the wise alteranative

the wise alter-native
news from peninsula spay/neuter project
By the time
this newsletter
hits your mailbox, the Coalition: HUMAnE Spay &
Neuter Clinic
will be close
to opening!
The clinic has been named in honor of the collaborative effort
that has allowed it to come to fruition over the last year. The
clinic is located at 2106 Tacoma Avenue South, just behind
UW-Tacoma. The location is ideal – easily served by the freeway system and along the bus lines.
Volume 8 Issue 1
provides a self sufficient operation based on fees for services,
even at the low rates that we will offer. However, we recognize that some of our clients will not be able to afford even
these reduced rates. Continued, aggressive fundraising will be
required for us to reach and help those most in need.
To date, we have raised over $200,000 for the clinic project.
A big thank you goes to the Humane Society for Tacoma &
Pierce County for stepping up to the plate to both raise funds
and provide funds for this project. We share the same vision:
a countdown to zero to end pet overpopulation.
Although we found the building pretty quickly, it took a
little bit longer than we expected to work out the terms of the
lease agreement. The lease was signed in early December and
renovations to the building began almost immediately. The
space is affordable and will allow us room for future expansion. We’re very happy with the location.
The clinic will serve those who need our help – primarily
low income pet caretakers, feral cat caretakers and rescued
animals. The Humane Alliance clinic model that we are using
Staff members from the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County
take the first official tour!
It’s a Wrap! Highlights from 2007
While PSNP’s fundamental mission remained the same, major changes in our business plan marked 2007 as a year that
will go down in history for the organization.
We began the year with basically the same business model
we had since our inception – offering discounted spay/neuter
services with local veterinarians. However, by the end of December we had a signed lease on our very own spay/neuter
clinic and had just hired our very own veterinarian.
In between we managed to offer assistance in altering over
2400 cats and dogs. Although this is short of our original goal
of 2800 animals, it is still enough to rank us among the top
providers of low-cost spay/neuter in the state. This is even
more impressive considering we ceased offering services for
Jan-Dec 2007
•522 cats altered at local
veterinarians
•406 pet cats and 948
feral cats altered through
our partnership with the
the last two months of the year in order to focus on starting up
our own clinic.
These services cost us almost $86,000, but with donations
received totaling just over $115,000, we were able to start up
2008 in a stable financial position. Complete financial information will be available in our Annual Report due out later
this spring.
Regardless of past success, we won’t be resting on our laurels anytime soon. Our new business model will allow us to
perform up to 6000 surgeries a year. That tremendous increase
in volume carries a significantly higher operating budget, so
we’ll continue to look for innovative ways to raise funds.
Feral Cat Spay/Neuter
Project
•250 dogs altered at local
veterinarians
•274 pitbulls altered at
local veterinarians
Our 2008Goals
• Alter 1,200 feral cats
• Alter 1,200 pet cats
• Alter 275 dogs
• Alter 125 pit bulls
He’s a Lover, not a Fighter
By Stephanie Galindo
Louie was dropped off at Todd Rickert’s auto repair shop when he was
just a puppy. Todd’s wife, Janie, immediately came over to see him and
took him back to the office with her.
But within two weeks, something was
dreadfully wrong. It turned out that
Louie had Parvovirus, and they caught
it just in time. He was the only pup
from his litter to survive the disease.
Janie planned to get
Louie fixed but was
put off by the negative
attitude that her veterinarian had towards pit
bulls, and the expense.
One of the customers
at the auto parts shop
where she worked was
a nurse, and she recommended Peninsula
Spay/Neuter Project.
Janie printed out the
assistance form on the
internet and received
her neuter certificate in
two weeks.
The veterinarian who
worked with PSNP was
quite wonderful, and
the surgery went just
fine, and now she uses
that vet for all of her
pets including a ferret
named Roxy, two fluffy orange kitties named
Simba and Romeo, and her husband’s bulldog, Bruce, who
actually sleeps with the cats! Sometimes the two dogs get
into squabbles, and so they need to be separated.
Every day the dogs take turns going to work with Todd,
and Louie gets to go
to work with Janie on
Sundays. Louie likes all
of the other critters in
the house, and he loves
children. He is extremely active and loves to
run, fetch, and pull
on a rope. He is very
sweet and very smart
and has been taught to
play with empty plastic
soda bottles. He obeys
Janie quite well. Janie’s
two cats (Simba talks
to Janie while she’s
in the shower every
morning) may be better friends with Bruce,
but Louie’s best friend
is Roxy, the baby ferret. Roxy is just a year
old, and the two play
constantly. Roxy will
hide under the couch
and peek out to tease
Louie, and then they’ll
chase each other all
over the place. Louie is
very careful with Roxy,
but quite rough on his
toys (but only his OWN
toys!). Nothing but his
big rope toy has lasted
more than a few hours.
He did manage to flatten a soccer ball while
being photographed!
Janie says that Louie is a very happy, huggable pup, and she
doesn’t understand why people think pit bulls are so scary.
She is very happy that PSNP helped her find a good vet - just
in time to save Louie’s life, too! Louie will be 3 years old on the
22nd of April.
In Honor:
Don’t forget about Washington’s “We Love Our Pets”
specialty license plates. PSNP would like to thank The
Federation for Animal Care and Control Agencies for its
$5,000 grant to be used to increase our ability to offering
the spay and neuter of pit bulls and feral cats.
“This donation is in honor of Kathleen Olson from the
two- and four-legged friends at the Prison Pet Partnership Program.” Beth Rivard, PPPP Director
The program debuted with great success several years ago
at the Downtown Flower Market, and is now helping keep
rats and mice at bay at two Los Angeles police stations. According to LAPD Commander Kirk Albanese, “Once we got
the cats, problem solved.”
Two Thumbs Up
You’re probably surprised to see me, what with the Writers’
strike still going on and all. I just want to let you know
that I have reached an agreement with the PSNP
Board that allows me to supply my always
witty content without sacrificing my commitment to my fellow writers. No matter
what you might hear, the two pounds
of organic catnip they gave me had
NOTHING to do with it. Solidarity!
Two Thumbs Up
To the oft-vilified Los Angeles Police Department for taking advantage of The Working Cats Program offered by local animal advocacy group
Voice for the Animals. The Working Cats
Program identifies truly feral cats in their
rescue program that can be placed in locations with rodent infestation problems. The cats
are housed securely at the new locations until they gain a
sense of comfort and are then released to roam freely there.
Caregivers feed the cats, so they’re not actually dependent
on feeding on the unwelcome visitors, but through release
of pheromones (the scents cats leave when rubbing against
an object); the rodents are encouraged to move on to a less
threatening location.
To the NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice” for their second
episode this year which had B-list celebrities dueling it out
to make a Pedigree commercial focusing on adopting
shelter animals in support of National Shelter
Adoption month. Considering the popularity
of the show, that’s a lot of positive exposure for homeless animals – at least if
you consider petulant minor celebrities back-stabbing each other for your
viewing pleasure “positive exposure.”
In case you missed former K.I.S.S.
singer Gene Simmons’ team winning
that particular competition, you can
watch it online at NBC.com.
Two Thumbs Up
To the National Geographic Channel
for their three-part series “Dogtown,” a
mini-reality show featuring the Dogtown sanctuary at Best Friends in Kanab, Utah. The series
paid tribute to the great work Best Friends does and focused
attention on some of the key issues facing shelters in the U.S.
If you missed it the first time around, like all good things it
will come around again. Check channel.nationalgeographic.
com for future showings.
Maybe this reality TV thing isn’t as bad as I thought!
Enrichment Corner: The Joys of
Renovating Your Home
I thought this might be a good article to write since I am
about to embark on a house remodel (insert groan). Having
never actually been through one myself,
I’ve only lived vicariously through others
as they lament about contractors. (Sorry
if I am offending any of the readers who
may be in the biz.). You always hear
about the mess, noise, and the job
taking longer and costing more than
originally predicted.
3) On the first day of construction, introduce your pets to the workers; let them
know it is okay for the workers to be in
the house. That way the workers will also
know that there will be animals in the
house and, hopefully, they can be sensitive to the situation.
Since you are remodeling, why not
go green? This helps to ensure the
health of you and your furry family members. Since our pets spend
most of their time on the floor, bamboo or cork flooring is a great way
to go. Using low-VOC paint is also
a great idea. Most major paint
companies now carry a line
of environmentally safe
paints.
As stressful as it is for us, we have
to remember that we aren’t the
only ones who are affected by this.
Our furry ones are also not happy about the intrusion into their
home; after all, it is their castle as
well. So how does one prepare
one’s four-legged companions
for the inevitable? After reading numerous articles on the
matter, these were some of
the suggestions I gleaned:
1) Make preparations
for your pets’ safety
in advance. Try to
set up a room as far
away from the noise,
fumes, and dust as possible. Have some of their favorite toys, beds, water and food
at hand, and
play calming music. For instance, tune in the radio to a classical station, or buy one of the numerous CDs out there that has
musical melodies designed to sooth anxious pets. For dogs,
take them on walks more frequently to relieve stress and boredom, and to get them away from the construction work.
2) If you can, put up a temporary pet gate, so that if a pet
does get out, he cannot get into the remodel area, where he
might step on a nail or get into other hazardous materials.
PSNP PO Box 1202
Gig Harbor, WA 98335
Holly Bukes, President
Patty Rusnak, Vice President
Christopher Kim, Treasurer
Shelley Ryan, Secretary
Tracy Kim, Director
Phyllis Harrison, Director
Nancy Wolf, Director
Remodel work is
never fun, but there
are things we can do
to make it a little less
stressful on all family members. And just
keep repeating to
yourself how nice the
end product will be!
Scooter wants you!
to donate to our
wish list on page 6
Advisory Board
Jeff Irwin, DVM
Deanna Kraft, DVM
Matt Rusnak, Attorney
Bob Walter, Humane Educator
Mike Leonard, Peninsula Gateway
Newsletter
Fran Orenstein, Designer
The Wise Alternative is a publication of Peninsula Spay/Neuter
Project, a registered dba of Humans United to Minimize Animal
Euthanasia, an IRS 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Detailed program & financial information can be found at
www.guidestar.org
Scooter’s
Wish List
Donor Thanks
PSNP would like to thank the following for their generous
contributions during the last quarter of 2007.
Kevin Anderson
Penny Bergman
Nancy Campbell
Constance Carter
Rod & Kathi Cassidy
Mark Cockerill
Angela Dodge
Leslie Englund
Stuart Farber
Mark & Catherine Freeman
Margo Gooding
Olivia & Bill Hasemann
Jane Jorgensen
Nancy Lanning
Arlene Larsson
Dorothy Leyden
Miranda Long
Roger McLennan
Peggy Noll
Jill Nortness
Raymond Norton
Fran Pedersen
Rolland Robison
France Rowland
David Salge
Gary & Amanda Tucci
Eleanor Vandenheuvel
Joy Vinson
Shelly Wilkerson
Nancy Wolf
Patsy & Aaron Wolter
Physicians Compliance
Connection, LLC
Julian Woodward
After a great year like 2007, it’s hard to believe that we
started this all just six-and-a-half year ago with seed money
from friends and family. Thanks to all who have given in the
past to help us grow and become an agent for change for the
animals. We hope you share in our excitement for all the
good things still to come
Scooter wants to send everyone a big doggie hug and
wet kisses for giving items to the clinic that were on his Christmas wish list. Thank you to: Nanette Carvalho, Barb Slater,
Kelly Wolff, Diane Formoso, John Rankin, Kristi Busch, Margo Gooding, Sandy Sadek, and all you secret santas! WOOF!
Here is my Valentine’s Day Wish List!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Batteries, AA and D
Blankets
Bleach
Cat litter
Clipboards, acrylic
Dish detergent
Dish towels
Distilled water
Dryer
Fabric softener
Hand sanitizer
Index cards, pink
&blue
Kitchen sponges
Laundry detergent
Lysol Spray
Masking Tape
• Paper, white copy
• Paper towels
• Pine sol
• Post-its
• Scrub brush
• Sharpies (dozen)
• Soft soap
• Spray glass cleaner
• Stamps
• Toilet bowl cleaner
• Toilet paper (case)
• Towels
• Trash bags 30 gallon
• Trash bags 45 gallon
• Trash bags, kitchen
• Ziploc baggies(box)
• Zip ties (package)
In Memorium
Kelsey, our wild child. Her spirit has left her broken
down body, and oh what a spirit she had. We will miss
her greatly...
Holly & David,
In Memory of Kelsey:
Milt & Jan Bukes, Chris & Tracy Kim, Birgit Miranda
Rags; our dog, my puppy. We miss you everyday.
Patty, Matt & Scooter Rusnak.
From the Board
It’s hard to believe that it’s been just over a year since our
small volunteer board decided to take what seemed like a very
giant step! It’s been less than a year since three PSNP representatives made the trek to Asheville, NC to hear about the road
ahead when a grassroots effort begins to open a low-cost, high
volume, high quality spay and neuter clinic.
All of us who support spay and neuter are passionate about
ending pet overpopulation. Though we all care about individual animals that need our help, we have learned to focus on
the bigger picture – spay and neuter. We want to see fewer
animals enter area shelters, and fewer animals lose their lives
simply due to the lack of a permanent home.
With the Coalition: HUMAnE Spay & Neuter Clinic about to
open, it seems timely to remind ourselves of how much more
we have been able to accomplish over the last year by working together with other animal welfare groups in the community. By choosing to focus on the 95% of what we all agree on,
we are able to make great strides for the animals in our world
through collaboration.
PSNP 2008 Board Updates
Sadly, we report that Kim Owen has resigned from the PSNP
Board of Directors after a three year tenure. This is, however,
due to happy news. Kim is in the process of getting married
and purchasing a new home with her fiancé Monte. Congratulations Kim and Monte! And, thank you Kim for all of your
hard work and dedication over the past three years. Kim remains a very active PSNP volunteer, lucky for us!
Patty Rusnak was nominated to fill the Vice President vacancy, and accepted that nomination. Patty was elected unanimously to the position! It’s a great fit since Patty has been
instrumental in the Coalition: HUMAnE Spay & Neuter Clinic
project, serving as co-Executive Director with President Holly
Bukes. It seems a natural fit!
We welcome to Phyllis Harrison to a newly creating nonvoting board member position. This position is created as part
of our partnership with the Humane Society in the creation
of the Coalition: HUMAnE Spay & Neuter Clinic. Phyllis has
served on the board of the Humane Society for Tacoma &
Pierce County for about 7 years and is the incoming Board
President. Phyllis is the owner of The Art Stop, a contemporary
craft gallery in downtown Tacoma.
fix it
forum
In October board member Holly Bukes and volunteer
Kelly Wolff traveled to Oak Brook, IL to attend PetSmart
Charities’ Fix-It Forum – a National spay and neuter networking and training conference. Having attended animal welfare conferences in the past, we have to say that
attending a conference whose sole focus was spay and
neuter was an amazing experience! The conference was
a sell-out with 500 attendees. Over 100 were veterinarians, which was wonderful to see. Though PSNP does not
have the budget to send volunteers to conferences, both
Holly & Kelly thought the conference was well worth attending!
more than we can say.”
Brandie H., Gig Harbor
“Thank you all so much for the
good work you do for animals as well as people! God
bless!”
Chris W., Gig Harbor
“Thank you for such
a great service. I didn’t
know what to do after adopting my
skinny kitty from
Aberdeen, only
to be surprised
with 5 kittens.
You have all provided a shining
light to us all.”
Amanda G., Bremerton
“Thank you for your
kindness.”
Vicki M.,
Port Orchard
“We appreciate PSNP
NONPROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
TACOMA, WA
PERMIT NO. 1347
Humans United to Minimize Animal Euthansia
DBA Peninsula Spay/Neuter Project
PO Box 1202
Gig Harbor, WA 98335
FORWARD SERVICE REQUESTED
Our Actions are Hollering!
We admit it. After six years of cleverly and subtly asking for your donations, we’ve run of creative ways to do this. Hopefully by now our actions speak louder than words anyway. Not only have we helped spay/neuter over 11,000 animals in
just over six years, but by the next time you read this, we will have opened the doors to our very own spay/neuter clinic!
There has never been more hope for animals in South Puget Sound than there is now. Please continue to give generously.
We truly thank you for your support.
Please indicate on your check if you would like your donation to go to the clinic fund.
[ ] Please use this donation to help launch the Coalition:HUMAnE high volume spay/neuter clinic.
[ ] Send me a tax receipt via postal mail.
[ ] E-mail an electronic tax receipt (note email address below).
[ ] Update my contact information (note corrections on back).
[ ] Please send the latest PSNP newsletter to someone I know
[ ] $25 neuters one male cat!
[ ] $50 spays one small female dog!
[ ] $100 alters five feral cats!
[ ] Other $_______
Name/Email ___________________________________
Street Address _________________________________
City/State/Zip __________________________________
We now accept all major credit cards!
Go online at www.psnp.org and click on How You Can Help
PSNP PO Box 1202
Gig Harbor, WA 98335
(253) 884-1543 • www.psnp.org info@psnp.org