Animal Control marks 12 months no-kill for cats, 8 months for dogs

By VICKI NAEGELE

For the Frontiersman

WASILLA — Buddy has a lot to recommend him. He’s friendly, outgoing, good-looking and has a lovely voice. But he’s homeless.

He and eight of his friends were camped out in a tent at Sportsman’s Warehouse Saturday, hoping someone would take them home.

By the end of the day, there were a lot of lookers but no takers. Buddy, the 4-year-old neutered Walker hound, and his pals went back to their temporary digs. But no one is measuring the success of Mat-Su Animal Care Facility’s hunting dog adoption fair at Sportsman’s Warehouse here strictly by the number of homed canines.

Katrina Zwolinski, Mat-Su Borough Animal Control veterinarian and acting manager, said the event and others like it give the public a different image of the animal-care facility.

“It helps put the shelter in a different light,” Zwolinski said. She said too many people think of the shelter in a negative way. “They don’t think of the shelter as a friendly place to go.”

It can be overwhelming, she conceded, to walk into a facility where so many pets need homes. She said people tell her, “I can’t stand coming here because I think I have to rescue them all.”

“If we bring a few to them, it doesn’t become so overwhelming,” Zwolinski said.

Saturday’s event focused on hunting breeds. They’ve also held adoption clinics at Home Depot and a very successful event at the Mat-Su Home Show. They are also at Wasilla Pet Zoo every two months.

It’s all part of the shelter’s successful effort to be a no-kill shelter. Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the shelter not euthanizing any healthy cats considered adoptable and eight months for dogs. In the last 12 months, the shelter took in 3,511 animals.

Julie Johnson, an animal care assistant at the shelter and a volunteer there, helped coordinate Saturday’s event. She hailed the assistance of the community, volunteers and local rescue groups for helping the shelter reach the milestones.

By taking the dogs to the customers on Saturday, Johnson and other volunteers were reaching out to people who might otherwise not consider adopting a pet from the shelter.

“Our focus is to get out and get into the community and have them see us in a different venue,” Johnson said. “People really need to know where we’re at and what great dogs we’ve got.”

Zwolinski said the special adoption events are an opportunity for volunteers to get more involved as well.

Saturday’s event drew three generations of volunteer dog handlers.

Kylie McCormack, an 18-year-old senior at Colony High, was keeping track of a white lab-husky mix 9-month-old male she dubbed Casper. McCormack and her mother, Dawn McCormack of Wasilla, have been volunteering for about a year.

“It’s fun,” Kylie McCormack said. “It gives the dogs an opportunity to get out.

“The feeling I like is when they get adopted,” she added.

That’s how 13-year-old Renaye Sinnett of Palmer said she feels about it, too. She had a firm hold on Tika, a black lab mix. She’s been volunteering for about a year, too.

“I like animals and I like getting them adopted.”

The Matuszewskis of Wasilla started volunteering because of their 11-year-old grandson’s interest.

“Riley wanted to help with animals so grandma signed up and then grandpa volunteered,” Jan Matuszewski said of herself and her husband, Jim.

Riley also fosters kittens, and recently socialized four kittens so they’d be ready for adopting.

Dawn McCormack found herself drawn into volunteering, too.

“It started out as something to do, but I just love being there,” McCormack said. She said she concentrates on the adult dogs. “We kind of make an effort to show up at least once (a day) and get them out of the kennels.”

As for the dogs, they were enjoying their day in front of the outdoor-equipment store.

“The dogs are having a good time,” Zwolinski said. “The dogs are loving it.”

Anyone interested in volunteering at the shelter can contact the shelter at 746-5500 or stop during regular business hours, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The shelter expects to do additional special events in coming weeks, including a black-tie fund-raiser and shelter dog walks at Crevasse-Morraine Trail.