WOOSTER: Animal warden Kristina Wardrep was called to a Wayne County rental property June 28 to rescue pets left in the home by tenants who were evicted.
The fact that the pets were fish, snails and turtles didn’t matter to the Wayne County Humane Society officer charged with the prevention of cruelty and abuse of animals. Wardrep responded to the scene and took the abandoned pets to the Wooster agency.
“We’ve rescued rats, rabbits, chickens, pigs and horses,” as well as cats and dogs, said Humane Society Director Lisa Todaro.
The agency has eight full-time employees, six of whom are certified humane agents, including two dog wardens.
“We average 25 calls a day and cover 525 square miles,” Todaro said Tuesday.
Within the next two weeks and for the first time, veterinarians for the Wayne County agency will spay or neuter every adoptable cat or dog weighing over two pounds that comes into the shelter. They will perform the procedures with the expectation that each will be adopted, thanks in large part to a donation from Summit County Animal Control.
“We’re going to do the best we can for as long as can,” said Todaro.
The Humane Society will be providing the service for animals at the shelter in a more-than-slightly used trailer that was formerly the surgical unit at Summit County Animal Control.
After the Summit County agency moved to its new quarters on Opportunity Parkway last year, the trailer behind the East North Street building was no longer needed. The new $2.96 million, state-of-the-art facility includes surgical rooms.
During an adoption event sponsored by the county with the cooperation of local animal rescue groups, Jen D’Aurelio, executive director of Paws and Prayers Pet Rescue, wondered what would become of the 10- by 30-foot single-axle trailer.
“She thought maybe [Wayne County] could use it for a surgical trailer,” said Craig Stanley, director of Administrative Services for the county.
The 30-year-old trailer, which Stanley believes was abandoned on the site by a contractor, was worth about $2,500, he said.
Stanley took D’Aurelio’s suggestion to County Executive Russ Pry to consider and an offer was taken to Wayne County by Paws and Prayers board president Deb Slaby, of Wooster.
Reducing overpopulation of companion animals, “Is in our mission statement,” said Todaro. “We took the idea to our board,” she said.
The executive board gladly accepted the donation and promptly embarked on a mission to fund moving the trailer to the Humane Society site, remodeling it and equipping it for surgeries, said WCHS executive board member Pat Neyhart.
Applications were taken for veterinarians who would perform the surgeries, and East Holmes Vet Clinic was awarded a contract to perform spay and neuter surgeries three days a week for the shelter’s animals.
The trailer was moved by a flatbed truck to the Wooster site about two weeks ago after the board raised about $40,000 for the project, said Neyhart.
“We had a local donor who had a challenge grant. We worked in the community to meet the challenge to set [the trailer] up,” Neyhart said of the agency’s “new” surgical unit.
Last week, workmen were installing fiberglass walls and giving the trailer a much-needed face lift. The agency hopes to have the surgical unit up and running within the next two weeks.
The trailer, which won a National Association of Counties Achievement Award for its graffiti-painted facade, still has its animal-motif paint job on three walls. The mural was a 2007 Youth Employment for Success (YES) graffiti art project. The program provides academic support, leadership development, job skill training and subsidized employment to Summit County youth, ages 16-18 as a way to help participants meet their academic and career goals.
Stanley said the county was recently notified it received another award for Public Participation Projects from NACA for the July 2010 adopt-a-thon, dubbed Fresh Start for Our Four-Legged Friends. The event, held to get shelter animals into new homes before the move to the new facility, was a huge success. In the placement drive’s first two hours, 100 dogs — all the shelter’s supply — and more than 100 cats and kittens were adopted.
D’Aurelio said she is sure the Wayne County program will be as successful as Summit County’s spay and neuter program.
“Spay and neuter is the only way to stop pet overpopulation. We just took a huge step forward,” said D’Aurelio.
“I love that we worked together as a community and had the opportunity to help Wayne County with their program,” she said.
The fee for adoptable dogs at the Wayne County Humane Society is $155 and includes vaccines and spay or neuter. As options, the shelter offers rabies inoculations, treatment for heartworm and implanting of pet identification microchips.
Cats are $75 and the fee includes vaccines and spay or neuter and the option of feline AIDS and leukemia inoculations and identification microchipping.
The Humane Society is at 1161 Mechanicsburg Road. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and closed on Sunday and Monday.
For more information, or to adopt an animal from the shelter, call 330-262-0152 or go to http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/OH102.html on the Web.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.
