Pawmetto Lifeline - Formerly Project Pet

Historically, a no-kill community has been defined as one where no healthy, or treatable and adoptable dog or cat was killed in a municipal shelter.  In mainstream animal welfare organizations and associations, such as the Maddie’s Fund Foundation, it has been generally accepted that two-thirds of the dogs and cats in municipal shelters fall into this category and that saving two-thirds of the animals in a municipal shelter resulted in a community being ordained as no kill.  It has also been generally accepted that it takes between 5-7 years post-implementation of specified programs to convert a community to no kill.

Along comes Nathan Winograd.  Nathan founded an organization called the No Kill Advocacy Center which focuses on shedding light on, and providing resources to communities pursuing a new definition of no-kill.  Nathan, an attorney and animal lover, has vast personal experience operating municipal animal shelters and turning them from highly efficient killing machines into compassionate, no kill animal-centric centers and he does it, literally, overnight.  That is not a typo, he has literally taken over municipal shelters where killing tens of thousands of pets every year was the norm and stopped the killing of virtually all the animals in one day…seemingly with the flip of a switch.  Nathan’s definition of “No Kill” is a 90% live release rate in municipal shelters.  That means that 90% of the animals that arrive there, leave there alive whether through adoption, rescue and sanctuary transfer or trap-neuter return programs.

There are many naysayers – most notably those that are being challenged in their communities to change the manner in which municipal animal shelters are operating.  Believe it or not, there are very few municipal shelters willing to implement Winograd’s “No Kill Equation”, the very specific formula by which municipal shelters become No Kill.   To the masses it may seem unbelievable that shelter directors wouldn’t pursue every available avenue to find an alternative to killing hundreds, sometimes, thousands of animals every week.  Nobody can think that any human being would choose to kill if there was another alternative, right?  Amazingly, if that is what you think, you would be wrong.

There are so many reasons why shelter directors choose to ignore the success that so many other shelters across the United States are having.  Perhaps one reason lies in the basis that to acknowledge that such achievement is possible, questions the validity of the excuses for killing and then what does that say about those that systematically continue to do so?  Change is difficult under the best of circumstances and change of the status quo and threatening a system that has relied for decades on convenient and seemingly plausible, yet false, notions also threatens the very people that run those systems. Self-preservation is the strongest of motivators.

In July, I had the opportunity to attend the No Kill Conference that was held by the No Kill Advocacy Center.  Having read Nathan’s book “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & The No Kill Revolution in America” I was familiar with the principals of the No Kill Equation.  I was also familiar with some of the naysayer arguments.  What I wasn’t prepared for was an education about the litany of calculated attacks, made by well known national animal welfare organizations, trying to discredit and/or shut Nathan Winograd and the No Kill Advocacy Center down.  What is wrong with this picture?? 

Some of the largest, and most well-funded, national organizations that are meant to protect animals and advocate for their causes (organizations that if you are reading this article there is a good chance that you give money to) are spending precious time and resources (i.e. donor dollars) to advocate against a system that’s sole purpose is to save animal’s lives.  I ask again, what is wrong with this picture??  There is enough pontification to fill an entire book on this subject, however, I simply revert to my earlier statement about the nature and motivation of self-preservation.

So, how is this all relevant to our community?  One of the favorite arguments of those against ending the killing say that it can’t be done “here”; “here” being any city just fill in the blank and for any excuse under the sun.  But the reality is, communities nationwide – north, south, east, and west, rural, urban, wealthy and poor are ending the killing. 

We need look no further than our neighbors up the road at Greenville Animal Control for a map of how to stop killing our beloved pets every day.  With new leadership and a determination to save as many lives as possible, their live release rates have increased to over 53% in just 2 years.  Amazingly, over 53% of the animals that find themselves in the municipal animal shelter will walk out, alive, happy and with a chance at a new life.  This is not an insignificant number; for a shelter that takes in over 20,000 animals each year currently well over 10,000 animals survive that system.  No, it’s not a 90% live release rate yet (with emphasis on “yet”) but they are working everyday to get as many animals in their care out alive.

How did they do it?  They did not do it by raising their budget, they did not do it by hiring more staff.  They did not do it by expanding the size of their shelter.  They simply had the will to change what they were doing, the will to stop the killing if there was any other way.  They leveraged the staff that they had and the very inexpensive and mostly free technology of email, Facebook and free adoption sites such as Petfinder.com to assist.  Then, they took a hard look at their attitudes towards volunteers, adoptions and rescue groups and embraced each of these resources to save lives.

Thankfully, more and more municipal animal control facilities across the country are adopting new attitudes.  They believe that their services should be a reflection of the community that they serve and that their mission is not just public protection but public service – serving at the will of their citizens.  Think about that, “serving at the will of their citizens”.  So I ask you, as a citizen of this community, is it your will that we kill the vast majority of pets that are unfortunate enough to find their way to a municipal shelter; or, is it your will that everything that is feasible be done to ensure life of the helpless and innocent?

For more information on the No Kill Advocacy Center or to order a copy of  “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & the No Kill Revolution in America” go to www.nokilladvocacycenter.org.

In the midst of celebrating all of the wonderful events that have occurred this summer at Pawmetto Lifeline, we have reason to celebrate even more…and this is the best news of all!

Each year we track the number of dogs and cats that enter the municipal shelters in Lexington and Richland Counties.  Those numbers have steadily increased year over year much to our dismay.  We all know by now that this is largely a product of individuals not spaying or neutering their pets, allowing their animals to run at large, and owners surrendering their pets to shelters.

Each year as the numbers continued to climb, so did the number of animals killed due to euthanasia in shelters. Until now.

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You may have noticed that there is a lot going on with our organization these days!  We’ve broken ground on our new facility, we’ve hired our CEO, but perhaps most remarkably, we’ve changed our name.

“Pawmetto Lifeline” is indeed the former “Project Pet”.  With much thoughtful consideration and consultation the decision was made by our Board of Trustees to take the next step in our evolution by changing our name to reflect our true identity in the community.

For almost eleven years we have been known as “Project Pet”, a small but growing organization formed to proactively address the issue of companion pet euthanasia in municipal shelters.  Our goal from day one has always been to substantially reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the need for euthanasia as the sole means of animal control in our community. 

The “project” to date has been to get to a point where proven programs can be put in place to start substantially reducing the number of animals that enter municipal shelters and are killed there every year.

This “project” entailed years of substantial research, lobbying and of course building a solid operations platform as a springboard for the future.  Through exhaustive efforts of many volunteers, the organization, in its almost eleven years, has been successful in communicating the real issues surrounding  pet overpopulation to the community and its leadership, gained support of the masses, raised funds to build for the future and saved over 8,000 lives in the process!

Though “Project Pet” is a name that to those who have been involved will always hold dear, it is time to acknowledge that the “project” that we took on eleven years ago has reached its successful end and now a new day dawns for homeless pets.  With the construction of our new facility the dream is becoming reality.

So what is in a name?  Pawmetto Lifeline is who we are and what we do.  We are truly the “Lifeline” for so many of our community’s homeless pets and in this next stage of our evolution that “Lifeline” encompasses the programs that will put an end to the mass killing of companion animals in the Midlands.  Through Pawmetto Lifeline’s efforts we will substantially reduce the number of companion pets entering municipal shelters through our targeted spay/neuter programs. 

Each year we will spay and neuter a minimum of 13,000 dogs and cats in the Midlands with a focus on serving populations that do not have ready access to affordable spay and neuter surgeries.  Through our unique transport program we will target areas of rural Richland and Lexington Counties with the highest number of stray and at large animals, actively go into those communities and transport owned pets to our facility for surgery, returning them to their homes the following day.  At full capacity, Pawmetto Lifeline’s spay/neuter clinic will perform 30,000 procedures each year!

While we slow the influx of animals into the shelter we will aggressively seek life for those unfortunate enough to find themselves there.  The capacity of our new facility will allow us to rescue a minimum of 3,000 dogs and cats annually from death’s door.

It’s not enough to simply adopt animals out; we must aggressively pursue the formation of the animal/human bond not only with the pets that we adopt but those that are already in the community.  This prevents animals from ending up in municipal shelters due to such things as simple behavior issues, for example.  Through our innovative training and behavior programs we will assist not only those that adopt from us, but all pet owners, helping to resolve issues before they become serious problems and provide them with a resource for addressing issues that may land pets in shelters.

Education is a key focus for Pawmetto Lifeline.  As an organization we will proactively pursue humane education opportunities in every school district in Lexington and Richland Counties combined with an interactive approach to animal education at our facility.  We’ve designed classrooms in our new facility specifically for this endeavor.

Though not all inclusive, these are a few of the main focuses of the new Pawmetto Lifeline.  Our research indicates that through the successful implementation of these programs, and more that are currently in development, we can transform the Midlands into a no-kill community, one where no healthy or treatable, adoptable pet is put to death in a municipal shelter within 5-7 years of opening our new facility.

We are so proud of what we have accomplished in these eleven years as Project Pet and are looking forward to many more successful years as Pawmetto Lifeline but we will only define success as the end of needless killing of companion pets.

After such good news – that all the remaining kitties could be released or placed – we quickly jumped into action. All remaining cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated and held for additional quarantine to ensure that they did not break with any new symptoms or diseases.

Through a fantastic network driven by our volunteer coordinator, Jeannie, we were able to find 6 farms that agreed to take groups of the feral cats that we knew we would not be able to socialized to people. With tremendous help from volunteers, each of the cats were transferred to their new locations and all were socialized to their environment prior to release. Since that time we have checked in with each of the locations regularly and are happy to report that all of the cats are accounted for and seen on a regular basis.

We still struggled with the decision of release and what was best for each individual cat but nothing has made us happier than great reports from our rescuers. I love stories such as Martini’s, who was by far our most ferocious of the kitties, he is now regularly seen stretching out in the sun and grooming in his favorite location — the picnic table. He is so happy and content and these stories help us know that we did exactly the right thing.

Ultimately, we ended up with five cats (other than the bottle feeding kittens) that we felt were able to be socialized for adoption. We are happy to report that Lukey, a big fat siamese kitty, has found his forever home already. We are currently looking for homes for Duffy, Ringo, One Eye, Snarf and Petie. One Eye, Snarf and Petie are still kittens. Unfortunately because of injury (likely fights with other cats in the home) One Eye and Snarf did have to have an eye removed but, honestly, they don’t know the difference as they have been living with limited vision anyway. If you know anyone who might be interested in these sweet kitties please let us know. Duffy is by far the most social, in fact, we made the decision to move him into an adoption center at one of our Petsmart locations. He has kept us all entertained. As soon as you open his cage he seeks your affection but his favorite place is on your shoulder. You can literally walk around with him like a parrot. Again, if you know anyone who is interested in this little guy – he is quite the charmer.

Ringo is still needing a little socialization and confidence. Up until today, he would shake like a leaf if you held him; today, however, there was great joy when he was at the front of the cage meowing like crazy to come out and when we picked him up he actually started purring….success!!

So, exactly 28 days later, though we are not finished with this project the end is in sight and what a fabulous end it is turning out to be. We know that we did the right thing in helping these babies and their misguided owner, and we know that these animals are healthy and happy in their new surroundings.

We cannot begin to thank all of those who have been involved, those that have given their time, energy, donations of goods and money and everyone’s prayers and good will. Thank you all for your support and we look forward to keeping you posted on all the babies as they are adopted.

Slowly, one by one, that cats began to eat. They wouldn’t do it in front of their human caretakers but we were so happy each morning to pull back the sheets from their cages and see empty food bowls with most of them. We kept logs of everyone’s daily activities whether they ate or drank, used their litter boxes and how they reacted to being touched by our “magic wand”. We soon discovered that we had 5 babies that would allow us to physically touch them and we worked up to holding the few that would let us. We had 9 kittens that needed bottlefeeding and had a wonderful volunteer who stepped up to care for them and we were able to get the 5 that would let us hold them into foster care for further socialization.

It’s difficult to know in this situation what is the best thing to do with feral cats for the sake of them and the environment that they could potentially be released into. It would be irresponsible of us to arbitrarily release them without carefully considering the impact that they would have on other animals and without knowing what their needs were. As hard as it is to do, we chose to have necropsies (the equivalent of an autopsy in humans) conducted on several of the cats that we had to euthanize in order to understand the diseases that they were harboring and how that would affect the rest of the colony.

There was great concern that we would have to “depopulate” which is the polite term for having to euthanize everyone in order to prevent disease spread. This is something that we have never done and never want to do. We waited for two days on pins and needles for the results. Upon receiving the results we consulted with the former Director of Shelter Medicine from Cornell University and her counterpart at the University of Florida. These are the preeminent veterinarians in this field and we were so lucky to find the right connections to lead us to them. A wave of relief came over us when they were both of the same opinion — since all of the cats in the population were negative for Felv and FIV, the cats posed no greater risk to other animals that they will come into contact with than those animals are already exposed to and that if they are showing no clinical signs of disease they would be ok to release.

To this point we had been in a holding pattern with these babies, now it was time for the next big step.

I remain astounded at the overwhelming support of the people that have been involved in this situation. When I was ready to collapse and fall on the floor from exhaustion and emotional toll, I looked around and knew that I had the support of so many that were working as tirelessly as I to help save these beautiful babies.

I don’t know where to begin to thank those that have been involved and the many words and shows of support that have gotten us through some of the most difficult times. First, to the amazing staff at Project Pet – Dr. Peeler, Wendy, Jill, Austin, Melissa and Stefanie, there was not one person who wasn’t willing to jump in full force in coming to the aid of the cats. After many long hours, bites, scratches, heat exhaustion, and emotional exhaustion you maintained such professionalism and compassion, and this could not have been done without you.

To Emma Fletcher and Lisa Kasper who didn’t hesitate to volunteer and jump in the chaos of the rescue and endure a day that will surely be forever imprinted on your hearts and minds.

I have to thank Laura Mitchell and her incredible staff at Wescott Acres Pet Resort and Rescue. You have been there every step of the way, offering any and every kind of assistance possible and I would have crumbled without you!

To the “cat whisperers” who helped (and continue to help) us treat every animal with respect and dignity, who offered their time, blood, sweat and tears (literally) taking care of the cats day in and day out: Jill Areheart, Janet McCaw, Tracie McGahee, Theresa Cook, Gill McCoy (thank you for the “magical golden rod”), Barbara Tobias, Sharon Wethersby and countless others, without you I would have been lost — truly.

Thank you to our wonderful veterinary and medical staff — Dr. Crystie Peeler and Dr. Timothy Smaha, Jennifer and Hava for treating every animal with respect and wanting to save each and every one…and for being the best “cat wranglers” I have ever seen!

To Sue Soloman and Keith for taking over the very hard work of bottle feeding the sickest of the tiny babies…your support and kindness will have a lasting impact!

To Ramona, Emma, Jenn and Janet for taking on some of these special babies in your homes to socialize and love them and prepare them for their forever families.

To Laura and Paula for giving so many babies a chance to live a beautiful life – the life that was intended for them – in your barns and fields where they will be so happy, healthy and well cared for.

Before this is through there will be many more of you to whom I will owe a great debt; my thanks seems to pale in comparison to what you have done. Thank you all for your support and for giving so much of yourselves.

What we had seen the first day was enough to crack even the strongest constitution but there is a certain amount of adrenaline that courses through your veins and pushes you forward in crisis. We worked through the night leaving at 3am only after everyone was triaged for initial emergency health issues and safely secured, fed and sheltered; 7:30am came early and the adrenaline had subsided.

Walking into the facility, the enormity of the issue that lay before us hit me hard. I didn’t know where to start. Not a single baby had eaten and I knew that was due to the tremendous stress they had endured. I questioned everything about what we had done and where we were going to go from here.

I carefully inspected everyone in their cages and then moved in the room that had been designated for the sickest of the sick. My heart just sank as I knew that some of these babies might be beyond the limits of veterinary help. Day 2 was, by far, my worst day in animal rescue. One of our veterinarians came back to help assess everyone again, and we had to make the difficult decision of letting go of those who were suffering beyond all humane standards. Without going into too much detail, we saw everything from massive infected wounds compounded by searing upper respiratory infections to cats that were missing both eyes (most all of them were missing one) due to fighting or infection, or both. Those, believe it or not, were not even the most sick.

I consider myself pretty strong, being able to make the most difficult decisions and facing the most difficult circumstances in order to save lives. This day I came to my breaking point. I had several meltdowns throughout the day as I held the sick who were too weak to fight. I apologized to them for what they had endured at the hands of their well-meaning but misguided caretaker and bid them farewell. I said goodbye promising them a healthy happy existance beyond the rainbow bridge.

This day, I wanted to give up. The enormity of pet overpopulation and the impact it has on the lives of the most innocent is hard to grasp and I really questioned if I could make a difference. This is the first time I ever questioned my ability to create positive change. For a fleeting moment I was ready to throw in the towel.

Then…..I heard it…one of the cats was eating. Was it possible that it was all going to be ok?

Last Friday started a little different than most.  We received a call requesting our assistance in vaccinating cats through our mobile vaccine program for an individual that needed to prove  to animal control that their animals were vaccinated.  I’d be lying if I told you that didn’t raise a little concern for me.  Apparently animal control had received complaints about a neighbor feeding cats and creating a nuisance and that neighbor had to prove that all their pets were vaccinated.  The first conversation I had with the pet owner revealed that there were twenty cats in question.  Again…a little concern flickered; but given the right circumstances with the right owner in the right location and the proper care it is not out of the realm of possibility that this situation was just what we were lead to believe- someone with a lot of cats that just needed a little help.  We agreed to vaccinate the cats at her house.

A second conversation caused the red flag to wave.  As I asked the owner for a definite number of animals that we would be vaccinating so that we could ensure that we had enough supplies the number escalated to twenty-five then thirty-five and finally the owner declared, “I don’t really know how many cats I have”.  Maybe at this point we should have walked away.  We didn’t.

Three of us, a veterinarian included, arrived at the home at about 10:15 am.  I should mention that this is a condominium complex and the owner lives on the second floor.  As we walked up the stairs we could smell the cat urine and feces – no need to wonder why the neighbors were complaining.

We entered the home, invited by the owner, and nothing could have prepared any of us for what we were about to face.  I’ve seen plenty of episodes of Animal Cops on Animal Planet, I’ve heard many tales of animal hoarding but until you are there you do not understand the magnitude of the situation.

Maybe we should have turned around and walked out the door.  We didn’t.

The three of us didn’t say a word, just exchanged shocked glances and a shared sense of disbelief.  The same look of shock, disbelief and worry was on the face of the owner.  She apologized for the state of things, said she was only trying to help, that she loved each and every one of the cats and didn’t know how she got to this point.  I believe her; in her mind she was helping these homeless beings.

To say that there were cats everywhere is a gross understatement.  To say that there was excrement everywhere is equally understated.  Every piece of furniture was soaked in urine (even the TVs were soaked with spray).  There were feces dripping down the walls.  There were four – maybe five – litter boxes that were overflowing and food bowls scattered everywhere.  Frankly I was worried about the owner’s health and well-being just as much as the cats.

We attempted to capture cats in order to vaccinate them – that is what we were there to do.  We were able to catch a couple and then a couple more after a trip to the hardware store for a net.  After unsuccessful attempts at catching still others it was time for a conference.

The three of us walked to the parking lot for a break.  At that point we knew we could not possibly vaccinate these cats in this environment.  We pulled the plug.

We could not, however, leave the situation as it was.  Maybe we should have, but we didn’t.

We sat on the curb in the 100 degree heat talking about what to do next.  I started making calls to find a place to hold these cats if we could get our hands on them.  I was able to find a vacant veterinary facility and received permission to use it.  We quickly gathered two teams of people – both employees and volunteers.  One team would trap the cats and transport them to the facility and the second team would attempt to triage the cats and get them safely housed.

What happened over the next seven hours defies explanation.  The team trapping cats endured unspeakable trauma.  In every corner, in every cabinet and crevice there were cats to catch who didn’t want to be caught.  At the onset the owner warned us that these cats were not socialized, that she had never touched many of them, and that they all just lived together.  The team decided the best thing to do was to eliminate the places they could hide and to move furniture and block access.  The horrible situation got worse.  Under every piece of furniture, behind every appliance were the remains of dead cats.   We are a group of rescuers, accustomed to seeing difficult things and handling tough situations but no one was prepared for that.

After many hours of literal blood, sweat and tears, we removed 79 cats from a two bedroom condo that was maybe 850 square feet.  27 of the cats that we removed were dead, 15 were severely diseased and the rest horribly traumatized.

Together with a team of highly skilled individuals we worked through the night, finishing at 3am with our initial assessment of these babies.  Every animal, with the exception of three, had to be sedated to assess them.

I wish I could tell you that all of these animals are now ok or that they will all recover.  The truth is they won’t.  We are working around the clock to get the sick well, and to try to discern between those cats that are truly feral as opposed to those that are in shock because of this experience.

I struggle to know whether we made the right decision in intervening or whether we should have walked away and let animal control handle this.  (As an aside, animal control was apprised of the situation along the way but we knew their fate if it came to animal control seizing all of these cats.)  The one thing I do know, that whatever the fate of these animals ultimately, they are safe and secure, healing, and none of them will die suffering unspeakable pain under a couch and forgotten.