At the shelter

We care for an average of 60 dogs and 100 cats at any one time. Many adopt out as a result of very active adoption programs, but many others come in.  We receive animals whose owners cannot or do not want to care for, and animals that people find lost or in distress. Many times we also receive dogs that were picked up by the local pound and were not retrieved by their owners.

During spring and fall, we get overwhelmed by many litters of kittens and puppies, which were either found abandoned or are surrendered by owners who were surprised with a pregnant pet. As we receive them, we do our best to give a friendly message of awareness. Many times we receive the litter and negotiate to have the mother spayed in exchange. Sometimes we have to offer a free service, like a vaccine or a bath, to convince the owners to let us get their male pets neutered. All in all, we have been slowly making the notion of spay/neuter and its benefits more familiar and available to the community.

Our kennel staff keeps very busy making the shelter clean and presentable. They also feed, bathe, walk and play with the animals. For this last part, we usually get volunteers to help out too. If you are visiting the Island and want to spend a few hours with us, it will be greatly appreciated.
Our medical staff takes care of all our resident animals’ health and they spend several hours a day just dedicated to sterilization surgeries. We also provide veterinary services to the public, which covers for some of our costs and allows us to give information about responsible guardianship.

Every now and then we’ll have an intensive campaign and we will all be working very long hours. Our staff and volunteers will also do rescue operations in a variety of situations. Many times we get calls reporting abuse or neglect, and we do our best to give a solution to the problem, although unfortunately we are very limited by the lack of legal backing in this matter.

Out of the shelter

A lot of the work is done from a computer, such as answering emails, ordering supplies, contacting other organizations, fundraising, acquiring equipment, supplies, veterinary help, networking for adoptions abroad, etc. Running various errands certainly takes a good chunk of our time, plus the usual  book keeping, promoting, making reports, planning, and many other things that we do happily for the animals.

Fundraising is critical, so considerable time and effort is spent on this. We have several major events that we do yearly, such as our Mardi Gras Stand, Art Exhibition and Auction, Sunset Tours and Xmas Dinner Party. Besides those, we do garage sales, raffles and other activities.

Our monthly expenses average $10,000 dollars, of which about 40% comes in from veterinary services provided at the shelter. The rest comes from active fundraising, donation boxes in town, donations through this website (yes!) and sales of T’shirts and pet accessories with our logo.