Here we are at the end of another year. 2014 certainly had its ups and downs. After nearly 18 months of being displaced and sharing an entirely-too-small area, we were finally able to move into our own beautiful building. We are the occasionally-unhappy recipients of a new truck, after our poor van died at 12 years old with just under 219,000 miles on it (we LOVE the truck, it’s the configuration we hate). If you’re keeping track, that’s just over 18,000 miles per year, 85% of that being solely on the streets on New London. Not too shabby. We successfully adopted out, or got into a rescue, 35 dogs, 36 cats, a hamster, and a rabbit. So far, every adoptable animal to enter our building has left on his or her way to a new, loving home or foster. That’s the one thing I personally am ridiculously proud of. We took our crazy, space-sharing policy of “2 weeks and done” and threw that right out the window, as proved by Winthrop’s 6 week stay, and now far out shadowed by Lexus’s 3 months with us. Of course we know the shelter is no where to spend an extended time, but sometimes it takes that little bit extra to find the perfect home. With the short time limits not hanging over our heads, we are able to work with the dogs and bush up some of their manners, making them even more adoptable. And I will admit it is a great feeling of relief to be able to breathe easily knowing the pups have the time they need to make a perfect match. I want to take this chance to thank every single person out there who has supported our shelter the past year. Yea, we still have our haters, and that’s OK. My mom always said that if someone hates you, it just means you stood up for yourself. It’s easy to play armchair quarterback from out there in cyber-land, but you people aren’t the ones here dealing with the animals, incidents, and people we are. I’m happy with the way things are going, my partner is, our boss seems to be (although he has his gripes every now and then), and since I haven’t heard anything differently from the Deputy Chief or Mayor Finizio, I’m guessing they are pretty happy with the way things are progressing over here at the shelter as well. Do I still feel slighted on occasion that people seem to think the “ghetto New London dogs” (and yes, those are actual words someone from another town used to describe our dogs) are less deserving of their time and donations? Of course. The animals here in New London don’t deserve to be looked down on because of where they came from, or because they may have had a less-than-desirable start. Personally, I think that people who treat the dogs from here as less important than other towns are full of something I clean out of kennels. But those aren’t the people I’m here to address, so let’s forget about the closed-minded fools who sometimes say silly things. Let’s concentrate on my heroes. To every single person who has EVER shared one of our Impounded pictures, one of our Adoptable Pet albums, one of our fund-raisers or pleas for some sort of needed supplies, to anyone who has ever donated a single item, or a single cent to this shelter, I say thank you on behalf of every animal who has been or will be in our building. While food, treats, and litter only get used once, blankets, toys, and towels stay with us until they are destroyed. Some last longer than others, but every pet who benefits from them thanks you for thinking of them. To every person who has bought a calendar, or a bag of fish, I say thank you as well! To every person who stopped by the shelter just to visit the animals, or the friendly ACO, thank you for giving of yourself. Sometimes that 5 minutes you spend talking to a dog in the kennel is the highlight of their day. To every person who ever talked up our shelter, our pets, and our ACOs, I thank you. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but let me tell you something. It takes a village to find a pet a great home, and I thank every single person in my village, no matter how inconsequential you may feel your actions are. Never stop sharing our pets, because you never know who is going to see the picture you shared. As 2014 fades into the past, and 2015 creeps into our lives on four fuzzy feet, I am proud to be a part of New London Animal Control, and I will strive to make the next year even more successful than the last year. To all of my friends out there, I wish you the very best in all you do in the coming year, and I hope you continue to support our shelter in whatever manner you can. Seriously, you are all my heroes! I can’t wait to see the trouble we can come up with in the coming year!!
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 01:33:57 +0000