A Facebook post said Clarion PUPs now has regular hours. They are from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays.
People can buy dog licenses, drop off donations, take a look at the dog park and more during those hours, the post said.
Clarion Pups is located at 483 Pine St. in Strattanville.
More information is available by calling (814) 764-5580 or visiting the group’s Facebook page or online at www.clarionpups.org.
Meanwhile, Clarion PUPs has a few dogs available for adoption.
Balto is a 3-year-old male cattle dog mix who was an owner surrender.
Petey is a 2-year-old male Dalmatian mix who was an owner surrender.
Skippy is a young, very friendly male who was found by police in an abandoned home.
Food for furry faces
Clarion PAWS is in need of donations.
A Facebook post said the center needs Purina Cat Show – the blue bag.
“With more than 50 furry mouths to feed we go through a good amount of food and we rely on donations to exist. Your donation matters and it allows us to continue to care for those who need us most,” the post said.
The center is located at 11348 Route 322, Shippenville, Clarion River Hill, between Scrap Happy and Clarion Electric.
Its hours are 5 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Fridays and Sundays.
The center’s mailing address is P.O. Box 804, Clarion, PA 16214.
More information is available by calling (814) 229-1231 or online at www.clarionpaws.org.
Meanwhile, check out these cats that are up for adoption.
Looking for a purr-fect fit
Oreo
Jasmine
Jasmine was found wandering a local neighborhood with her leg completely mangled. After getting her to a vet it was decided that the leg could not be fixed and so it had to be amputated. Jasmine recovered and was adopted once. That home did not fit so this sweet girl is waiting for her true furrever home where she can relax and enjoy her human families company. She is an adult female.
He’s as sweet as a cookie
Oreo was brought to PAWS because his owners were moving and not allowed to take him with them. He is a very sweet cat that just wants to be loved. As you can see in his pictures he lays right down so you can pet him and rub his belly.
All Clarion PAWS cats have been spayed/neutered, Feline Leukemia tested and received basic vaccinations, a rabies vaccine, wormed and have had a wellness exam by one of our Clarion PAWS veterinarian partners. Adoption fee is $35 for adults and $70 for kittens. Completion of an adoption application is required.
Check out these pets at the Venango County Humane Society
Apple
Let her be the apple of your eye
Apple, a domestic long hair, is a 1 1/2 year old spayed female. This tuxedo cat has yellow eyes and a silky coat. She’s shy around strangers but very loving once you gain her trust. Her long coat is tangle free and will need to be brushed or combed several times a week to prevent mats from forming.
Full of energy
Hershel
Hershel, a Miniature Pinscher mix, is a 9-year-old neutered male. He has a black and tan coat and brown eyes. Hershel is lively, curious and smart. He’s an ideal pet for a small home or apartment. Indoor play and a daily walk will take care of his exercise needs. Because very young children can be boisterous with small dogs, we recommend that Hershel go to a home with children 8 years old or older. His easy care coat is in great condition and only requires occasional brushing.
The Venango County Humane Society is open from noon until 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. All animals adopted from our shelter are already spayed or neutered, which the law requires you to have done upon adoption.
More information about humane society is available by calling (814) 677-4040 or online at venangocountyhumanesociety.org
Nature at its worst
On April 9, Skye’s Spirit Wildlife Rehabilitation Center posted on its Facebook page that its large 30×100 flight enclosure had collapsed after a surprise spring snow.
“There were no birds in the enclosure. We will work at coming up with a new design utilizing the existing walls. We do have other flight enclosures but loved using this huge one most,” the Facebook post said.
Meanwhile, the center has been busy accepting baby opossums, squirrels and more.
Donations can be sent to Skye’s Spirit Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at 889 Farren Surrena Road, Harrisville, PA 16038.
More information is available by calling (814) 786-9677 or online at www.skyes-spirit.com.
The center’s annual wildlife baby shower is scheduled from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14. There is no charge for the event but attendees can take “gifts” for the wildlife which include monetary donations, paper towels, bird seed, raw nuts, frozen mixed vegetables and frozen berries.
(Editor’s note: The following article was submitted by Tri-County Animal Rescue Center in Shippenville it was written by Juanita Smart, an English professor at Clarion University.)
Getting fixed: The drive to end pet overpopulation
By Juanita Smart
Outside the sky is so black that all the trees and buildings morph into spooky ink blots, but inside Tri-County Animal Rescue Center in Shippenville, the lights are bright. Debbie Stephens, who arrived well before 5:30 a.m., hustles between the office and garage clearing space in the lobby, setting up a table, and organizing forms. Soon pet owners will arrive with their dogs and cats to get them “fixed” through a low cost spay and neuter program made possible through the shelter’s partnership with Allegheny Spay and Neuter Clinic in Woodland.
By 6 a.m., pet owners surge through the front door and more or less line up; the cat crates they lug in are stacked on top of each other in little towers on the lobby floor. One cat flicks its arm out like a switch blade through an opening in its carrier, swipes at the air and hisses; all the human heads in the room turn and look; clearly the cat named Muffin is not happy about being here. To minimize the chaos, dogs must wait in their owner’s vehicles until loading time when all the animals are arranged in crates inside the van that will transport them to the clinic in Woodland about 70 miles west along the I-80 corridor.
For now, over the next several minutes, forms are filled out and double checked: owners must provide contact information along with multiple details about their animal: “has your pet been without food/water for the last 8 hours?” Name of pet? Breed? Markings? Color? Sex? Etc. An anesthesia consent form must be signed and dated.
Pet owners are asked to label crates with their name and contact information but the shelter also attaches a second identification label to each crate. The animals will be done with surgery and transported back to the shelter between 3 and 4 p.m. Extra care is taken with every label to insure that each pet will be returned to the person who brought it here this morning.
Outside, Harold Walstrom, the driver, has arrived with the van; for Harold the morning began even earlier than it did for Debbie since he had to drive about an hour and a half just to get here. His scheduled departure time from TCARC is 6:30 a.m. Harold worked 20 years as a dog warden for Clearfield County so he knows animals. He’s the kind of guy you want driving the clinic transport van: friendly and easy going with kind eyes; his white hair and neatly trimmed beard make him seem distinguished and wise. He speaks gently; if he dressed in a robe and sandals he could pass for a 21st century version of St. Francis of Assisi. As he tugs at a big crate with a Spaniel-looking type dog inside, I hear him say reassuringly to the dog, “let’s put you sideways so you won’t tilt!”
Harold talks about how the Allegheny Spay and Neuter Clinic got started: he and some other animal advocates got together to figure out a plan that would have the greatest impact on curbing pet overpopulation in Clearfield county. The Allegheny Spay and Neuter Clinic was their brainchild and grew out of their strong conviction that “the best way to fix pet overpopulation is by fixing your pet,” Harold explains.
Tri-County Animal Rescue Center is a small rural, no-kill shelter that operates on a shoe string budget with support from a loyal following of dedicated volunteers. Since first opening its doors in December of 2011 the shelter has advocated the no-kill rescue, rehabilitation, adoption, rights, and welfare of companion animals in Clarion, Jefferson, and Forest counties. An integral part of that mission has been an unflagging commitment to helping pet owners spay and neuter their pets.
Debbie Stephens, who serves on the Board of Directors for TCARC and supervises the intake and care of shelter cats, early on recognized the value of an affordable spay and neuter program.
She recalls, “I wanted us to have a low cost spay and neuter program so I researched for a place locally to help us, found Allegheny Spay and Neuter, made contact and since then we have had clinics about every 6 weeks from March through November each year.”
That continuing partnership has benefited more than 700 animals and their owners in the Tri-County area since the program began.
At first glance, fees for the clinic’s spay and neuter surgeries may not seem like bargain prices (for a female dog, $105, a male dog costs $95, a female cat costs $65, and a male cat is $55) but in fact those amounts represent a substantial discount, sometimes by as much as 30 to 70 percent off what local veterinarians charge. In addition to these modestly priced surgeries, the Spay and Neuter Clinic also offers vaccines and even micro-chipping at more affordable rates.
Last summer a kind driver found a gentle chocolate Lab wandering along a rural road and brought the dog to TCARC; within two weeks “Sweetie” had delivered 9 healthy puppies. More recently, a small black and white cat that was hardly more than a kitten herself delivered 5 healthy kittens at TCARC.
Imagine the impact in just one year if Sweetie and her 9 puppies continued to breed and have more puppies, and those puppies had puppies, or if Happy and her 5 kittens each had more kittens and those kittens had kittens … You don’t have to be a mathematician to see how quickly the pet population can sky rocket when animals are not spayed or neutered. Thanks to TCARC’s proactive partnership with Allegheny Spay and Neuter Clinic, Sweetie and her puppies were all “fixed” and found loving homes; they will never contribute to pet overpopulation and neither will Happy or her kittens.
It’s worth imagining how much all of us could help end pet overpopulation everywhere if we simply practiced the Clinic’s signature motto: “Fix the pet overpopulation problem by fixing your pet!”
On this Thursday morning, some pet owners have heeded that call. Soon all the crates are stowed, dogs in big crates on the van floor and cats in their smaller crates bungee corded across the top. Muffin, the cat with the switchblade arm, has scored a berth up front with Harold on the passenger seat beside him.
Harold secures the paper work and then this precious cargo of pets is on its way to Woodlawn. As the van peels away, the early morning dark is peeling away too, softening to shades of light and gray.
Tri-County Animal Rescue has clinics scheduled for the following dates, May 12, June 30, Aug. 11 and Sept. 29.
More information is available by contacting the center on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tri.
(All About Animals is a weekly blog that appears on Venangoextra.com and Clarionextra.com. Interested persons or groups can submit information to bigdogs.thederrick@gmail.com. More information about the blog is available by contacting Anna Applegate at 814-677-8364.)
