PAWS TO PONDER

by Suzyn Barron, President of Warwick Valley Humane Society

Did you know, on February 5, 2024, we will be celebrating one year in our new shelter facility?  We still cannot believe we are here and are so blessed to be able to provide a much more spacious and cleaner environment for the animals with large windows offering natural enrichment.  We were thrilled to be able to set up a room inside for the rabbits and other small pets and to have isolation rooms for new and sick animals.  The interior kennels have been upgraded and their renovation should be completed by Spring with new gates, insulated chutes and flooring.    

Little did we know that we would be out of space within the year.  With the intake of over 24 cats from a sick, injured, and starving colony of over 40 cats, we have had to resort to using an auxiliary building.  Due to their health issues these cats are not able to be readied for adoption and even if they were, our adoption rooms are already at capacity.  Meanwhile, there are at least 20 others of these colony cats waiting to be trapped and neutered but we are lacking a holding place during the 3-day recovery period because the auxiliary building is already in use.  

Around Thanksgiving we admitted three elderly blind former breeding rabbits by their elderly who could no longer care for them.  Unfortunately, they had lice!  They had to be isolated for nearly 2 months, taking over one of the three isolation rooms.   In December, we admitted a stray rabbit who also had lice. During his treatment, he was isolated in the staff bathroom.  

A week before Christmas we admitted 50 assorted feathered and furred animals with the 13 noisy birds set up in the connecting hallway and the remaining animals placed in another secondary building because there was no room inside this brand-new facility.  Building bigger was not an option due to land and financial constraints.   As it is, our utility expenses have doubled. It certainly costs more to run a larger building. Besides, the objective was not to increase the number of animals in our care, but to better care for them during their stay.  Somehow, we manage to create space where there is none for these emergency intakes.  We have moved cages in and out of rooms, pushed the limit on the number of cats in the adoption rooms, and even set up cages for young kittens in the only office.   The flexibility of the staff is amazing, caring for the various species of homeless pets and their individual needs.  Some need special diets while others require daily medications or extra feedings.  

It is a challenging and rewarding work environment made so much easier in a functional facility despite the added workload in the outbuildings.  We have dealt with intaking large numbers of animals before, and as the need arises, we will do so again, whether we have the room or not because ‘All creatures are deserving of a life free from fear and pain.’ — Maura Cummings.

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