News from the Noteworthy from Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
SQSPCA Expands Partnerships, Services
On July 21, the Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals quietly celebrated three years in our purpose-built shelter, which was made possible with the support of people who care about animals in need. We celebrated quietly, because we are so busy that we neglected to realize the occasion until after it had passed. Despite that, each and every day we are able to work in our shelter, we are grateful. This new facility has enabled us to grow into a regional animal resource center, and SQSPCA staff work hard to help animals and people beyond our walls. One way we do this is through our Shelter-to-Shelter program. Animal shelters and rescues who don’t have the medical suite and the medical staff that we have are welcome to join our program, and we schedule their animals for spay/neuter, dentals, and x-rays here at the shelter.
July 14-16, all of our staff had an opportunity to attend the ASPCA Cornell Maddie’s Shelter Medicine conference in Ithaca. The conference is designed to be affordable, and we are fortunate it is so close. At the conference, we learned additional ways in which we can help people and animals and make our communities better. We know from studies and research shared at the conference that animal shelters, even the best of them, induce fear, anxiety, and stress in animals. This is why when folks reach out to us to surrender, they go through a counseling process much like our adoption counseling process. We want to know if we can do a little something to help—e.g., share from our pet food pantry, provide flea/tick medication, offer emergency boarding, etc.—so that the pet can stay with their person. We truly value the human animal bond and when we can keep people and pets who already love each other together, we can be an effective safety net for animals that really need to come into our facility.
Speaking of coming into our facility, this time of year you see a lot on social media, and you might hear at the neighborhood store, about how shelters are full and unable to take in animals. When this happens, shelters and rescues are at their capacity to care for animals and are being responsible when they say they can’t help. At the Susquehanna SPCA, we try to empower people to join our mission and to provide assistance for the animal they are calling about. Maybe we can talk them through their situation and advise on the food and supplies they need to care for the animal themselves. Maybe we can rehome their pet, but we need them to foster the animal for a while. As we work to increase our impact and help more animals, it involves keeping folks who care about animals close and making sure they know we are all in this together.
The impact the SQSPCA has, and the impact that we are working to expand, is achievable because of our facility and the opportunities we have worked so hard to secure. There were many people who helped move us in this direction and we were so sad to see this week that we lost one of them.
Senator James L. Seward was an advocate and friend of the Susquehanna SPCA. There were times when we had to convince people we could handle such a project, but we didn’t have to convince him. Right away, Senator Seward gave us confidence and encouraged his New York State colleagues to support us. Our first big contribution toward the SHELTER US project came from the New York State Companion Animal Capital Fund. It was a $500,000.00 jump start to a $5 million
project that came to fruition in July of 2021. Senator Seward wasn’t just professionally supportive, either—he and his beautiful family would come in to visit and socialize animals. They contributed to our mission, and they adopted animals.
Senator Seward was one of the best and he will be truly missed. His legacy will live on in so many ways—the SQSPCA’s continued work on behalf of animals in need is one of them.
Stacie Haynes is the executive director of the Susquehanna SPCA.
