Animal Talk/News

While I’d dearly like to, I can’t of course put into this column everyone who makes a donation to our animals. I do, however, highlight donations that we consider (for a number of varying reasons) to be significant ones. Were Trina Wilds to not meet this criteria, no one would. Over the Holidays she brought up literally a pick-up truck loaded with dog and cat food! Wendy, our Manager’s Assistant, told me it had to be hundreds of dollars worth.

All of us are hurting as a result of the economic disaster sweeping the country and a disaster it most certainly is. We’ll come out of it though, of that I have no doubt whatsoever, although it will take a long time. It is for this very reason that the heartwarming efforts of folks such as Trina who go over and beyond what could ever be expected, are so very greatly appreciated by us and our animals. Your Humane Society too has been severely impacted by the situation and we’ve cut back in every way we can. Nevertheless, we are committed to continuing as not only the finest animal adoption center in East Tennessee but also with our many other programs as well. This we could never do without your continual support.

Cold weather has revisited us and though I know it’s redundant of me to keep saying this; but it is so very important to insure, especially if you have outside pets, that the animal has fresh water that isn’t frozen! Frequent checking of outdoor water bowls in such weather is something even many responsible pet owners often forget. Also, please make sure your pet has adequate shelter and not just a simple lean to Adequate shelter can be a dog house or better yet,if you can provide access to a heated garage or a sturdy barn with plenty of hay for bedding. Remember though, if you do provide access to the garage, please insure there are not any drips or puddles on the floor as a result of parking your vehicles in the building.

Soon, our dear friends Steve and Erney Poenitz are going overseas for a couple of weeks and their precious English Harrier, Happy, is going to be staying in the area. Erney has asked if while they’re away, we’d take Happy Dog to their vet, Dr. Vickie Howell. I replied that certainly we would (Happy is also like a member of our family). Then I got to thinking, wait a minute here. Happy Dog might associate our visiting us with taking her to Vickie’s and she’ll blame me. Well I figured out the answer. I’m going to have Fran accompany us, put Happy in the car, and lead her into the vet. Then when we get home, I’ll get Happy Dog out of the car and make it a point to tell her, “Uncle Todd is rescuing you from that mean old woman who made me drive you to the vet. How could she do such a thing?!” Then I’ll give her whatever she wants to eat! Sneaky, huh?

When it comes to animals, periodic reminders are, as the French say, “de rigueur.”

We implore everyone, whether or not you’re an animal person, to please properly dispose of drained radiator coolant (anti-freeze) and to always thoroughly clean up any spills. Anti-freeze is especially extremely toxic to animals and now I’ve been informed, the new 100,000 mile plus antifreeze often found in newer vehicles is even deadlier. All your pet need do is take but a few licks from a puddle of antifreeze and within a short time, they’ll be dead. A gentleman, who was obviously grieving from his loss of his adored dog who evidently just took only several licks of coolant dripping from a visitor’s car in his driveway, urged me to please again remind everyone of this insidiously lethal substance that is found in virtually all parking lots. What many fail to do is to check their own driveways, parking areas and carports as while your vehicle may not be leaking antifreeze, its quite possible that a visitor or delivery person who has used your driveway is leaking fluid from theirs. Please immediately clean up any spills of fluid that you find, especially in the aforementioned areas if not only for your pet, for your neighbor’s pet as well. And while we urge folks to leave Fido at home when they go shopping, if you really must take your dog, please don’t exercise him/her anywhere in a parking lot that has even little puddles in the parking spaces. And remember, although a bit more expensive, motorists can purchase animal friendly non-toxic anti-freeze for their vehicles.

Another reminder and an explanation about injured animals. While the overwhelming number of Greene Countians are reasonable about what follows, some aren’t. Some individuals or possibly even groups merely don’t like us and would disagree with us unless of course, we did as they dictated. The long and short of it si that we respond to severely injured animals 24/7. No other group or organization does so or if they do, certainly don’t advertise the fact. By severely injured, I mean animals that cannot walk, who also may be bleeding significantly and which to the reasonable individual, appear to be suffering life threatening injuries. Often we respond to a claim that a dog is “horribly injured, cannot stand and is dying” but by the time we arrive, no one is at the location and the animal has stood up and walked away and despite our searching the entire area, is never discovered. One time we even discovered “a terribly injured dog” was merely taking a nap! The first thing is to check neighboring homes to attempt to find the animal’s owner. Should the owner be found, they are responsible for taking their pet to their own veterinarian. If we respond, you must remain with the animal until we arrive so that we can be sure to find it. Don’t just call it in and leave. To prevent a delay in treating a seriously injured animal, especially if the situation occurs during our normal operating hours of 11am to 5pm, Monday through Saturday, is to bring the animal in yourself (especially on a weekend when we usually only have one employee). If for any reason we cannot treat it, we will offer possible alternatives. But please remember, we are forbidden to provide veterinary treatment to privately owned animals. If, however, the wounds or injuries are not severe or life threatening, individuals must themselves take some personal responsibility and either treat the wounds or take the animal to Animal Control. There are those who think that as the “Humane Society,” we should both take in every stray animal and/or treat every injured stray animal and if we can’t for any reason (such as our staff veterinarian is out of town and especially if the animal is not severely injured), then they believe the person should be able to take it to a private practice veterinarian at our expense. While we’d love to be able to provide such a service, obviously we could never afford to do so.

It is therefore useless and even unfair to call us up and rant about how we should do more. We do the absolute best we can and inasmuch as we evidently run equal to the finest Animal Shelter in Tennessee (or so we’ve been told by inspectors), we must be doing something right. Nevertheless, we long ago accepted the fact that we can’t please everyone, try as we may.

Each year I devote my final column of the year to thanking those who have done so much to help your Greeneville-Greene County Humane Society continue our efforts on behalf of the homeless and abused domestic animals of Greeneville and Greene County. To recognize everyone would probably take up a significant segment of today’s edition of the newspaper. Not having that luxury, I’ll do the best that I can.

First and foremost we thank owners and staff of The Greeneville Sun. Not only does the paper provide the space for my column but the Sun is also one of our most significant supporters in so many ways. Were it not for our beloved hometown newspaper, there would be no way that we would have been able to render assistance to and find loving homes for, the thousands of animals that we have aided over the years. Thanks especially to Hala Watson, Doug Watson, John Jones Jr., Bryan Gillespie and Rich Jones for correcting my myriad mistakes and for making my column so readable. Special thanks also go to Big Phil “The Scooter Streaker” Gentry who is the man primarily responsible for the wonderful photos of our animals that appear above my column each week and the incomparable Jim Feltman who is always there in Phil’s absence. Finally, thanks to all of those unsung heroes at the paper who do the grunt work of printing and delivering each day’s edition.

As has always been the case, we couldn’t even exist in the fashion we do today were it not for the unmitigated support of our business community. Whether it be nationwide chains such as Wal-Mart (both the distribution center and our Super Wal-Mart store), our local TSC Store and JC Penney’s through locally owned businesses such as The Dawg Haus, Corley’s Pharmacy, Snapp Ferry Packing and Wooden Shoe Daycare, we receive truly phenomenal support. Please allow me to focus for a moment on Corely’s Pharmacy over on Snapp’s Ferry Road. Each year Alan Corely and Robert McNeese allow each employee to designate a local community service organization to which a donation (this year$150.00) from the firm is made in their honor. Bless their hearts, Carol Bullen, Mariah Kilday, Diane Levasseur and Jaime Solomon again chose their Humane Society for a total of $750.00!.

Thank you whether it be singly or through community organizations such as the Newcomer’s Club all who have in some way, be it financially, through material donations or donations of services, contributed so much to the welfare of our animals. I reserve special thank you’s to all of our schools (most recently Doak Elementary and Tusculum View 1^st Graders) for their wonderful class and school wide contributions and to individual youngsters who ask gifts for our animals rather for themselves, on their birthdays.

We of course owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our incomparable employees and volunteers. I am forever saying and it’s not just propaganda either, that we have currently the finest employees in our history. Although they frequently are confronted with horrendously heartbreaking issues, our Manager Amy Bowman, our wonderful Staff Veterinarian Barbara “Bobbie” Hodges; Amy’s Assistant, Wendy Palmer and our first class Clinic Staff, Vanessa Waites and Becky Shideler, always work together as a team to conquer what often appear to be insurmountable odds in order to provide a healthy and truly loving environment for our animals. It also goes without saying that we could never even begin to approach the success we’ve achieved were it not for our absolutely marvelous volunteers who do everything from helping clean runs and cages; exercising and even training our animals; to providing the special love and attention each of our animals requires, especially to those from abusive or outrageously neglectful environments.

As always and on behalf of all the above and accompanied by our Board of Directors : Osa Andersen, Kandice Bewley, Rhonda Kraft, Doris Goodwin, Matilda Green, Katherine “Kitty” Jones, Linda Gail Kirk, Darren LaFrance, Lori McCracken, Gene Norton, Linda Preston, Gayle Rexroat, Bob Schubel, Herb Unnever and Carol Wainwright; plus my lovely wife Fran and our Feline Incorrigibles; Weaver, Winston, Jenny, Oliver, and Felix, along with all our Adoption Center animals, wish each and everyone of you a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous New Year! God Bless!

We are always trying to find good homes for as many animals as possible. To help accomplish this effort and realizing that we’re in difficult economic times, we are offering a special Christmas Adoption Rate on many of our animals.

From now until December 31^st, we are offering half off our normal adoption fee of $85.00 on all of our large dogs and adult cats. This is a golden opportunity to get the pet you’ve been wanting! All animals adopted from our Animal Adoption Center are Vet checked, spayed or neutered, have their shots appropriate to their age, have been vaccinated for rabies and have been microchipped to help insure if they are ever lost or stolen, that you recover them.

Please avail yourself of this limited time opportunity to provide a warm and loving home to a homeless animal; an animal you can be sure has not only received a comprehensive medical update but one which you know has received the proper care that only an organization such as ours can provide. The adoption of a pet for which you would then have to provide all the professional attention all our animals receive could cost you well over twice our standard adoption rate. And we’re offering the animals described above at even half of that cost!

So why not provide a wonderful family environment to a most deserving animal this Christmas? It could be, as I often say, a match made in Heaven.

I’ve written several times about the wonderful assistance we receive from the folks over at the Dawg Haus in the Eastgate Shopping Center on Tusculum Blvd. Just to give you an idea of their commitment to our animals, I have to tell you the following story. Earlier this week we took in several poodles that were in terrible shape. Among other things, their hair was matted so badly that they were actually in pain! Our wonderful Adoption Center Manager, Amy Bowman, called over to the Dawg Haus and even though they were totally booked, they worked after they closed for over five hours grooming our Poodles and what a job it was! When Amy picked them up that night, they were so gorgeous as to look like totally different animals! And all of the effort they go to for so many of our Adoption Center animals is never accompanied by a charge.

To prove just how marvelous they are, when they do our own “problem child” Big Winston, he actually comes home with a smile on his face! So when you want the “best for your pet” when it comes to grooming, please support those who do so much for us. Call the Dawg Haus at 638-3369 and make your appointment today. Your cat or dog too will come home with a big grin…..not to mention wearing an adorable bandana!

We’ve once again reached that part of the year that so many of us anticipate for, truth be told, so many different reasons. When I was a youngster, I was probably as mercenary as most any other kid when it came to Christmas. Christmas meant Santa and presents and egg nog. I hope at my rapidly advancing age, my value system has matured a wee bit more than that.

Yes, this is the season we exchange presents. Notice I said exchange as opposed to “give.” When you truly “give” something, you neither anticipate nor even expect anything in return, save maybe a “Thank-you.” Actually, if one really wants to get into the true spirit of giving, your gift should be anonymously made. Just the “warm and fuzzies” one gets from giving a gift, especially to those less fortunate, really surpasses that received from any acknowledgment.

What I would like, especially as we approach Christmas, is to be cognizant of the growing number of hard working, caring, Greene Countians who now (many for the first time) are truly worried about heating their homes this winter or feeding their families. What I am also wanting is for all of us to also be more aware of the heartbreaking conditions under which homeless or abused animals must live. Both are severe issues which we must do everything in our power, especially at this time of year, to rectify. For that reason I implore everyone of my readers to please contribute something this year to The Greeneville Sun’s Coal Fund and also to in some way to use the words of the late wonderful Ray Carson, “…. help those who don’t have a voice.” If we all were to sit down and really think about it, most of us are really blessed far more than we realize. If you feel you are as well, then I invite you to join so many hundreds, hopefully thousands of your fellow Greene Countians who will make a donation, regardless of how small, to both the Coal Fund and your Humane Society. Coal Fund contributions may be mailed to the Greeneville Sun at 121 West Summer St. and your Humane Society contributions may be mailed to GCHS, Box 792, Greeneville, TN 37744. Should you do elect to do so, you’ll fully under stand that indeed it really “Tis the season to be jolly!”

And mark your calendar for next Saturday, September 13th’s visit of Santa Claus to your Humane Society Animal Adoption Center at 950 Hal Henard Road between Noon and 2:00pm. Along with that “jolly old fat man in the red suit” will be free hot chocolate and homemade cookies (which should, in part, help in keeping the jolly fat old guy even jollier and fatter). Don’t miss it ‘cause it’s gonna’ be fun!

As I understand it, the county government’s Animal Control Committee is due to bring up the subject of adopting a spay/neuter law in Green County. Yet one commissioner has said it won’t pass and said he could bring in five hundred or whatever amount of hunters, to prove his point. Believe me, animal rights supporters could do the same. Such inflammatory statements do nothing to help solve the problem.

Please, let’s look at this issue with just a little less passion and a lot more common sense in conjunction with the values that most of us possess. Whether you are an “animal person” or not, Greene County has a problem with way too many dogs and cats and we gotta’ solve it. Because of the flood of homeless domestic animals, not only does the horrific and needless suffering of the animals distress the majority of us, but even those who could care less about animal welfare are negatively impacted by the damage stray dogs cause, not to mention the continuing increase in the danger of the spread of rabies.

I happen to believe that the cost of controlling the domestic animal population should be born in great part by those of us who own animals. It’s kind of like drivers paying the lion’s share of traffic maintenance through gasoline taxes, drivers license fees and vehicle registrations. The more money you have, the more vehicles and their associated costs you can afford. Less money equals fewer vehicles. If you don’t have a driver’s license, then you don’t drive regardless of the amount of money you have. But any way it’s sliced, vehicle owners and operators are the single group most responsible for bearing a lot of the cost.

In a perfect world, there would be no domestic animal overpopulation. But since we don’t live in such a world we do have the problem and it continues to grow. We therefore must somehow stem that growth. We can do that any number of ways or even a combination of several. Differential pet licensing is the method most communities elect to help control their domestic animal population. With this method, a pet owner pays an annual license that entitles them to own a pet. This license, the cost of which would be relatively insignificant for a spayed or neutered pet (say five dollars annually for a dog, an inconsequential figure when the overall costs of responsible pet ownership are taken into account ) would increase were the pet not to be spayed or neutered (to say ten dollars per dog).

Responsible pet ownership means that most of the domestic dogs and cats would be neutered (excepting of course recognized breeders of purebred animals). For those, however, wanting to not neuter their pet, they would have that option. They’d just have to pay extra for a license for their animal. Provisions could be made for those wishing to breed their animals in the form of low cost “breeder’s licenses.” Just as an owner of a fleet of vehicles from which the owner derives income must pay additional fees, animal breeders would also be expected to pay a nominally increased amount for that privilege as well.

Okay, where would all these fees that are collected go? Why they’d go for maintaining a healthy balance in the domestic animal population by helping to fund the County’s Animal Control efforts. In addition to license fees, fines from those individuals who have not had their pet vaccinated against rabies or who are found by a court of law to have been guilty of animal abuse or neglect, would greatly supplement this effort.

These are just ideas, mind you, but they do form the basis of a discussion on the issue And do we have a problem? Let me just ask a rhetorical question. When was the last time anyone was issued a violation in Greene County for failing to have their dog vaccinated against rabies? Why don’t we enforce that law the same as we enforce speed limits, or DUI laws? After all, aren’t all three safety issues? As the kids today say, “Go figure.”

There is no other way to put it. Greeneville lost a tremendous asset this past week with the passing of Ray Carson. Ray and his adored late wife Mary absolutely loved this town and it showed. It showed in the unmitigated effort he put forth to make our beloved community a better place in which to live and raise a family.

Make no mistake, in a world where the phrase “he was a man’s man” has been used so frequently as to make the words almost meaningless, Ray Carson was the true article indeed. He was a retired “full bird” Colonel who served in two wars and had the chest full of medals to prove it. And when I say, “He was tough old bird” I mean it in spades. He was tough when he had to be and when it counted. Ray Carson was also (and this is where most guys fall off the “he was a man’s man” bandwagon) one of the kindest, gentlest, most supportive men I have ever known.

There’s a belief out there that some folks join organizations either to inflate their resumes or make a big splash in the obituaries and truth be told, there probably are such folks. Ray Carson wasn’t one of them. Ray made an indelible mark on every organization of which he was a member and held leadership posts in most.

His main passion was Child Advocacy and he worked tirelessly on behalf of disadvantaged and abused children. Boy did that man love kids! Additionally he was your Humane Society’s Budget Director and he certainly had the credentials for that position having been a County Budget Director in Florida following his retirement from the military. Needless to say he and Mary both loved animals, especially cats. As Ray remarked to a mutual friend, “I want to spend the rest of my life working on behalf of children and animals, those who have no voice.”

Ray for years was also the man who organized your Christmas Parade. Despite all of his accomplishments and contributions, he eschewed high visibility and would go to extremes to avoid public recognition.

If you have a son and you wish to instill in him the importance of service to his country, his community and especially his family; in short, all the aspects of “a man’s man,” you’d have to go pretty far to discover a better man than Ray Carson to try and emulate.

Greeneville has lost a tremendous asset. Many of us have lost a dear friend. God Bless you Ray and may you rest in peace. You’ve certainly earned that rest.