by Suzyn Barron, President of Warwick Valley Humane Society
Did you know, several years ago one of our former directors suggested opening a boarding facility in conjunction with managing the shelter? This, of course, would have meant extra insurance, extra staffing, extra supplies, and extra kennels but would have brought in extra income. The suggestion was rejected because the cons outweigh the pros.
Somewhere along the way, especially most recently, our shelter finds itself being called upon to be an unpaid boarding facility in emergency situations. Since 2015, we partnered with Fearless of Orange County offering free boarding to pets from domestic violent homes when their owner is being sheltered through Fearless.
Last summer a homeless person in Middletown living in her car with her Shepherd Husky dog called asking us to hold her dog so she could go into a shelter herself.
No other animal shelter was open at that time, and it was 90 degrees. We accepted the dog on a temporary basis without cost.
A few months ago, an elderly man was found in the woods near his home and was transported to the hospital. Our Animal Control was called to remove the dog from the home as there was no one to care for the dog in his absence. The senior dog was at the shelter until the gentleman was released several weeks later without any fee.
In early December, another homeless person with a large dog needed to “board” her dog for a few days. We admitted the dog so the person could go into shelter. It’s now been several weeks.
That same elderly gentleman ended up in the hospital again and again we have his senior dog and this time also his cat going on a month now.
Just last week a senior lady was out on a date and ended up in the hospital. She finally called two days later and asked us to remove her three small dogs from her home which had been left unattended since her hospitalization. She had no one else to call. On New Year’s Day Animal Control accompanied by the Police removed the dogs and brought them to the shelter. The dogs were matted and in need of grooming. They were delinquent on their rabies vaccinations. We provided the grooming thanks to Kerry’s Grooming at Orchard Grove Animal Hospital and the dogs were vaccinated. We only charged the owner for minimal grooming costs, vaccinations, and dog licenses, not for boarding her dogs for four days. Somehow, she was insulted that there were charges at all. Why is it that some people assume that the services we provide should always be free?
In all of these situations, we are caring for owned pets that are not available for adoption. We have inadvertently become a free emergency boarding facility. We remain true to our name: Warwick Valley HUMANE Society. By definition humane means “marked by compassion, sympathy or consideration for humans or animals”. For our Society, it’s animals AND humans.
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