A Cause for Paws: Taking it to the next level
BY JO MAHLUM
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Continued from previous week
KEWAUNEE – “I have always been on the other side of this. I have worked with a humane society, so I am always on the receiving end. Working with a humane society, I noticed the community has always sort of put a dark cloud around them, but working for a humane society has always been one of the greatest experiences I have ever had,” said A Cause for Paws Member Khia Massey, offering a perspective in the hope for change.
“Just because you see a feral cat on the street, does not mean they are forever feral. You know they deserve a forever home too. The humane societies are just there to give the animals another chance.”
She discussed how the dark cloud surrounds the act of euthanasia.
Euthanasia is defined as “a painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease.”
Massey pointed out, “Euthanasia is not a bad thing. In Greek, it translates to good death, and you know it is. A lot of these stray animals a lot of them are suffering from illness and injury, and sometimes euthanasia is what we can do for them. I fear a lot of people take that and just look at it differently, they see it as a bad thing. It truly is not. It has always been full of compassion. “The things that I have seen and experienced there have changed me for the better. The humane societies work 100% out of love, care and compassion.”
Kewaunee County doesn’t have a contract with the Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) and are not receiving any revenue from the city.
These animals then end up back on the streets where many live with illness and constant pain, where they are found by someone else in a much worse state.
What is the right thing to do?
Mary Shimanek Fields told of a story where euthanasia was advised as the best option until she found a better one.
Fields has worked in veterinary care for about six years, starting in primary practice, transferring to the emergency room, then back to primary practice.
“Being in veterinary care, especially recently, I have been there two years and there have been at least a dozen dogs brought in. I say dogs because cats are a little bit of a different story. With cats, I have been able to work with local rescues or take them into my own home to try and find them a new owner because they were all going to be euthanized,” she said.
“The surrounding areas don’t want anything to do with taking animals, not just cats from Kewaunee County, and I believe they all deserve a chance. You know the position these animals were put in was no fault of their own.
“That is part of the problem, without having a place to them, they are left with very few options.”
Fields went on to tell a story where euthanasia was avoided.
“One of the really heartfelt stories where I was able to rehome a pet, rehome a dog. There was this younger couple and they had a dog who was maybe 8 years old. The dog had a little bit of arthritis going on,” she recalled.
“Their daughter had a friend over, and the friend of the daughter that was over decided that she was just going to sit on this dog. This wasn’t a toddler, this was a grade school child who was easily 50-60 pounds and decided to sit on the dog.
“Well the dog, you know, when dogs are in pain they will try and protect themselves. So the dog bit the girl. And then you know there were all these things like a police report and the insurance company. The insurance company said to the couple that they had to get rid of their dog or they won’t be covered anymore.
“So when the couple came in, with the full intent of euthanizing, because they didn’t know they had any other option. Well you know there again, I stepped in and said, ‘You know, this dog deserves a chance.’
“I sat down with the dog and she was not a vicious dog by any means. There was no reason for me to believe that this dog was going to lash out at anyone, it was just that one circumstance where she felt as if she had to protect herself. So I said, please let me help.
“We ended up finding her a new home where she is living her best life now. And to think all of this stemmed from a situation of self-defense.”
“The result of this: the previous owner of the dog came into the clinic recently, she just asked how the dog was doing, and I said she was doing great. And the owner looked at me and said that she just felt like she had a guardian angel that day. And that I took to heart, very much so.
“To me, it is about timing being in the right place at the right time, and being able to give that dog another chance at living a full life. The officials in this county don’t have any place to keep these strays. There is no safe place for them, whether it is a cat or a dog or whatever.”
Getting on the same page
Suzie Lest has worked at the 4 Legged Friends Veterinary Clinic for 11 years, and she also volunteers for Cats Anonymous, which is a program for stray and feral cats that uses trap-neuter-vaccinate-return also known as TNVR methods.
She has worked with the Cats Anonymous program for about 20 years.
Lest talked about her time at 4 Legged Friends and the renovations that “Dr. Lori,” one of the vets at the clinic, has done since 2016. With the renovations came a room built specifically for the CLAWS program, or Cats Lives Are Worth Saving.
“The program typically takes in stray cats and kittens to get dewormed, vaccinated, tested for rabies and other things, as well as spayed and neutered and then we adopt them out. Since that program started in 2016, Dr. Lori has taken in over 1,000 stray cats and kittens. She also offers a low-cost spay and neutering program for stray cats and kittens that a lot of people take advantage of,” Lest explained.
“The CLAWS program is not a nonprofit, Dr. Lori funds the program and the community is a huge supporter of this program. They donate, cash, food, litter, blankets, toys, and cat towers and I just wanted to make note of that.
“Kewaunee County has a big stray cat problem. I know that each municipality in Kewaunee County deals with strays on its own, but Kewaunee County as a whole does not have a program for strays. So I think that each municipality needs to get on the same page and just have one program.
“It is very frustrating when some people have to lie about where they live so the humane societies will take their surrendered pets.
“You can tell that cats get dumped in certain places when owners no longer want them instead of taking them to humane societies because they know they are just going to get turned away anyways.”
Lest added that she is “the crazy cat lady of Luxemburg.”
The cats that don’t get adopted from the clinic, because you know some of them are just HIV positive or special needs and no one wants to adopt them so I take them into my own home,” she said.
“Just recently I had a little guy who had to wear a diaper and had major wounds, but he didn’t make it, and I just think that working the CLAWS program I see a lot of cats and kittens that get hurt, and abandoned just like that little guy.”
How to help
A Cause for Paws has put together a petition to help connect community support behind their movement.
To contribute, visit A Cause for Paws Facebook page or find the petition on change.org.
“We want to show them that the community wants this, but also present them a solution. We will continue to work on this,” said Julie Jacobs.
In the hopes of securing a grant along with the petition, A Cause for Paws is hopeful that when they present the issue to Kewaunee County that officials will be willing to form a contract with the WHS to take their work to the next level.