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Columbia-Greene Humane Society
125 Humane-Society Road
Soft Paws By Aaron Clause Meet the Staff – Office Edition Aaron - Adoption Associate (employed since September 2000) Job duties include: Organizing paperwork, files, and supplies; preparing adoption packets and town contracts; writing letters and “Soft Paws” (when I can). Favorite part of job: Finding homes for long-term animal “tenants,” and spreading awareness about the results of public ignorance and criticism. Aaron on sheltering: Sheltering is becoming a media of its own; unfortunately, it represents an all-too-often overlooked face of irresponsibility in American society. And seeing as Americans don’t take well to hearing that they are irresponsible, shelters are bad-mouthed and criticized when their sole purpose is to provide care to unfortunates. My word to those of you that fit into this category – come in and try to make some of these decisions yourself. We need your support, and so do the victims we house here. Karen - Adoption Supervisor (employed 1992-95, resumed Aug. 2000) Job duties include: Processing adoption applications; assisting potential adopters; scheduling veterinary appointments for spaying and neutering surgeries and rabies vaccinations. Favorite part of job: Sending animals out to their new homes; knowing that I have made sure that their new home will be a caring, healthy environment. Karen on sheltering: I’m glad that we’re here to lovingly care for all the homeless animals that come our way. It gives me a great feeling of satisfaction that I can have a personal say on where an animal goes from the shelter; this way, I know for sure that their path ahead widens from the narrow kennels that their owners leave them in here. Judy - Adoption Associate (volunteer 1991-96, employed since 1997) Job duties include: Lost and found match-ups; special request cards; assisting the Adoption Supervisor and potential adopters. Favorite part of job: When an animal that you think will never find a home, finds the perfect adopters; when a lost or found animal is reunited with its owner. Judy on sheltering: It can be very stressful or rewarding all in the course of one hour; however, I find sheltering very addictive and truly gratifying most of the time. I become very upset when people think we only kill animals here. Our sheltering staff has to love animals, or they couldn’t handle working here. Please, please put collars and ID’s on your pets – they make breakaway collars for cats; it would make the job of returning lost pets easier and result in many more happy endings if all of our strays had ID. And now… In order to maintain a good reputation, we at the Columbia-Greene Humane Society believe it is only fair to the public to be up front and honest about all of our policies and what actually happens here with the animals. Let’s face it - a shelter is not considered a place that many people smile upon, for one reason or another, and we feel that it’s necessary to educate and counsel to show people the value of a facility such as ours. The surrenders that we accept are either stray or owned animals. We ask our surrenderers why they are surrendering, in order to gain knowledge of the animal’s background. We also try to counsel people that surrender animals for poor reasons; by “poor reasons,” I speak of animals that are surrendered for lack of interest, moving difficulties, fur on the couch, and other reasons that make the surrender convenient for the person rather than the animal. There is a $15 surrender fee for cats and a $25 surrender fee for dogs that we use to compensate the cost of feeding and boarding the animal here. We are not subsidized by any state, federal or county funds, and thus a surrender fee serves two purposes; it partially covers the animal’s cost of stay, and it keeps those that would surrender for “poor reasons” from just “dumping” the animals here. In other words, the fee is intended to lay the groundwork for an honest surrender, where those who care can leave an animal here and show their interest that it may receive a proper home. “Disposition,” (the way an animal leaves our shelter) is by one of three means: adoption, return to owner (“RTO”), or euthanasia. An animal has about an equal chance of any disposition if a stray, and if previously owned they will either be adopted or euthanized. Of all three dispositions, an adoption is probably the favorite here; this means that an unwanted animal has found a new, caring home. Our Adoption Supervisor, assisted by the Adoption Associates, carefully reviews the adoption applications, which consist of questions that determine what kind of home that adopters intend to provide their new pet with, as well as what friends, veterinarians, and history say about the adopters. Applications are an effective tool in allowing us to place animals in caring environments. An “RTO” is a close second favorite – this means that a pet that has lost its owner for any number of reasons, bad or good, has been claimed by someone that actually cares enough to have located it. Thank goodness for this animal – its owner has rescued it from the possibility and anguish of a long stay here, the threat of getting sick through illness or loneliness, or being euthanized. Some RTO’s happen within a few days, others have happened here after several months. Either way, we are happy to see a pet go back to its owner where we can make sure it is cared for. A couple of notes about adoptions and RTO’s: the animals are required to have a rabies vaccination before they leave; dogs are required to have a license. All adopted animals are required to be spayed or neutered so as to avoid increasing what is already a surplus population. We do our best not to contribute to more strays and more sick animals. The last, most tragic, and most misunderstood, of the dispositions is euthanasia. The Humane Society often hears disapproval from the public on this subject, but it took many minds a long time to come as far as we have toward a decision in this matter. The general question we ask is, “At what point does the quality of life in an animal start to make its very existence inhumane?” This is as difficult a question as anyone can answer, and we do it with extreme care and caution. Elderly animals that have been surrendered are many times euthanized to avoid them going through a tedious stay that will end without an adoption. The sick are often euthanized; we cannot afford to nurse very sick animals back to health, and it’s not fair to deprive adoptable animals a life because we financially favor the sick. An aggressive animal is usually euthanized to protect our staff, the public, and other animals. The statistics state this fact, though – animals, unless the odds are completely against them, are given a chance. Even if they have a remote chance of adopting out, we do our best to find them a home. And while they’re here, they receive love and care beyond what they could ever expect where they came from, as the staff’s stories have told you. I hope to gain support for the Humane Society for making those decisions when nobody else wants to. How can you show your appreciation? Donations of time, food, blankets, toys and money for beds and maintenance are always necessary and welcome; many write us into their wills. However you may choose to donate, you have the sincerest thanks of the Humane Society on behalf of the animals – you are helping us to aid and comfort them in a world that has forsaken them. If you have any questions about donations, the staff, shelter policies, etc., please feel free to call the shelter at (518) 828-6044, or stop in and see us on Rt. 66 one and a quarter miles south of the intersection with Rt. 9H, and the staff would be happy to hear from you. So would the animals.
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