Puppy love | A grassroots Searsport nonprofit finds food for the furry ones and offers comfort to their owners
Maine is full of inspiring examples of anthropologist Margaret Mead’s popular quote in action: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
One such example occurred last fall in the coastal town of Searsport when four friends with a shared commitment to animal welfare became concerned the failing economy would negatively impact their neighbors’ ability to feed their pets.
“All the shelters in the area were at capacity,” explains Anne Crimaudo, one of the organizers. “We were concerned that people would give up their animals because they were not able to feed and care for them. We didn’t want to see that happen. For older people, especially, animals are sometimes the only companions they have.”
Within weeks, the women established the Searsport Animal Fund Endowment, and entered the town’s “Swing Into Fall” parade, with dogs on leashes, to announce its kick-off.
It didn’t take long for SAFE (www.searsportsafe.org) to become part of the fabric of the community.
“Once we got town support, the program took off,” explains Crimaudo. Now, when residents call the town office for public assistance, the town manager asks if they have pets and whether they need food for them as well as their families. The ambulance director stores donated food in the town garage. And, the Board of Selectmen endorsed the effort.
Tozier’s, the local grocery store on Main Street, set up a drop-off box in the store’s entryway. Shoppers buy extra cat and dog food and leave it in the box when they leave.
Since last fall, SAFE has fed 36 dogs and 60 cats, including a colony of feral cats. (Shelters generally won’t take feral cats, which are wild and afraid of people.) “Some people we help were laid off from their jobs,” says Crimaudo. “Others just needed help for a short time.” In addition to requests from Searsport, SAFE gets calls from nearby towns. “If we have food, we give it to them.”
SAFE has been so successful that other communities from around the state are calling Crimaudo to find out how they can replicate the program. Already, a resident of nearby Stockton Springs has launched a similar program called Red Claws, Blue Claws.
Sewall Foundation helps out
A program like SAFE is unusual in Maine, says Kathy Savesky, an expert in animal welfare issues, who was hired recently by the Brunswick-based Elmina B. Sewall Foundation to study animal welfare needs and services in Maine and nationwide. “In other parts of the country, food banks have developed associations with distributors of animal food, and partnerships with animal shelters,” says Savesky. “In better economic times, these programs focus more on helping feral cat colonies than on helping people care for their pets.”
According to Savesky, homeless cats are a significant animal welfare issue in Maine and elsewhere in the country. While spay and neuter programs and animal control efforts in the Northeast have focused on educating and enforcing people to be more responsible for their dogs, the same is not true for cats, which are all too often abandoned. Although puppy mills are still a problem in Maine, most of the puppies that end up in shelters to be adopted here come from out of state.
Animal welfare is one of three areas, including the environment and human well-being, that will be embraced by the directors of the newly funded Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, says Jay Espy, the foundation’s executive director. According to Espy, the Sewall foundation will devote a portion of its grant dollars to animal welfare, particularly animal abandonment related to the economy.
In addition to supporting efforts that protect animals and recognize their contribution to the health and well-being of people, the Sewall foundation’s animal welfare grant program will also include efforts to advance wildlife research and education, and protect farm animals.
According to Savesky, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans marked a sea change in how the public and disaster relief organizations address the needs of animals affected by a natural or economic disaster. “Up to that point, rescue workers focused on human beings, not animals,” says Savesky. “There was little recognition of the role animals play in families. With Katrina, rescue organizations and workers were surprised, and at times shocked, to see that people would risk their lives for their pets. It began to make people aware that we need to focus on animals, too.”
Elizabeth Banwell is director of external affairs for the Maine Association of Nonprofits in Portland. She can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz.
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