FAll 2021 Newsletter
Word.
I had a dream I was flying over my house; circling for days observing my horses, cats, the coming and going of volunteers and friends. Sunday, being our usual trapping day, I note several vehicles arrive and leave at all hours of the day; dropping off the trapped cats into my garage, snuggling them in with sheets and blankies in the air-conditioned garage. Ensuring that each trap has an ID tag identifying cat and services required, all zip-locked for extra security. The next morning, very early, I see my husband turn the rescue van around and start loading it with all the trapped cats, leaving it running to keep it cool for the cats and driver. Soon after comes the transporter, who pulls in and jumps into the chariot that takes all those kitties (ferals and barn cats) to one of the many low cost vet clinics we use. I check to make sure I have my phone on me should one of the vets call to ask for approval to treat something (the answer is always yes). I give a moment of thanks that they can overnight at the clinic where they will be clean, safe, and comfortable. As I circle and dip over my home and pasture, and the sun rises once again I see another driver leave in the rescue step van to pick up the trapped kitties from the clinic. Soon trappers’ vehicles will begin to arrive to wait for the van to return with their kitties so they can release them to their Caretakers. The step van arrives, there is a big bustle as trappers look for their kitties, and I dip low to hear the joking and laughter as they check paperwork to see who was pregnant, lactating, whether a girl or boy and ewing and aweing over the all the kitties as carrier covers are lifted. Then they begin hefting them all into their respective vehicles to return to their trapping sites. This is the dance that I began a month ago; make low cost clinic vet appointments, organize the sites and trappers, and line up the drivers.
A shout out to all the people that have just reduced by thousands the number of cats going into the shelter, those who have made each cat colony healthier, protected our community against rabies; the drivers, trappers, vets, staff, all the Caretakers that care enough to want the best for their colonies, and yes, whoever has to disinfect the van and traps.
This is my dream. Come true.
Patricia A. Werick
President, Culpeper Humane Society
We’re Gonna be On TV!
We’re so excited and we just can’t hide it….The Culpeper Humane Society was contacted by Culpeper Media’s Nicole Wootten, to meet and discuss our work.. She was surprised that we had so many programs and we talked about developing a segment to give an overview of all the programs we offer to pets in our community. To our surprise the next day we received a call suggesting that we huddle to create a 6-part series showcasing each of our programs in depth and highlighting some of our special pets for adoption at the end of each segment. Our first spot has already been filmed, and was all about our TNR program. The show will be aired this Friday, October 8th at 12 noon on Comcast Channel 10 and FIOS Channel 21. It can also be viewed at culpepermedia.org and soon will be featured on our website, culpeperhumane.org.
Next month the segment will focus on our other “no-cost and low-cost” Spay/Neuter programs that we offer to the Culpeper County community.
The holidays are almost upon us! Like all of us, soon you will be ordering gifts from Amazon. When you shop why not make your gift go even farther? Choose AmazonSmile and make a gift to all of our adorable pets too! When you shop at smile.amazon.com and designate the Humane Society of Culpeper as your charity, Amazon donates 0.5% of your eligible purchases to CHS. There is no cost to you; you have the same selection and low pricing as the regular Amazon site, the same shipping and service, and all of your Amazon Prime membership benefits too! Just click on this link and send a gift to your furry friends as well…. Shop and Donate Here!
Culpeper Humane Society Wish List!
As winter approaches, our programs continue, as does our need for your support. We need cat food, dog food, kitten food (kibble and canned), and pharmacy items for our Kat Kits for our foster kittens. All of these supplies go directly to support the needs of pets in Culpeper County. These supplies support CHS’s foster dogs and cats, our Pet Pantry program for the pets of families in need, our Unchained Canines of Culpeper and our TNR kitties, and they all require food. Our Pet Pharm allows us to administer medicines for acute illnesses and the general overall health for the kittens in our care. You can contribute to these programs by donating on our website https://www.culpeperhumane.org/donate/ or by ordering from our food or pharmacy wish list at Chewy.com.
Save Lives!
Still IN “kitten season” and still need foster homes for cat/kitten care! We are only limited by volunteerism. If you are interested in giving a temporary home to foster cat/kittens and providing them with loving care while they wait for their “forever home”, become a Culpeper County Humane Society foster family. Please visit the link below and fill out our foster home application. Whole new, polished foster/adoption program! We provide orientation, training, resources and support! You provide the play, love and socializing.
Got Cooler?
It is that time of year where we start our search for hard-sided coolers to make into cat shelters! As the temperatures lower, the winds pick up, we want to ensure that our feral cat colonies are snug and warm. Hard-sided coolers do not need to be new, just lightly used, and Large/XLarge sizes. We drill big holes in the coolers, put in straw which is an excellent insulator and repels insects, pop on a canopy so rain or snow cannot get in and kitties get to snuggle together! Drop off at 425 Azalea St. Culpeper, VA in the garage. Collections begin now through Oct 23.
We have some of the very best volunteers; people committed to making a difference in the lives of animals and people in our county. People in animal rescue are some of the most nurturing people you will ever meet. Despite families, jobs and all that entails, they still make time for animal rescue.
Volunteer Tribute.
This is to a very special man that we recently lost. He was the paramount savior of the Safeway kitties, a feral colony of about 40+ cats whose existence was threatened. A daunting task to say the least; finding a place to re-home them and then trap and move them. They all thrived in their new home John provided, there are only 4 Safeway kitties left. His sister, Lucy, offers this tribute to her brother.
On August 3, 2021, Culpeper lost a fine man, and one of the most dedicated cat rescue persons ever. For over 20 years John Allen Newberry rescued and cared for many many cats. His love of cats led him to at first feeding several colonies of cats. When the local commercial organization where the colonies resided wanted the cats removed, John arranged for a rural location, and had a large shelter constructed. He then had an area fenced in to allow the cats to safely roam, and provided electrical power to hate heat in the winter and fans in the summer. John maintained that shelter, providing food, water and medical care, at his own expense for many years. He kept his outdoor “Buddies’ Safe, comfortable and well fed, even as his own health was getting worse. John would spend many hours there making sure the cats were not only well taken care of , but given love. He did this no matter what the weather was, they were part of his family! John also had 7 cats at his home, including his beloved Rudy, which he bottle fed as a baby kitten, Rudy was devoted to John. This man, and his love of cats, will be greatly missed by all.
Farewell John Newberry…your love of cats, compassion, and dedication will never be forgotten.
Blast from the Past.
Winter and Chicken’s adopter wrote us to say, “We just love these boys to pieces! Thank you for choosing us to be their people!” Kyle’s adopters wrote to remind us that it was Kyle’s Adoption Anniversary day, one year since he was adopted, Sunday, July 18, 2020. We just had to share this charming story about Baxter (he used to be Trey, because he was 3-legged). These 2 little girls just love him to pieces. But at Christmas they received 2 orange/white plush toy cats that were NOT like Baxter at all. So Momma found herself amputating one leg off each Baxter plush toy cat. You can see how much happier the girls are now with their life-like Baxter toys!
Sssshhhhh….let’s see who’s in the
Kitten Nursery
Five orphans that were found in a bucket on the Mountain Run Lake dock, sadly one passed away, now there are four (my home). Two brand new baby orphans fresh from neo-natal care arrived at their new foster home (thanks, Charles and Amyee). Three rockstars arrived in a box in a garage plus a wee orphan stray all now in one foster home (Teresa, how’d you get so lucky?). A kaboodle of recently weaned orphans from neo-natal care (5 Hungarians and 1 Tilly still nursing) just arrived at their new foster home (Hallelujah to Meghan and Lexie!). Thank you thousands to the foster volunteers who opened their homes and hearts to these babies so they can go on to happy safe loved lives.
Adoptions
We had a lot of adoptions since the last newsletter, but here are the last nine that were made. ‘Special’ Charlemagne was adopted by his vet tech! He went in for a fecal and she asked if she could foster and the rest is history (he goes by Karl now and gets to go to work with her all the time). Gouda, still Gouda, because he’s a big delicious hunk, has made one family very happy, he is exactly their ‘dream cat’. We hear he is actually Goudini because he’s magical. He has hooman siblings and dogs and cats siblings, so much fun and lots of people to love on him. Rory was adopted as a companion to Mr Lonely (Salem, who was adopted 6 months ago), his ‘dad’ was worried he was bored. In came Rory and she would not remain in the bathroom for even one night, before you know it she was in bed with Salem. No judgements. They adore one another. She is Sabrina to his Salem. We promised the adopter that Gruyere was the lovey-dovey-ist kitty EVER and we did not lie. Now Lulu, she has her own facebook page, and while she does have a kitty sibling, it’s unknown how much camera time she gets on Lulu’s facebook page. A most fun and lovely family came to adopt Ash, but fell in love with Mercury, then had to adopt both! 2 hooman boys and 2 rambunctious kitty boys AND they have an auntie kitty that adores them. Rainer was the runt and the last of this litter to be adopted. At first the family felt that he was too old to blend, he was not, he’s perfect and they all love him! He’s magnificent and he knows it, now known simply as Bach. Then there is the overlooked plain brown tabby, who behaved more like a dog than a cat, thus named Puppy. The family that read his profile believed us when we said ‘unique’ and promised that he would give you all the love and attention you can stand. He does. They call him Razzle. Our volunteer (began as an adopter) was looking for a charming charcoal grey lover-boy, and boy did she pick the winner from our Cheese Factory litter, Muenster. Just check out the kissing photo, they kissed like that for long moments! He is much adored and enjoys a family with 2 hooman girls plus a rabbit, a dog and another charcoal grey kitty, Leo (adopted from us 2 years ago!).
In Memoriam.
Roxie was the worst dog ever! She was a biter, growler, bared her teeth at other dogs, cats, KITTENS, cute little girls and any human being that got on her nerves. She WAS housebroken, but one day decided she no longer would be, and after that we spent the rest of her fostered life cleaning up her pee and poo. She was a pschopath for food, even though she was on a diet for 4 years of weight management pet food fed in a dish that had swirls in it to retard her eating process, she actually gained weight. It seems cat poo and horse poo were her side dishes. She would lick the wood floor or carpeting if there was a whiff of some food that had ONCE been there. No other animal stood a chance at getting any food product that she was intending to get. Once she actually growled, bared her teeth and barked at my horse! Oh, and her bark…whatever Roxie wanted, whether to go outside, come inside, take a pet bed away from someone, be carried upstairs…she barked the most piercing sharpest bark ever! She was so bad, and yet she kept us laughing with her shenanigans. She knew exactly what she wanted and she had no pause or reverse. Annoying, admirable and yet funny and endearing too. Roxie was brilliantly smart, alarmingly adorable with her melting brown eyes and perky little furry ears. Charismatic to a fault, those that didn’t know her were so charmed when she would run pell mell for them and flop over to offer her tummy. There was no telling them she would bite them if not careful. To be fair, Roxie was from a home where she was physically abused (we heard through the door), she was ‘schooled’ by a human to be ‘bad’. But she did so love her pets and loves. She especially loved Richard, a fellow she met in the park when volunteers took her for a walk. Richard became a volunteer and Roxie’s very favorite person. Whenever we would say, “Richard’s here!”, her little ears immediately perked up and she ran as fast as she could to him. He treated her like a princess and she adored it. They went to the park together, the winery, sometimes just stayed at his house and watched tv and napped. Sometimes Richard just popped in to say hi and give Rox some loving. That was the best for her.
Sadly, we discovered that she had fractured her pelvic girdle in 3 locations, they could have been old ones that worsened with age, she definitely needed surgery to have plates to strengthen that area as she had lost use of her back legs. Then one of her back legs developed a bad infection that didn’t improve even with antibiotics and lasering. We knew it was time to let her go when she would no longer eat. We miss that awful bad dog so much. The house is so quiet and we’d give anything to hear that hideous bark again.
Roxie, you will always be in our hearts and we will tell stories about you to make people laugh and shake their heads. Bill and Patty Werick
Please contact us at info@culpeperhumanesociety.com if you have a furry beloved that you would like to pay tribute.
Put your skills and experience to work helping to improve the quality of life for pets and people in your community…
Who doesn’t love cute puppies, cuddly kittens and feeling good about themselves because they made a positive difference for animals in need? CHS is seeking to fill some key “behind the scenes” volunteer positions. If you have the skills, are reliable and can commit to volunteering at least one day per week we need you. We have an urgent need for skilled volunteers for the following positions:
- Grant Writer
- Coordinator Foster Care
- Coordinator Care-A-Van
- Transporters, transporters, transporters!
If you are interested in any of the listed positions please, send an email outlining any applicable experience and detailing why you want to volunteer with CHS to info@culpeperhumanesociety.org Please write “Attention: Debbie Siday” in the subject line.
All positions, with the exception of transporters, require a basic knowledge of email and Microsoft Office.