| THE SHELTER VISIT
On Saturday, April 16th, nine dedicated animal lovers braved chilly
temperatures and a biting wind (but no snowstorm!) to visit the Bosler
Humane Society in Barre, Mass. The participants were Donna Dudley,
Donna Marks, Roberta Waxman, Jan and Ron Brown, Cindy Fischer, Bernice
Ward, Julia Michaelson and myself, Linda Gogolin.
Following are some of the things we learned and experienced on our
visit.
Just the facts, Ma'am
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According to Elaine Bosler, 20 million unwanted animals are destroyed
in the U.S. each year. Then there are those who never make it to a
shelter; they are abandoned and left to fend for themselves, usually
not successfully.
The Bosler Humane Society is billed as the largest no-kill shelter in
New England. BHS does not cage its animals and only destroys those
that are terminally ill and suffering.
BHS has placed over 5,000 animals since Elaine started rescuing stray
dogs and cats 15 years ago as a dog officer in another town.
Unfortunately, due to the increasingly large number of unwanted
animals, BHS takes only those which have been abandoned or abused.
As it is, there were over 100 dogs and 50 cats at the shelter at
the time of our visit.
Every animal that comes in is spayed or neutered and vaccinated; any
medical problems it may have are treated.
Elaine works very hard to ensure that her animals go to good homes
and will take an animal back if the arrangment doesn't work out.
Both cats and dogs have heated houses or house trailers (several for
the dogs, three or so for the cats) and chain-link-fenced enclosures
on 2 1/2 acres where they can get exercise and play.
Problems
--------
Getting and keeping help is a problem, both with paid employees and
volunteers.
Keeping cats are a problem because of contaigous illnesses such as
respiratory diseases, feline leukemia, and kitty AIDS. One sick
cat can spread its ailment to all those around it.
Also, stress is a big killer of cats. Elaine said, "When you take a
cat from [what it perceives to be] a loving home it can die in a
couple of months in a shelter environment." This is not surprising
when you consider the effect of bringing a new cat into your house-
hold and the adjustments both sides must make. Imagine what it must
be like for a cat to come into a "household" with a couple of dozen
(or more) cats.
The Canines
-----------
When we first arrived, Elaine took us out back to see the dogs' areas.
There were large fenced areas with house trailers where groups of dogs
lived; other dogs (a pit bull, a huge husky-cross, and some others)
had separate houses and yards to themselves. The realization that
these 100+ barking dogs were there because their owners simply "threw
them away" was devastating.
The dogs looked pretty happy in their environment, but barked and
bounded around their yards, vying for our attention.
The Felines
-----------
There were about two dozen cats isolated in one of the houses because
they had contaigous diseases. Most of the healthy cats, which we did
not see, were housed separately, in another area of the property.
Quarantine
----------
As we approached the little building housing the sick felines, out
of the cat door popped a pretty, slender, long-haired white cat. It
ran up to the chain-link fence of the enclosure and rubbed its face
against the wire, clearly wanting to get and give some affection. A
minute later another white cat popped out, then a third. A calico,
a black, and a gray quickly followed.
Still outside the enclosure, we crowded around, ready to heap some
love on these poor unfortunates. But Elaine warned us that we should
not touch them, as we could carry germs back to our own cats. Disap-
pointed, we back off a little and followed Elaine up to the screen
door of the house where we could look in.
Inside there were about two dozen cats in various colors and patterns
perched on a bunk bed peering out at us. A few ran to the door, want-
ing to come out to us. A short-haired gray and white cat, crying
plaintively, started to climb the screen door.
Inside, on the top bunk, was a pretty, mottled gray and tan cat who
watched us intently with its head cocked to one side the way my Cubby
sometimes does. It was terribly hard to resist saying, "Please, let
me have that one!" I could easily left with half a dozen. Their
little faces will haunt me for a long time.
Permanent Residents?
-------------------
Elaine also showed us some healthy feline residents who lived in
their own trailer. Two were Persians, one of which a lady had paid
$1000 for. She left them with Elaine because she was moving to Florida.
The other residents were Prissy, an dark orange tiger with only one
eye, and her mother. They had been living there for quite some time.
If You Aren't Depressed Yet.....
--------------------------------
It would be nice to think that all the homeless animals have a place
to go where they can live happily ever after, but real life is not
like that.
The animals' physical needs are taken care of, but it is hard to tell
how much attention, petting, and human companionship they get or if
it is enough. Both cats and dogs seemed eager to get near us but we
were separated by fences. Certainly they are better off here than
roaming the streets, scrounging for food and dodging cars. But is
this the life they deserve, in limbo? This is not a criticism of
Elaine Bosler or her staff; there is just so much one can do to
combat such overwhelming need.
(For a more upbeat and optimistic view of an animal shelter, please
see FELINE note #1288.)
LUNCH
After getting thoroughly chilled -- physically and spiritually -- at
the shelter, we moved on to the Hotel Barre for lunch. It is a re-
stored Victorian country hotel, very novel. Unfortunately, the service
was....very disappointing and the gas fireplace never really warmed up
our private dining room, but at least some of the meals were very good.
For me, the best part was when we passed around pictures of our "kids",
traded cat stories and information and got better acquainted. It was
FELINE Notes, but in person -- even better -- really neat!
In addition to our own cats' pictures, we saw pictures of Karen
Kolling's Holly and Sweetie (beautiful babies, Karen! That Oriental
rug is gorgeous, too.) and their neighbors, Toulumne and Khaliffe
(hope I've spelled them right).
After lunch the group broke up to go our separate ways.
THE HERB FARM
Cindy, Donna Dudley, Bernice and I went out to the Hartman Herb Farm
a few miles outside of Barre center. It turned out to be a very
pleasant and soothing way to end the day.
There was a wonderful array of live herbs and some perennials in pots
for sale in the greenhouse. The Dudley and Gogolin cats became lucky
owners of their very own catnip plants.
The gift shop had dried herbs, dried flower arrangements and beautiful
craft items -- all sorts of little treasures! While we were browsing
in the gift shop a beautiful, pregnant-looking calico cat came in and
asked to be let into the house, which the gift shop was attached to.
We later found out that she had five kittens (oh, no!), 3-4 weeks old,
and the owner brought them out for us to see. Fortunately, the kittens
were too young to leave their mother so we had to resist temptation.
We contented ourselves with holding and cuddling them.
Our consciences were soothed somewhat when the owner told us that
though the cat had been dumped at their farm and got pregnant before
she could be spayed, she would be spayed ASAP. The woman seemed to
truly care about finding good homes for the kittens. The mother would
remain a part of their family which already included four cats,
including one 16 years old.
Cat lovers are eveywhere!
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