Homeless Animals In Philadlephia

H o m e l e s s A n i m a l s

2012 First and Only Edition

©Hannah Eshleman All Rights Reserved

This book is dedicated to my mother, Stephanie, and my Aunt Cindy, who both have engrained in me an everlasting and slightly unreasonable love for animals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS The Homeless

Rescues & Shelters

Adopted Animals

6-11

12-29

PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society)

Ariel Angel’s Pet Food Pantry & Rescue

Street Tails Animal Rescue

14-19

21-25

26-29

31-49

Peter & Tennie’s Retirement Party

S.T.A.R & Measha

Yvette & Olive

Kim, Moxie & Meth Cat

32-39

40-41

42-45

46-49

Acknowledgements 50

Acknowledgements PAWS (Philadlephia Animal Welfare Society)

Lisa Maggiolini

Sharon Race

Lindsay Condefer

Yvette Hersey

Kim Tice

ASPCA Pet Statistics

Animal Care and Control Team Statistics and Reports

Pickles, Noemad, Wendell, Vaughn, Leo, Scott, Max, Meesha, Olive, Moxie & Meth Cat

homeless The

There is no way to know the exact population of homeless animals in the United States, but according to estimates, cats alone reach a number of at least 70 million. The City of Philadelphia has one of the highest homeless animal rates in the country. The Animal Care & Control Team of Philadelphia is the largest high-volume, open-admission animal shelter in the region. They supply

animals to many of the smaller shelters in the city.

(photos, p. 7-11) Pier 70 in S. Philadelphia is home to a feral cat colony, where people provide daily food, water and shelter to the homeless cats.

In 2011, Animal Control took in 32,119 homeless animals. 19,282 were released alive. 12,276 were euthanized.

REscues &shelters

PAws Philadelphia Animal welfare society

PAWS is Philadelphia’s largest rescue organization, as well as the city’s only no-kill shelter. With two locations—an adoption center in Old City and a Wellness Clinic in Greys Ferry—PAWS finds homes for thousands of stray animals in Philadelphia. Though PAWS has an adoption center where animals are kept, it also relies on foster homes to care for animals until they find a home.

PAWS’ low-cost Spay/Neuter and Wellness Clinic provides basic veterinary care (sterilization, vaccinations, treatments for infections, etc.) for animals that would, in other circumstances, be unable to receive it, due to the financial difficulties of their owners. The clinic provides care for over 12,000 animals every year. A non-profit organization, it is privately funded, relying solely on donations.

Noemad (left, above) is a 2 year old, one-eyed male who was abandoned by his owners due to relocation.

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Scott is a 2 year old orange tabby who was rescued from the streets of Philadelphia.

16

Wendell is a 6-month old kitten who was abandned by his owners due to financial problems.

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PAWS has three large adoption rooms where adoptable animals are on display behind large glass windows. People on the street often stop to look inside to admire the homeless critters. People are welcome and encouraged to walk in the rooms and interact with them.

Vaughn and Leo, two playful black and white stray kittens, prance around the adoption room, looking for entertainment.

Ariel angel’s Pet food pantry & rescue Tell me about your rescue.We’re a private rescue so we rely on fosters, which we don’t have enough of. I get calls and emails all day. People have tied dogs to my railing, but I have nowhere to put them. I can only take in as many as I have room for. We collect and donate food to seniors, elderly, low-income people that can’t afford it so that they don’t have to turn their pets into the shelter. We found that because of the worsening economy, the shelters are being overwhelmed with people who can’t afford it so we try to offer low-cost resources that they may not know about—shot clinics, vaccine clinics, low-cost spay/neuter clinics. We assist with that. People don’t want to take them in because of the expense.

How do you find foster homes?I ask around. I go on Facebook and say ‘hey, I need fosters’. We’re a registered rescue to pull from Animal Control so I can go there and pull cats that are in need. The need is so much greater than what we have the resources for. What people don’t understand is that when you foster, you save two lives—the one you take in and the one you open up the space for. They euthanize cats, kittens, dogs just for lack of space.

Interview with founder, Lisa Maggiolini and volunteer, Sharon Race

Mama Mia was found pregnant in a construction site. She had paint all over the side of her head and a puncture wound in the back of her neck.

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How do you find the animals?They’re not all from Animal Control. A lot are owner surrenders. We have two elderly declawed cats that are in foster care. They came from a lady in Jersey who passed away and her family didn’t have anywhere to put them.

They were the most important thing to her. Another one I placed was from a male nurse that was taking care of a lady who had passed away. She had a cat and I took him in and got him a home. People think I’m a shelter. They wanna drop off dogs and cats and I have nowhere to put them. That’s what I have to tell the people. It’s overwhelming because as many as you can take in, there’s 20 times more.

(Sharon) You want them all but you have to be realistic—you just don’t have room for them.

I see them all day on the street. Some of these animals are products of people thinking an animal is cute without realizing that you have to pay to get them spayed and neutered. Then they just put them out. Sometimes it’s just about education. I try to do that too with outreach and stuff. There are places to go that will help you. The Hu-mane Society gives away vouchers for free spay/neuters, PAWS has a couple programs now for low income and ‘free in certain areas’ spay/neuters. We work with other agencies so we can all help each other out because one organization, one rescue, can’t do it.

“...when you foster, you save two lives—the one you take in and the one you open up the space for.”

Is it hard to find homes for the animals?Kittens are more adoptable. Everybody wants a kitten. The senior pets are harder. I have a program, Seniors for Seniors, where I give out senior pets for free to senior citizens for com-panionship. We try to help in other ways that are more uncon-ventional. I wish we could help like that but we don’t have the room. I feel bad, but I also give people other alternatives.

What do you do if you can’t find a home for the animals?I keep them until I can find a home. That’s how I got Belle, my little Pomeranian. She’s not adoptable because she bites. She was abused by kids and locked in a laundry room. People wanted to adopt her but she’s very unpredictable. It took me three weeks to be able to pick her up. I still can’t brush her and do certain things to her. I have two other cats that were like that. I had them since they were kittens and they’re just not friendly people cats. You can’t pick them up or pet them, which doesn’t make them adoptable.

Do you get attached to the animals?Yeah, I do. I always hope they go to a good home. I screen my homes pretty well. A lot of people stay in touch with me. They send me pictures. So if I know they’re going to a good home, it’s ok. And that’s the hard thing too—I’m not just standing on the corner giving away kittens. They have to go to a good home. Every animal that comes through my life…I’m attached to them. I remember every one and who adopts them because they all have a story. They sleep in my bed…of course I get attached.

How did you get started in animal rescue?I used to be a vet tech and a couple years ago, my husband lost his leg in a motorcycle accident and I was working at the hospital. Then they gave my job away and we had animals and we were like ‘oh my god, we have to feed them. Besides feeding us, we have to feed them. We don’t wanna give them

Volunteer Sharon Race looks at the kittens playing on the floor by her feet.

up.’ People say, ‘oh, well just give them up.’ No! They’re part of our family! So we started the Food Pantry and that was our way of helping people not have to turn their pets into the shelter. Philly’s a rough place for homeless animals.

(Sharon) It is a rough place and people are making it even worse. These shelters are taking in animals from down south, where there’s a huge problem with homelessness. I know they’re all in need, but we have so many here that are in need. I feel bad for them, you can’t help but feel bad for them but don’t you take care of your own home front first?

A lot of the problem could be solved if people would just spay and neuter their pets. Then there wouldn’t be cats running around and there wouldn’t be an unsprayed or unneutered cats running around outside, having babies.

Rescues are never ending. You’re happy when they get good homes but sometimes it’s sad when you can’t do stuff and you wish there was more you could do.

Do you have any favorite success stories? I have so many good stories. I have a mastiff that my husband found in the trash in Huntington Park. All the teeth were ground down. They were using her for breeding. $3000 dog. She had pressure sores from being crated up. She’s the sweetest dog and I adopted her out to a couple that lived in Old City. There’s also a lady named Miss Maxine. She picked up a cat off the street in West Philly and both its eyes were not sav-able. So we raised money and we got her the surgery. Now she lives fine. Miss Maxine calls

me all the time. Both the cat’s eyes are sewed shut. We named her Miracle. She’s happy. She’s fat, she plays with the other cats, she runs, she goes up and down the steps.

(Sharon) It was really a success story because she would have had a horrible time on the street. She would have suffered. She was little would have died from infection…other cats would have picked on her.

What is the story behind the name of your rescue? My cat Ariel that passed away. I got her from a no-kill shelter. She had been there for a year and a half. She was nowhere near getting adopted so I took her. These animals will live the rest of their life in a cage. They could live ten years in a cage with virtually no interaction except someone sticking food in or changing the litter in the box. Animals aren’t meant to live like that. The other day, I got a phone call for a dog in West Philly that got thrown in the trash. People dump dogs in the trash. I feel like crying. I can’t even imagine. I don’t even want my dogs to be in a cage.

Street Tails Animal REscue Interview with founder Lindsay K. Condefer

How did Street Tails started? I started a pet store, The Chic Petique, selling natural foods and remedies. After we opened, we were finding dogs on our doorstep and I realized there’s such a need for rescue groups in Philadelphia. We’re trying to do a little something…because you can’t do it all. I founded the rescue as a non profit organization in 2001, and we recently got our non profit status. In December, we “unofficially” opened our adoption center in Northern Liberties. I say “unofficially” because, although we’re fully functioning, it’s hard to do a full build-out on zero budget. Until everything is 100%, I haven’t announced a grand opening. Ten years later, we finally have our adoption center! Before this, we

would foster mainly through The Chic Petique and private foster homes. Now we have the capability to take in more. More work...yet more fun and more lives saved!

How do you find people to foster? I don’t really promote the need to foster homes that much right now I want to keep it small so that as we’re growing, I can grow with it. The current fosters we have are friends of mine, or people that we have met through the rescue. We don’t currently put out ads looking for fosters.

Why did you start working with animals? I was always around animals growing up and I was always an animal person. I opened this store because one of my personal dogs was sick with pneumonia and wasn’t treated by a local vet. Three weeks and $20,000 later, the vet had said that there was nothing more they can do for her. She was over at the University of Pennsylvania and I turned to natural remedies and five days later she was home. It was the first time I had tried anything natural and it was

the first time I saw it work so I ended up getting every natural pet care book I could find. I knew what I wanted and I couldn’t find it anywhere in the city at the time so I left school to open the original store which was on Third between South and Bainbridge.

Is it difficult to find homes for the animals? Over the years now, people are starting to realize more and more the importance of adoption. With our cases, I tend to stick more with the special needs cases because they’re the ones that tend to get left behind at the shelter. I would rather look at the quality of life rather than how many we’re getting out in a month. We do have a lot of them that will stay with us longer. People are learning about adoption and seeing ‘ok, it’s ok if you want a poodle. You can find a homeless poodle.” I think that in general, the public is becoming more educated which is awesome.

How do you find the animals? We strictly pull all the animals out of Philadelphia County so every animal comes out of Animal Control, which is our intake shelter in Philly. I’m really really strict about that because nothing infuriates me more than these rescues that are pulling truckloads from the south. I get it that they have issues down there but our county has just as many issues so until we can get Philadelphia to where it needs to be, why would you bring more? Why would you bring more? It blows my mind. I get it for the National Greyhound Rescue because if they only pulled out of Philadelphia County, they would never pull any dogs, but when you’re running an all-breed rescue, there is no reason to ever do that. Without mentioning any names, there’s a rescue that’s boasting their 1,000th adoption for the year and the total animals that they pulled out of the city shelter was 250 and it’s like, ‘what are you boasting?...

“I tend to stick more with the special needs cases because they’re the ones that get left behind at the shelter.”

that you brought in 750 animals from N. Carolina? Awesome! So, if those animals are no longer wanted, then that goes back into our system when we’re killing thousands a year.’ It’s seems like such a simple concept. PAWS has the same views as I do. We’re in Philadelphia. We can make the most impact locally and we work together on that. Rescuers shouldn’t be in competition, like…how much money can you make off of a dog? To me, that’s more like you’re a pet store rather than a rescue. What do you do when you can’t find a home for the animals?We keep them. When you’re not an intake shelter, you have that option. If you’re full, you’re full whereas Animal Control has to take every animal that comes through that door.

Do you ever get attached? Every one. We cry every time they go. We had a pair of senior that we adopted last week, they were this bonded pair of beagles. Next Sunday, we’re having a retirement party for them, we’re the family signs the adoption papers so they’re going to come back and we’re having a party for them. It’s sad, but yet it’s awesome to see them get a home and being able to go on with their life and that always opens up room for us to bring in a new animal. Definitely, you get attached to all of them. It’s cool to see even the volunteers get involved and attached, because…how can you not?

(right) Max is a yellow lab with an undiagnosed neurological probem. He is very shaky and at times, his legs will stop working and he’ll be unable to walk for hours.Because of this, he has been at the shelter more than most of the other dogs. He is still looking for a family.

AdoptedAnimals

Peter & Teenie’s retirement party with Street Tails Animal Rescue

A party was held at Street Tails Animal Rescue on April 29, 2012 in order to celebrate the ‘retirement’/adoption of two elderly beagles, Peter and Teenie. They had been adopted years ago. Recently, when the owner died, the dogs were left alone in the house until neighbors found them and traced their adoption back to S.T.A.R., which, at that time had relied solely on foster homes. The dogs were returned to the shelter and remained there for a few months until Tom and Lisa, their new adopted parents, found them. The party, complete with food, wine and beer, was a celebration of their unique story and new home as well as a celebration of the other adoptable dogs at the shelter. Friends, family and volunteers sat outside of the shelter entrance, drawing in strangers with an abundance of adorable dogs sunning themselves in the warmth of the afternoon.

Measha, a Sphynx, is a former show cat who was adopted by Steet Tails Animal Rescue as their special needs resident pet. One of her eyes ruptured and had to be removed last October. S.T.A.R & Measha 41

Yvette & Olive How did you find Olive? I answered a Craigslist ad and it was for a kitten named Dusty. I sent in an application and everything and she acted like she was going to let me adopt her. She called me and said she gave it to someone else so she referred me to one of her friends, who was fostering a kitten that she wanted to give up for adoption. The next day, I went to her house. I hadn’t met Olive before and had never even seen a picture of her. Olive is from the PSPCA. The lady I adopted her from fosters for them.

She was found when she was two weeks old in the backyard of an abandoned house in South Philly with a litter of kittens. She was fostered to this lady and I adopted her when she was three months old.

She was so small and was starving. They pumped her body with medications and vaccinated her a lot. She was the runt of the litter so her body couldn’t take all that medication at once. That’s why she has digestive problems and she had an upper respiratory infection. She sneezed a lot and had a lot of nasal drippage and eye discharge. I had to make special food her—I had to blend carrots, potatoes, yogurt, seaweed and parsley. She still has issues. She has to eat a special food that is grain free.

“I absolutely love having her here. I could be really cheesy and say that it feels like we belong together.”

Are you glad you adopted her? I love her. I absolutely love having her here. I could be really cheesy and say that it feels like we belong together. It’s been a challenge having a kitten. It’s like having a baby in some ways. It’s a lot of work. She goes through phases of climbing in the garbage can or clawing the furniture and wanting to rip things up and getting on top of the refrigerator to find food. I think because she was starving when she was so young, that she thinks she’s starving all the time so she wants any food that you have out and she’s desperate for it. It’s ridiculous. She’s very playful. I assume she’ll mellow out when she gets older. She suckles my fingers. It’s the first thing she does in the morning and when we go to bed and when I come home. I think it’s because she was taken away from her mom so young. At first I was hoping she’d grow out of it eventually but now I like it. It’s kinda cute.

Kim, Moxie & Meth Cat Where did you get her? We got her from ACCT on Huntington Park. It stands for Animal Care and Control Team. They found her on the street. We know that when she had a pervious oner and she probably escaped and that’s when they found her. She had signs of abuse. She was in the ACCT for a month before we came and got her in September 2011.

She’s great. With animals that have signs of abuse, it takes a while to warm up to people but she got attached to Matt [my husband] and I very quickly and she also got protective of the house very quickly. She’s very uncertain around certain men, especially men with certain facial features, like mustaches and beards, dark hair,

darker skin. There was one experience at a pet store where a Latino guy came in and she got really agitated and she was barking at him and the owner of the pet store said, ‘somebody who looks like him did something very bad to this dog’ and she was very very upset by this

“She’s warmed up very nicely to the house and to a lot of our friends...I think she’s learning to trust people now.”

person walking in. She’s definitely very sensitive to the appearances of people. She’s very very warm towards women. She loves women.

If she’s afraid of men, was she timid around Matt at first? On the ride home, he was in the back with her. She had just gotten spayed and she was really out of it. I drove the car so he had a very bonding experience with her on the car ride home and he’s just always been more available. My schedule is a little busier so he can take her for walks more and take her to the park. She’s very loyal to him. But anybody else, anybody that even looks like him, she knows the difference and she won’t have it.

She’s definitely adjusted very well. The first three months were

definitely the toughest, of being able to discipline her without freaking her out and trying to find ways to discipline her that aren’t just shoving her in her crate. We used water for a little bit. Just a little spritz of the water and she hated it. That worked very well. She hates it. We don’t even have to do it anymore. We just show her the water bottle and she stops doing whatever she’s doing. So she’s warmed up very nicely to the house and to a lot of our friends, and even just strangers coming in and out. I think she’s learning to trust people now. She was also so skinny when we got her. The narrow part of her back was so so narrow, but she filled out and she’s a happy girl now.

She knows tricks, she’s well behaved and she listens to us. This morning, she came over to me and she had a bagel in her mouth and she was shaking. She was so nervous. At first I assumed she had gotten it from somewhere and I looked and there were little nibbles taken out of it. She doesn’t take little nibbles. The cat had gotten to it and dragged it down to the floor and Moxie had brought it over to me to show me that this bagel was there. She wanted to eat it but knew that she wasn’t supposed to. She was really scared that she was going to get in trouble so she just brought it over to me. Didn’t take a nip out of it. It was really interesting. Does she understand the idea of actions and consequences? I gave her a little piece of the bagel and threw the rest

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away. It’s very interesting to see that something is going on in her brain. She’s putting all the pieces together. She wants to please you.

Where did you get him?His technical name is Ernest. He was found on Ernest Alley. He was found in an aban-doned meth house. It was evicted and there were three little cats left behind. We had friends that lived right by this house so I knew that two of these cats had been taken in but I knew one little guy was still left. On my way over there one day I thought, ‘if I see him, I’ll take it as a sign.’ I was thinking about getting a cat anyway but I wanted to be helpful and get a rescue cat. So I liter-ally pulled him off the streets. I saw him pitter-patting over to the old house and the people next door had cat food so we called him over and I gave him a little bit of food

and put him in the cat carrier and brought him home. I was like, ‘ I hope this is a good idea.’ I took him to the vet. PAWS will help you if you can’t afford the cost of getting an animal spayed or neutered. If you bring the animal off the streets, they will help cover the cost. I did that--took him to the vet, got him all cleaned up, got him all his shots, got him neutered and just kept him. That was probably about 5 years ago.

Does he get along with Moxie?They get along. Moxie likes Meth a little more than Meth likes Moxie. They get along for the most part, unless Meth is in a bad mood. It was tricky, getting them to hang out together because Moxie wants to play and Meth doesn’t necessarily want to. The cat warmed up very quickly.

So you guys call him Meth? We do call him Meth. It started as a joke before I had named him because he came from a meth house and it just kinda stayed. It’s tricky because I don’t even think about it now and some people are like, ‘what is your cat’s name? why do you call him that?’ I thought I’d give him a technical name, so when I brought him to the vet, they wouldn’t think we were poor animal owners. Everyone just calls him Meth Cat. He’s a very weird cat. I asked the vet once if there was a chance he had ingested some of the meth from the house he was previously living at and the vet said, ‘yes. Definitely.’ Cats love to lick things and especially, when they’re living in a house with a meth lab in the basement, they’re going to ingest things like that.