Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
April 17, 2008 issue
Tens of Thousands of Unwanted Pets Die Annually in North Carolina
Four-Legged Sisters Cheat Death Twice
Story by Celeste von Mangan
Who doesn’t thrill to the sight of a puppy, romping through spring grass, tussling with a sibling and rolling over for a belly rub with tongue lolling? The smell of warm puppy hair and those button eyes and nose are irresistible. But what happens when the puppies grow up and the stuffed animal features lengthen and sharpen, their bodies elongate and, well, they’re not puppies any longer?
Too often in our consumer-driven society, items are bought and disposed of in short order. The same thing happens to America’s animals. Unwanted pets fill the nation’s shelters and pounds. Rescue groups work around the clock using volunteer staff to try to stem the tide of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens from dying in the gas chamber and being killed by lethal injection. North Carolina ranks third in the nation—behind Louisiana and Georgia—for highest state rates of euthanasia of unwanted dogs and cats. More than 225,000 pets are killed each year in North Carolina because they are relinquished to animal shelters or abandoned elsewhere and brought into municipal pounds for euthanasia.
For that reason, Penny Muller, founder and president of High Country Friends for Life, started a foster care organization in spring 2004 with co-founder Cathy Heninger. Under Muller’s direction, Friends for Life volunteers and foster people take animals out of Watauga County Animal Control and showcase them at two venues: the Boone Mall on Wednesdays and Lowe’s Home Improvement in Boone on Saturdays. Since the inception of Friends for Life four years ago, the euthanasia rates at Watauga County Animal Control have plummeted. However, unwanted pets are still being euthanized because of the lack of foster, adoptive or sanctuary homes. A pair of four-legged sisters, slated for euthanasia—again—recently cheated death for the second time in their young lives.
Faith, Hope and Charity
Muller pulled two black Labrador retriever mixes, named Faith and Hope, from Animal Control when they were puppies. Now two years old, the pair was recently abandoned at the Watauga Animal Control shelter by their adoptive family. When the kennels began filling up and no foster homes were available for Faith and Hope, the sisters were first on the list to die. Muller was quite ill at the time, just a few weeks ago, when volunteers for Friends for Life and Amnesty For Animals began discussing a way to buy the dogs time, believing that the dogs’ deaths would turn Muller’s condition for the worse and also believing that someone was out there with a yard who could adopt Faith and Hope.
The dogs were put into a last-minute, emergency foster care home. The word tenuous best describes their current situation. A home is needed now for their lives to continue.
Healthy, sweet, spayed and not too large at approximately 35 pounds each, Faith and Hope are outdoor dogs who would do well on a farm or at a home with a fenced-in yard.
Faith and Hope—two sisters destined to live together were sentenced to die together. Perhaps it was their names that saved them a second time—Faith, that they would not die in the gas chamber, and Hope, that someone would come for them. Charity also accompanied the sisters on their journey away from death row. With their lives hanging in the balance, Faith and Hope need one more thing: mercy.
To adopt Faith and Hope, call 828-297-6688 or 828-295-0787.
Foster Homes Needed
Raids on puppy mills make for sensational headlines as evidenced by the recent confiscation of more than 70 puppies from a Todd area operation. Many of those taken from the residence were brought to Animal Control, displacing the unwanted animals who were already there. The shelter had reached capacity, so Penny Muller, co-founder of Friends for Life, began pulling animals on Friday, April 11. The dogs surrendered to Animal Control were in jeopardy as kennels filled with animals from the puppy mill.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to dogs brought into Animal Control now,” said Muller. “Maybe people should hold onto their animals until the puppies from the mill are taken care of.”
Muller made a plea for individuals or families who are able to provide foster care to step forward.
“We need four or five reliable foster care providers,” said Muller. “Someone who is willing to set up a 10 by 10 pen in their yard or on their land with a house or igloo. That would hold one or two dogs until they are adopted.”
The key to saving lives is getting the dogs out of the Animal Control shelter and into foster care so that they are not in danger of being euthanized. Often, adoptive homes may take a week or longer to find.
High Country Friends for Life also has cats and kittens in need of both foster and adoptive homes.
Potential volunteers and foster families can come to the Boone Mall on Wednesdays between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. or visit the pet fair held every Saturday at Lowe’s Home Improvement in Boone, also between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. During inclement weather, the Saturday Lowe’s pet fair is held at the Boone Mall.
Call Muller at 828-297-6688 for more information on fostering animals.