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New relief fund helps animals
Humane Society
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CATS AVAILABLE: Linda Smilek holds one of the felines she and others have protected in Ellwood City. Soon the women will have a new place on Lawrence Avenue where the animals can be protected until someone claims them.
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TAKE ME HOME: A dog housed at the Lawrence County Humane Society in New Castle pokes his nose through his pen toward visitors.
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PICK ME: Susan Miller, Lawrence County Humane Society board member, holds kittens waiting to be adopted at the society's New Castle headquarters.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Maybe you’ve experienced it — the twang of sympathy for that little stray dog on the side of the highway that’s pacing back and forth.
Its anxiety is obvious as it waits for the person who dumped it out of the car to come back. You drive by, wishing you could do something, but you’d be late for work and face an unsympathetic boss.
When you drive home later that evening, the pooch is still there. Its eyes have a wilder, more confused look now, you’re sure. But you have a dog already, and your spouse wouldn’t want you to bring home another one.
Maybe someone will take pity and adopt it. You hope.
When that scene plays out in Lawrence County, there isn’t a specific humane officer whose sole job is to care about that dog.
There is a state dog officer, but his basic role is to make sure people are safe from animals. He handles calls about dangerous dogs or ones making nuisances of themselves with livestock.
It’s time, say county commissioners, to find a way to protect animals from people.
They’ve heard plenty of complaints from county residents who worry about the welfare of the animals they see.
One of those residents is Kris Brogen of the Ellwood City area.
“I would call Mr. [Steve] Craig to see if we could get a humane officer,” Brogen said. “In this county, you drive by and see a lot of animals tied outside. We lived in Shaler and Cranberry townships and we didn’t see it as much. I worry about dogs tied out. I always think when it’s hot out, their bowl gets tipped over.”
Brogen said she hopes a humane officer would keep an eye on dogs who are tied outside and investigate if it seems they need help.
Commissioners had their solicitor find out if the county could hire a humane officer, and the answer was no — as a fifth-class county, it does not have the power to do so.
John Altman, a resident of New Castle who regularly attends commissioners meetings, decided to find out what Lawrence County could do.
Richard Rapone, the county treasurer, credits Altman with coming up with the idea for the Lawrence County Animal Relief Fund, which is modeled on an Allegheny County program.
But it’s Rapone who’s taken the idea and run with it, Altman said.
The fund, Rapone said, is being set up. It’s getting its nonprofit status, and the commissioners are providing $1,500 to help with filing fees.
Rapone is searching for volunteers for a board and has heard from about 10 people who are willing to serve. He was looking especially for veterinarians — whom he considers important for input on the board, he said.
The fund also is looking for volunteers to work on a committee that would respond when animals need help and also help with fundraising.
Rapone is excited because he’s heard from a veterinarian who said she would offer her services.
He also envisions volunteers staffing a hot line, so people who see a dog pacing by the side of the road or a dog tied outside in bad weather with no water would have someone to turn to for advice.
The Holy Grail though, he and others said, is to eventually be able to fund a humane officer’s benefits and salary.
That’s a big undertaking, Rapone admitted, because the salary and benefits will have to be funded yearly.
Because the county can’t hire a humane officer, he or she would have to work through an agency such as the humane society, he added.
Cindy Mittica, president of the county humane society’s board of directors and a former humane officer, said that isn’t something the society would do.
But Susan Papa, director of Promises for Pets, a no-kill network of foster homes, said her organization would be interested in staffing a humane officer.
Mittica and Papa are both going to be on the LC-ARF board of directors.
Mittica was a humane officer with the county Humane Society for 15 years until two or three years ago, she said, when the agency decided to no longer offer the service.
“A lot of the reason is liability,” she said. “A lot of surrounding shelters have been sued.”
She also said she was seeing more cases of pit bulls needing help because of dog fighting. “Where there’s pit bulls, there’s drugs and guns,” she said.
Police are better trained and equipped to deal with animal abuse calls that might prove dangerous to a humane officer, she said.
“They said, ‘If you need us, call us, we’ll come,’ but there isn’t always time,” said Mittica, who was knocked down on a rescue call once. She said the county could have a humane officer through the district attorney’s office, and Papa concurred.
Papa said the county solicitor’s opinion pointed that out as an option, along with the option of creating the nonprofit fund.
Rapone and the county commissioners said they don’t have all the answers. They are calling LC-ARF “a place to start” in the quest to help the county’s animals in distress.
The fledgling group has a lot of details to work out, Papa said.
If you own a dog, you’ll likely see a request to donate to LC-ARF in your next license renewal notice.
The fund is taking donations now, too, Rapone said, even though its tax-exempt status is not yet set up. Because of that, check with an accountant about a tax exemption before sending any money, he added.
starmack@vindy.com