A Brief History of C.A.R.E.
Originally organized under the name “Friends of the Evanston Animal Shelter”, volunteers have been working in partnership with the City of Evanston's Animal Control Strategic Services Division of the Police Department at the Evanston Animal Shelter for several decades. In 1987, under the leadership of Edwina Cowell, then President of the organization, The Community Animal Rescue Effort (C.A.R.E.) was officially incorporated by the State of Illinois.
On a day-to-day basis, C.A.R.E. volunteers’ primary responsibilities were to conduct adoptions, assist the animal wardens with the care of the animals and the operation of the facility. The volunteers are credited with increasing the adoptions of animals from 56 during the first six months of 1987 to 166 during the second six months. Prior to that time, most of the animals brought to the Evanston Animal Shelter that were not returned to their owners were euthanized.
In 1992, C.A.R.E. came under the direction of Linda J. Gelb, who remains C.A.R.E.’s President to date. At that time, there were approximately 40 in-shelter volunteers who were making important strides in placing shelter animals into homes. Nonetheless, there remained a high euthanasia rate. Consequently, Ms. Gelb and other C.A.R.E. board members recognized that a state-of-the-art adoption program would require additional, well-trained volunteers, greater local recognition and enhanced fund-raising. C.A.R.E. became recognized as a 501(c)(3) charitable humane organization in 1993. Today there are nearly 150 in-shelter volunteers, and C.A.R.E has very active fundraising and community awareness and outreach programs.
In fact, C.A.R.E. is recognized as a leading humane organization in the Northern Chicagoland area. Over the past 15 years C.A.R.E. has been responsible for the adoption of thousands of dogs and cats that would have otherwise been euthanized.
Upcoming Pawdcasts will include information on C.A.R.E.’s volunteer Medical Director, the volunteer fostering program, behavior evaluations, adoption and post-adoption counseling, obedience training, school outreach programs, and more!
Volunteer Spotlight: Joyce
Volunteers are the backbone of the C.A..R.E organization. Without them, there would be no C.A.R.E. Each month, the C.A.R.E Pawdcast will focus it’s attention on one special volunteer. This month, it’s Joyce. Joyce started volunteering with the Evanston Animal Shelter in 1986, before C.A.R.E even existed.
Joyce: “We wanted to help animals.”
The warden at the time did let them help by allowing Joyce and another woman to walk dogs and clean the cages twice a week. At that time, the shelter euthanized unwanted animals every seven days. It got to be too much for Joyce, and after about six months, she left. She returned in 1987, after Edwina Cowell began Friends of the Evanston Animal Shelter. She has volunteered for C.A.R.E. ever since.
Joyce: “To see what this organization has achieved from two little ladies that didn’t know anything. I mean, we didn’t know what a pooper scooper was hardly…”
Joyce is a tried and true animal lover. In fact, she loves animals so much, she’s even adopted a cow as part of an Adopt-a-Farm Animal Project run by Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization that has rescued thousands of farm animals in the past two decades.
Joyce: “We’re a discriminating society… we love our cat, but we eat our chickens.”
Joyce has seen, first hand, how volunteering at C.A.R.E. can affect a person’s life. She and another woman used to bring their son’s in to help them, from time to time. Joyce’s son has grown up to become a medical doctor. The other woman’s son became a veterinarian.
Joyce: “As a matter of fact when he was in vet training he would come and work with the cats.”
Joyce absolutely lit up when talking about some of her favorite adoption stories, and found it hard to narrow it down to just one. Every successful adoption is a celebration in and of itself. But, two, in particular touched Joyce’s heart.
She recalled one day a woman and her adult daughter came to adopt a cat. They selected a 13-year-old cat with feline leukemia to take into the viewing room. Joyce wasn’t sure who would ever adopt this cat, due to it’s advanced age and illness. The woman walked out of the room, beaming. They had decided to take the cat.
Joyce: “This girl had had leukemia when she was a child and had nearly died and she wanted to give the cat a chance.”
Another success involved a much more difficult cat, who would fight and scratch and claw every time you tried to get him into the cage.
Joyce: “This cat that we had was a monster”
Even he found a home. Of all people, a nun adopted him. She was looking for a cat to keep her company while she worked on files in the basement of the nunnery, and to catch mice. Apparently, he was perfect at both jobs.
In her heart, Joyce knows that almost every animal can find the right home, and even the most difficult of pets can be rehabilitated.
Joyce: “People really love animals. We are not better or worse, they are separate beings in the same universe.” With joy in her heart, Joyce continues to volunteer at C.A.R.E Maybe, you can be her next success story.
Pet Tip: Leptospirosis
This month’s Pet Tip comes to us from the Centers for Disease Control and the Cornell Veterinary School.
If you find your dog on the couch with an ice pack on his head and a thermometer in his mouth, he may be telling you that he wants to be a dramatic actor in a soap opera… OR, more likely, he may be telling you that he’s suffering from Leptospirosis.
Leptospirosis is a disease is caused by spiral shaped bacteria called leptospires. It occurs worldwide and can affect humans as well as many wild and domestic animals, mainly dogs. In general, the disease resembles the flu with fever, headache, chills and muscle pain. Dog owners may notice vomiting, lethargy, depression, muscle pain and sometimes diarrhea or bloody urine. The disease damages the liver and kidneys and, if untreated, may cause death.
Since the bacteria are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water or soil and can survive there for weeks to months, the best way to avoid Leptospirosis is to prevent your dog from drinking standing water in puddles on the street, at dog parks or from ponds. Humans and animals can become infected through contact with contaminated urine, water, or soil.
Antibiotics and intravenous fluids are the typical treatment for a dog with Leptospirosis.
So, if your dog starts exhibiting signs of the flu, get him to a doctor – and not the kind you see on the daytime soaps!
Onyx
