Pets, Pets, Pets...

Pets, Pets, Pets...

by Joanne Anderson

Babylon Town Shelter dogs are about to get a little luckier. Last Hope, Inc. Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation has helped many of our lingering dogs and cats. Last Hope has a store front cat shelter in Huntington. However, their dogs in boarding have been scattered at various vets all over LI. Later this month Last Hope will be opening their new dog adoption center just down the road from Babylon Shelter. I volunteered to do a kennel shift. Beware of dog worker with an ulterior motive: I want to keep filling their cages with Babylon Shelter dogs.

The new Last Hope dog adoption center will be adjacent to Basic Pet Care on Rt. 109 in Lindenhurst. The runs are in and the floor is just about done. This facility will help centralize care and showing of the Last Hope foster dogs ready for permanent homes. It is NOT a spot for the public to bring strays or unwanted pets.

For 23 years Last Hope’s mission has been to help the most desperate animals- including injured strays, death –due pound pups, and feral cat colonies. Most of their dogs are selected from various LI municipal shelters. Since spring of ‘04 when Linda Stuurman, Last Hope’s President, came in to see a Husky found by one of her volunteers, she has been a frequent visitor at Babylon Shelter. She left that day with a kitten with a severe neck wound. (He posed for the most graphic photo I ever took.) After a prolonged stay in a private room at their vet, a happy and healed "Eastwood" went home to live with one of the hospital techs. Last Hope also placed that active Husky pup after investing in training.

So many needy Babylon dogs, cats, and kittens have gone into Last Hope’s care since "Eastwood". Last Hope does not take the cream of the crop. It’s a dream come true for me. Walking through the kennels, Linda asks me-"Who needs Last Hope the most?", or I email her a photo and a tale of woe. Many of these waifs are whisked away and given the care they need- medical, grooming, socializing, training, if necessary- and most of all, neutering so they too do not add to the overwhelming surplus. Some go to foster homes and some to boarding, - like "Buddy", the older Lab, abandoned at an Amity motel last year when his owner who had lived there for years with him, just vanished. With advertising Buddy now has a wonderful home in Nassau. Private humane groups can be picky about placement while public pounds can’t.

Miracles like these are expensive. Very expensive-which brings me to an upcoming Last Hope fundraiser for the new dog center. Consider coming to an Art Auction sponsored by Last Hope on Sat. evening Sept. 24 in Oyster Bay. Preview is at 7 and the auction begins at 8. Tickets are $10. There’s also a raffle, refreshments, door prize and a guest artist- Robert Lui in attendance. Art is available in all media and price ranges. Credit cards are welcome. (You betcha.)

Bring home a Wyeth, Moses, Rockwell, Chagall, so many more. No promises of "The Scream", but who knows? "The missing masterpiece hasn’t shown up on EBay yet even though Norway is offering a two million kroner reward. That’s $331 thousand in US bucks. You can support Last Hope by purchasing online at marlinart.com. or attending the auction at the Doubleday Babcock Senior Center, 45 Main St., and Oyster Bay. For tickets call (631) 643-2284 or contact me at the shelter.

Last Hope gets a percentage of the auction sales and that percentage goes up as more people attend. Auctions are great entertainment. If you’re afraid you’ll go over your budget, sit on your hands or have a strong pal next to you. Years ago at an antique auction, the spirit of Lucille Ball invaded my body. I wound up with a $200 alleged 19th c. Russian paperweight which on closer inspection resembled something from the Timothy Leary estate. The auctioneer made my friend (who would have arm wrestled me to stop my bidding lunacy) move to the back because her baby was crying. Come to the art auction. Leave the kids home with a sitter.

•Last Hope Low Cost Pet Vaccine Clinic- Sun. Sept. 18 from 12 to 3 at Stephanie’s K-9 Bath House, 427 W. Montauk Hwy, Lindenhurst. Shots include rabies, distemper combos, Lyme, leukemia, bordatella. Leukemia and heartworm testing too. Cost- $10 to $15 per shot/test. No pre-registering. Call (516)334-6069 or (631)205-5069 about the clinic or to find out about Fix-A –Feral.

Labor Day may be here but we’re still celebrating "Summer" who has been at Babylon Town Shelter, Lamar St. W. Babylon since May. She is a small Shepherd mix, abandoned with her sister on a church lawn. Her sister got adopted around the time of the BAARC Fair. Shortly after Summer was adopted too but returned several days later. The people said she didn’t get along with their dog. It seems like she got a bad rep for no reason. Since then, Summer has had about 6 or 7 roommates in Cage 93. She is a gracious hostess and has watched each one leave for a new home. She meshes with other dogs, and even tolerated a rough German shepherd puppy. Summer’s calm and shy, but very loving after she gets to know you. That takes about 5 minutes. Call Babylon Shelter at 643-9270 or see more photos at Petfinder: NY 275.

•Females: an older Beagle in Cage 85; a smooth Collie mix puppy in Cage 91; "Bella" the Whippet mix in Cage 79.

•Males: "Dudley"- a 1 year old trained neut. Coonhound mix in Cage 9; "Tango"- the Dalmatian in Cage 1; "Frankie"- the brindle pup in Cage 43; the 2 Siberian huskies- "Sausage" and "Maurice".

•Cats: Many kittens and adults including this photogenic caboodle in Cage 4.

•Low Cost Spay/Neuter- (516)364-PAWS; Island Rescue at 968-8700.