by Cathy Davis
This past Saturday threatened rain but thankfully it held off while Houlton Humane Hosted our first ever “New Homes for the New Year” adopt-a-thon at the shelter. Eleven animals went to new homes and we were so excited to see family after family walk out cuddling their new companions. One particular story of the day was especially touching.
A week or so ago a tiger cat was brought in from the Court Street area, immediately checked over, photographed, and put on Facebook. A family recognized him as their cat that had disappeared six years ago. Six years! They called the shelter and came out Saturday with pictures, medical records, and sure enough, this was their cat. Can you imagine the thrill, when you thought Fluffy was gone for good, to bring him home again into your safe and loving arms.
So many times an animal will wander into your neighborhood and you’ll think “poor kitty, I should feed him” and the next thing you know he takes up residence in your home and somewhere out there a grieving family is mourning the loss of their pet, thinking that he must have been hit by a car or eaten by a wild animal.
It’s so much better to bring a stray into the shelter so the owner can be located, or call animal control as they often know the neighborhood and who owns what animals. It’s not uncommon for an animal control officer to just pick up a kitty and take it right back home because he (or she) knows where it came from.
People who feed strays have big hearts and good intentions, no doubt about it, but in many cases you are encouraging a feline to stay around your back door instead of going home where it belongs and where cats are free roaming, it’s not uncommon to see a cat in your yard, sometimes over and over again, but unless it’s injured or obviously sick or malnourished, the best thing you can do is just wait and watch and usually they’ll make their way back to their own bed at night.
What a thrill for us, to reunite this family, and to bring together many other families with their new puppies, bunnies and kitties.
Our family fun day was such fun, with families coming out back to slide down our hill. We had boogie boards available for the kids who didn’t bring any, a nice bonfire going, and marshmallows to toast. Thank you so much Bob for manning the fire all day long.
Thank you to John Tribou for the fire ring and wood, and for that beautiful work of art you painted in the snow for our “pin the nose on the snowman” game.
Many people cooked for our bake sale and we had beans, chili, rolls, potato salad and sweets to offer. We were so blessed to have so many people helping us out and coming out to participate and donate, it was a totally successful day and the weather was perfect, not too cold, not raining, no wind, a good day to be outdoors all day if you wanted to.
Events like these help us bring folks into the shelter who might not have visited us before, give them an opportunity to take a tour, it helps us to showcase our beautiful healthy animals and find new homes for them, it’s a great morale boost for the staff who work so so hard to save these animals, and it’s just plain fun.
We’ll soon begin planning for another super event, this spring we are traveling to Patten where Chuck Loucka will be presenting a concert, followed by a dinner, and we are looking forward to moving outside of our Houlton borders to share Chuck’s talents as an artist, and the board’s talents as cooks. Stay tuned as more information becomes available.
There is also an auction coming up in April I believe, all the way up in Presque Isle, to benefit the shelter. More details on that will be available soon. Now is the time, if you have any skills or talents in the craft direction, to think about the possibility of donating something for the auction. Do you own a sewing machine? Maybe you would like to make some dog or cat beds. Are you a novice, just learning to sew?
Scruffy doesn’t care if his bed is pretty, what a great way to practice your new skill! Can you cook, or do you have a collection that you might want to share? Perhaps you have vintage comic books and would like to donate just one to auction off? Maybe you were cleaning out Aunt Sarah’s house and found some antique dishes you have no use for. The shelter would be grateful to be remembered.
If you own a business, a gift certificate would be appreciated, helping drive customers to your store and helping the shelter in the process. Or perhaps you have an item from your store? You can drop your donations off at the animal shelter from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (except Sundays) or at the Varney Agency at 99 Katahdin Lane (across from Tim Horten’s).
Thank you to everybody who helped make this past weekend a rousing success, and best wishes and many thanks to all the families who adopted.
Cathy Davis is a longtime volunteer for the Houlton Humane Society. She can be reached at houltonanimalshelter@gmail.com or 532-2345.
