time staff member in charge of putting down animals.

“I don’t know how she is still sane,” Lieberman said. “Anyone working in a shelter is an animal lover. That’s not why she signed up to be in that field.”

Lieberman believes that closing the shelter did help lower the number of animals being put down, however, because it is harder for a pet owner to bring an animal to a veterinarian’s office to be put to sleep than to simply drop of a box of kittens and drive away.

To help encourage people to get their animals fixed, the organization – which assists both dogs and cats but focuses more on cats because it is the only group in the area that deals with felines – organizes mobile spay and neuter clinics. The society tries to hold clinics once a month, and because there is a two to three month waiting list, pet owners need to register and pay in advance to ensure they actually attend the event. The society also offers a subsidy program to qualified applicants who may not be able to afford the procedure. For information about the clinics and subsidy program, visit the ACHS Web site.

Foster Families and Satellite Sites

Because the organization does not have an actual building, the society uses its Web site and an online pet adoption service, petfinder.com, to find permanent placements. Meanwhile, the cats are placed in temporary homes or at satellite sites in the community. The society never officially takes ownership of the animals, however, and most of the time an animal rescuer is the one who takes the cat in until it is adopted. The society would like to organize a foster program, but there is one glaring problem with the idea – animals are just too darn cute.

“If I had to guess, I would say 90 percent of fosters want to keep the animal,” Lieberman said. “Then, we don’t have a foster anymore.”

Because the organization is entirely run on donations, funding also becomes an issue, and the group simply cannot afford to provide animal care necessities to foster families right now. Lieberman has hopes, though, to have a foster program running within six months.

Until then, the group also utilizes satellite sites to help place animals. Satellite sites are companies in the community that agree to keep animals and provide adoption information to interested customers. Currently, Import House, Lamborn’s Studio and Abfall’s Veterinary Clinic are the only satellite sites in town, but Lieberman hopes to get more within the next three months.

Karen McGuire, manager of Import House on Court Street, reached out to the humane society after seeing cats at Lamborn’s about two years ago. Since then, the business has assisted in getting around 40 cats adopted. “They don’t last too long,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve had a cat over six weeks.”

Karen McGuire, manager of Import House, cuddles with ACHS cat, Raven.

Currently, Import House is home to two black brother cats, Raven and Moon. Kari Eavenson, an employee at the business for three years, enjoys having the cats around and hopes they can be adopted as a set.

“Two cats are a lot more work than one, but they are so much better with each other,” she said while sporadically whipping a cat toy back and forth for Raven to chase. “They really do feed off of each other.”

Raven, Moon and their mother were kept in a cage in the garage of a woman whose newborn baby was very allergic to cats. Luckily, living in the cage did not impede the younger cats from developing physically, but living at Import House does give them the chance to run around and get exercise. They also have the opportunity to become socialized with people. Considering many orphaned pets come from abusive situations, living in a business with high traffic helps them adjust. They also have the opportunity to interact with other animals; McGuire often brings in her dogs, and patrons of the store are allowed to bring in their pets as well.

Raven and Moon chase their string toy as Import House employee Kari Eavenson sporadically whips it back and forth.

Eventually, the humane society would like to once again have a shelter, but Lieberman wants to wait until everything – timing, finances, community support – are all in place before beginning the endeavor.

“When we do open a shelter again, it needs to be done right. It needs to be done with a full-time staff, it needs to have a good facility and be supported by the community,” she said. “We’re just not there now.”