Web posted Monday, November 17, 2003
To the rescue
'Petapalooza' brings animals, new owners together
By REGAN FOSTER
Staff writer
There was plenty of wagging, wiggling and woofing Sunday afternoon as Mapleview Animal Hospital held its first "Petapalooza" adoption event.
Representatives from nine West Michigan animal rescue and adoption services filled the veterinary hospital's garage with 40 adoptable dogs, cats, kittens and puppies. People milled around, petting, playing and picking out potential additions to their families.
It was almost more than 9-month-old Oliver could take. With a thump of his tail and a throaty whine, the collie mix begged his "foster dad," Bob Pickett of Muskegon-based Lifeline for Pound Buddies, to let him out of his kennel.
"He's still learning," Pickett said as the little dog stuck his foot through the bars. "This is all a little hard for him. He really wants to play."
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ADOPTION: Amanda Tapley, 12, and her mother Lori Tapley, both from Holland, pet Boots, a male maincoon cat, while attending the first annual Petapalooza Adoption Event at Mapleview Animal Hospital in Holland Township on Sunday.
Sentinel/J.R. Valderas
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Petapalooza was a cooperative event organized by animal rescue centers in Ottawa, Allegan and Muskegon counties to get adoptees into homes and educate people about the pet overpopulation problem, said Michelle Bender, the president of A New Start on Life Rescue and a coordinator of the event.
"It's constant," she said of the flow of animals into her adoption center. She estimated that 30 new shelter animals are spayed or neutered at her agency each week.
Equally important was the opportunity to give future pet owners a chance to find an animal that is appropriate for them, added Merri Van Dyke, the office manager of Mapleview Animal Hospital.
"Since most of these animals are rescue animals, we want to make sure we won't have to rescue them again," she said.
"Just because someone looks at a pet and thinks it's adorable, that doesn't mean it's the right animal for the person," Bender added.
Each of the nine organizations require a pre-screening application and reference checks before an animal is adopted, and at leastone application was filled out and submitted to each group during the three-hour event. A few animals went home with new families who had already gone through the screening process.
One 35-year-old Zeeland woman was filling out an application for a female black Labrador mix puppy. The woman, who asked not to be identified because she wanted to make the puppy a Christmas gift for her husband, said she currently has an aging Labrador that she will eventually have to replace.
"Our Lab is 10 years old and she's getting up there," she said. "My girls just loved the (puppy)."
"There's a lot of dogs out there that could use a good home," said April Wood, 29, of Fennville, as she snuggled a black and tan German shepherd-mix puppy under her chin. "I think a lot of people don't think 'humane society' because they think 'broken dog.'"
Wood said she was in the market for a large dog, since she already owns a smaller one.
"I believe in raising my children with animals," she added.
Carol Januszewski, a spokesperson for Muskegon-based Golden Years Alaskan Malamute Rescue, said the event was important in that it vividly displayed the problems of pet-overpopulation and abandonment.
"Why should we breed more (animals)?" she asked. "Let's stop breeding them and take care of the ones we have."
There are 900 dogs and cats waiting to be adopted in Southwest Michigan, according to the Web site www.petfinder.com
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MY DOGGY: Kara Wood, 3, of Fennville, gives a hug to Dianna, a 3-month-old female German Sheperd dog, while attending the first Petapalooza Adoption Event at Mapleview Animal Hospital in Holland Township on Sunday.
Sentinel/J.R. Valderas
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