Over the past two decades, I’ve learned a lot about animals and the people who love them in my role as executive director of North Fork Animal Welfare League.
Tag: nfawl
This baby owl was rescued in Southold on Thursday. (Credit: Gillian Wood Pultz)
A baby owl that fell out of its nest in Southold Thursday afternoon has safely returned to his tree thanks to a quick-thinking real estate agent and local animal rescue workers. (more…)
Cricket (left) and Ralphie, two pit bull mixes, before being adopted. (Credit: Gabby Glantzman)
It’s hard to imagine a five-month-old puppy taking care of itself, let alone multiple newborns.
It is a situation North Fork Animal Welfare League officials say can happen when owners opt against neutering their pets, leaving pups like Ralphie and Cricket without the support of a mother.
This cow escaped Breeze Hill Farm Wednesday. (Credit: Gillian Pultz)
Refusing to let chickens have all the fun, a cow crossed the road Wednesday morning, leading Southold police and Southold Animal Shelter staffers on a wild goose chase through Peconic. (more…)
Shoshire Kennels co-owner Dwayne Early of Aquebogue and his long-haired Chihuahua Lady Gaga last year. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
The rolling purr of a cat or sloppy kisses of a dog are a simple signs of affection that can go a long way for people, providing pet owners with a sense of companionship and something to look forward to when coming home to an otherwise empty house. (more…)
Cats of all ages are looking for a loving home at the NFAWL animal shelter in Peconic. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
Ever think about adopting a pet, but weren’t sure if you could find the right animal to complete your happy home? Well now is your chance.
North Fork Animal Welfare League is taking part in a nationwide pet adoption event — teaming up with the nonprofit Maddie’s Fund foundation and hundreds of other shelters — to find homes for 10,000 animals. (more…)
The Southold Animal Shelter is hosting a mobile spay/neuter clinic Sunday (Credit: Carrie Miller)
To mark World Spay Day USA this year, the North Fork Animal Welfare League has teamed up with the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation to offer a mobile spay/neuter clinic for cats on Sunday.
The Southampton Foundation’s Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic will be arriving at the Southold Animal Shelter at 8 a.m.
The clinic is run through an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) grant.
For a minimal fee, residents can bring in their un-altered cats for surgery, with the aim of decreasing the population of unwanted cats and kittens that overcrowd shelters and neighborhoods each year, according to release from the shelter.
Volunteers and staff will also be utilizing the trap, neuter, release (TNR) program — to spay and neuter cats found in trouble areas for strays across the North Fork.
For information on SASF’s Mobile Clinic costs call 728-PETS (7387) Ext. 247.
BETH YOUNG FILE PHOTO | A pair of dogs at the Southold Animal Shelter.
Steps were taken in Southold Town Hall Thursday to fund the installation of solar panels and other improvements to the town animal shelter, which is operated by the nonprofit North Fork Animal Welfare League.
As part of the state’s environmental review process, the Town Board declared a “negative declaration,” meaning the work won’t result in any significant impact to the environment.
The board also approved the issuance of $330,000 in bonds to help fund the $527,000 project.
But Supervisor Scott Russell said between money coming from a large donation from a local family as well as power company rebates, the project will cost the town less than $100,000.
“We’re actually just putting money in place,” he told a concerned resident who took to the podium during the meeting. Mr. Russell added the town’s share of the funding would be paid back “through the next budget cycle.”
He also said lower energy bills will see the town recoup its initial investment in “less than five years.”
“The electric bills at the animal shelter are staggering,” said Councilman William Ruland. “Anything we can do to offset that — for as long as 20 years in this case — is absolutely the right thing to do.”
Both resolutions, one declaring the negative declaration and the other authorizing the construction and issuing the bonds, passed unanimously.
The work involves “the design and construction of shade structures, including installation of photovoltaic system and related improvements and other ancillary work,” read resolution 2014-89.
As reported in December, the town accepted the bid of SUNation of Oakdale to undertake the photovoltaic installation.
Under the agreement, the contractor is responsible for retaining the rebates and passing the savings to the town.
Mr. Russell said last month the work would be done sometime in 2014.
CYNDI MURRAY PHOTO | Chipper the dog resting at North Fork Animal Welfare League’s shelter in Calverton. The paralyzed animal was rescued about two weeks ago.
An abandoned, paralyzed dog recently found wandering the streets around town is being nursed back to health at North Fork Animal Welfare League’s shelter in Calverton.
A father and son found the 10-year-old border collie about two weeks ago shivering, emaciated and struggling to move due to a spinal injury that left his back legs paralyzed. They then wrapped the dog, now named Chipper, in a blanket and took him to the animal shelter.
Although the veterinarians there aren’t able to determine how long Chipper has been paralyzed, they believe he was someone’s pet because he’s sociable and neutered.
Gillian Wood, NFAWL’s executive director, said Chipper is able to move around using his front legs. Dragging his belly on the floor, the dog can drink from a water bowl, fetch treats and greet visitors. Unlike other dogs with similar injuries, she said Chipper is able to control his bowels.
“It’s hard to believe someone would just leave him,” Ms. Wood said. “He is a pretty special guy.”
In order to help Chipper with his recovery, NFAWL volunteer Scott Kessler has modified the shelter’s small rolling cart to help the dog move around. As Chipper continues to get healthier, Ms. Woods said her group hopes to find him a loving home.
“He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” she said. “He is as sweet as could be. That’s why we named him Chipper.”
TIM GANNON FILE PHOTO | Rex Farr looks over the land he plans to lease to the North Fork Animal Welfare League in Calverton. He and his wife run an animal rescue operation on his farm.
The Riverhead Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-0 Thursday night to reopen a public hearing on the North Fork Animal Welfare League’s plan to build a 1,638-square-foot cat shelter on four acres on Youngs Avenue in Calverton.
The hearing was then adjourned until the Thursday, Jan. 24 ZBA meeting, when it will resume.
The ZBA had held a hearing on the proposal Nov. 8 and there were no speakers in opposition. At the time, ZBA members said they saw no problem with the plan and would approve it at their Dec. 13 meeting, which was later moved to Dec. 20.
The hearing was then closed for further comments.
But neighbors, who read about the hearing in the Riverhead News-Review — along with a headline saying there was no opposition— said they were not properly notified about the hearing, and that they were, in fact, opposed to the idea.
Neighbors also said the hearing came just eight days after superstorm Sandy, and that many people still were without power on Nov. 8, or waiting on gas lines.
“It’s obvious that the intent of town law is to afford all interested parties a right to their voice being heard,” said David Moran, an attorney representing the neighbors, in a letter to the ZBA.
At least 30 people from the neighboring areas attended the hearing, but only Mr. Moran also addressed the ZBA Thursday night.
“I’m not sure that I agree with many of the points raised,” Scott DeSimone, the ZBA’s attorney, responded, but he acknowledged that there was a defect in the mailing of notices of the Nov. 8 hearing, in that two properties that should have received notices did not.
Because of this, he urged the ZBA to reopen the hearing.
Afterwards, Mr. Moran spoke to neighbors in the hallway outside the ZBA meeting.
“What you were just able to witness, if you’ve never seen it before, is I like to call political cover,” Mr. Moran told the neighbors. “They’re never going to admit that they were wrong. They are going to admit that they fixed the problem.”
A number of neighbors spoke at a Dec. 4 Town Board meeting, saying the notices they were given were not clear as to what was being proposed.
The residents said there is a dangerous “s” curve on that section of street already, and that they objected to having a commercial operation in a residential area. They also said that the hearing took place shortly after Sandy, and many people still didn’t have their power back.
Supervisor Sean Walter told the group he would ask the ZBA to reopen the hearing.
Neighbors subsequently submitted 114 form letters in opposition to the cat shelter, saying they feared it would “change the character” of their community.
Peter Danowski, the North Fork Animal Welfare League’s attorney, said at Thursday’s meeting, “I might take issue with some of the comments,” made by Mr. Moran, although he did not get specific. Mr. Danowski pointed out that the proposal is not for a town animal shelter.
“This is housing for cats,” he said.
The Welfare League is planning to lease four acres of vacant land from Rex and Connie Farr for a dollar a year for 99 years and build a 1,638-square-foot cat shelter, which would only occupy about an acre, according to its executive director Gillian Wood Pultz.
Welfare League officials plan to catch stray cats, spay and neuter them, and either release them or put them up for adoption, Ms. Pultz said in an interview last month.
“The cat population in Riverhead is out of control,” she said.
The Southold-based nonprofit, which has run the Southold shelter since 1980, did agree this week to run Riverhead’s dog shelter — which does not house cats — under contract.
The cat shelter would not be run under contract with the town.
