animal rescue - WKTV Journal

Peanut the cat needs a home. (Courtesy, Janet Vormittag)

By Janet Vormittag

WKTV Contributor

Are you considering adding a furry friend to your family? If so, you’re in luck. The BISSELL Pet Foundation is hosting its Fall National “Empty the Shelters” event in 43 Michigan shelters.

Several local shelters are participating including the Humane Society of West Michigan and the Kent County Animal Shelter.

Our nation’s animal shelters are in crisis due to increased owner surrenders and stray intakes, spiking post-pandemic euthanasia rates across the country.

Eli the rabbit is available. (Courtesy, Janet Vormittag)

“Our nation’s animal shelters are facing an overcrowding crisis unlike anything we have experienced in more than a decade. The devastating increase in owner surrenders and stray intakes has left tens of thousands of socialized, house-trained, and leash-trained pets desperate to find a home,” said Cathy Bissell, Founder of BISSELL Pet Foundation.

From Oct. 1-15, BISSELL Pet Foundation will sponsor reduced adoption fees at more than 345 shelters in 42 states. Adopters can save a life and bring home a spayed/neutered, vaccinated pet available for adoption for $50 or less.

Alize the dog is hoping for a new home. (Courtesy, Humane Society)

Tania Jaczkowski, executive director of the Humane Society of West Michigan, said the humane society is only doing a one day event on Saturday, Oct. 14, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Close to 50 dogs, 100 cats and a few rabbits will be available and adoption fees will be waived.

Anyone interested in adopting is encouraged to fill out an application online at www.hswestmi.org Adopters can also be pre-approved which will save time on the day of the event.

Alize, a 74-pound hound mix, is hoping to find a new family. Alize loves toys and playing fetch. She also loves affection. She’s only a year and a half old and is a long-termer at the humane society having been there longer than three weeks.

Peanut, a 13-year-old gray cat, is hoping to find a family with a couch where he can spend his golden years. Peanut is sweet, independent and playful. He needs a home without young children. Peanut has an over active thyroid which is controlled by daily medication.

A rabbit who needs a home is 10-year-old Ike. He currently lives in Jaczkowski’s office where he takes up close to half of her floor space. Ike is friendly and will take treats out of your hand.

Jaczkowski said they have participated in more than 20 Empty the Shelter events and have always seen increased adoptions. She added that Bissell has been very supportive of the humane society. “They’re fantastic.” When the humane society needed more space for their cats, the Bissell Pet Foundation paid for a cattery expansion which included several rooms for free-roaming cats.

Jaczkowski said the humane society, like other shelters and rescues, is feeling the crisis of too many pets being surrendered and adoptions being down. Plus, since the Covid pandemic there are more animals with behavioral issues. She feels the reason for the crisis is the economy. “People can’t afford another mouth to feed.”

The humane society also is feeling the pinch of inflation. “We’re purchasing less, but it’s costing us more.”

Jaczkowski hopes the Empty the Shelters event will result in some of the animals at the humane society finding new homes.

“It’s a lot of work, but the exposure it brings to the animals is worth it.”

Visit www.BISSELLPetFoundation.org/Empty-The-Shelters for more information.

By: Victoria Mullen

The cuteness cannot be denied. But all that cuteness comes with a price: Acorns. Lots of acorns.

A Northern Michigan animal rescue needs donations of acorns after taking in 18 orphaned baby squirrels who are too young to make it through the winter in the wild.

The Association to Rescue Kritters (“A.R.K.”), a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Maple Valley, cares for a variety of injured and orphaned creatures throughout the year. Each year, well-meaning individuals or tree cutters bring several orphaned young squirrels to animal rescues.

Squirrels typically have two litters of two to four young each year; the first is in the spring, the second in late summer. The second litter spends the winter with the mother.

It’s an unromantic life; the male leaves the female after mating and she is left alone to raise the babies. For the eastern gray squirrel, gestation is approximately 45 days. Born naked, toothless, and blind, the young are weaned at around seven to ten weeks of age and stay with the mother for several more weeks to learn the ways of the wild.

This year has seen a bumper crop. The new little arrivals–all 18 of them (so far)–are no more than a month old, far too young to survive in the wild. Volunteers are providing foster homes where the little guys receive bottle feedings and 24/7 care. Once they are more than a month old, they will be moved to a larger indoor space at A.R.K. Next, they will transition to an enclosed outdoor area with nesting boxes to adapt to the cold. Shivering stimulates fur growth; the goal is to grow a nice, thick coat to keep warm.

Feasting on a diet of monkey biscuits (grape-sized grain pellets), sunflower seeds and acorns, 18 hungry, fast-growing little squirrels aren’t cheap to feed. Donations of acorns and sunflower seeds are desperately needed to get these guys through the winter.

Bring your donation to A.R.K. at 3878 S. Maple Valley Road in Saint Helen, Mich. 48656 and leave it by the door if no one is around at the time. Financial donations are welcome, too, and may be mailed to the same address.

The A.R.K. Association to Rescue Kritters helps rehabilitate animals in Roscommon, Crawford, Ogemaw, Gladwin, Clare and Missaukee Counties.