BRICK – Imagine this: you walk into your local library to return a few books. Suddenly, your greeted by a lovable, tail wagging dog who’d love to give you kisses. “He’s a good boy,” says the person holding the leash. You soon find out, she’s right.
That’s what patrons found recently at the Brick Library. The Jersey Shore Animal Shelter was on hand to talk about volunteering at their not-for-profit animal shelter. For the past 45 years, this shelter has been placing pets into their forever homes all while constantly taking in new, hopefully short-term residents. Along with a thrift shop aptly named the Bow Wow Boutique, the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter, located at 185 Brick Boulevard, is always looking for people to offer a helping hand.
Laurie Fasinski, Executive Director of the shelter, is passionate about these animals. She wants to place all of them into loving homes but needs volunteers to help with everyday tasks. That’s where the library program comes in.
“For members of the community that might not know who we are, even though we’ve been here a long time, the specific topic today is volunteering,” she said. The hour-long presentation was focused on what the shelter needs in way of people power.
Most animal shelters only have a few members of staff who get paid for their time. They rely on donations, both in the form of money and time, to make ends meet. Jersey Shore Animal Shelter is no different, with volunteer hours last year totaling around 10,700. The shelter is looking for people to work in three different roles: dog walkers, cat socializers, and tour guides.
During the presentation, Barbara Palmer held the leash for one of the shelter’s dogs. Hunter is a black lab/shar pei mix who is 8.5 years old and approximately 55 pounds. He needs a good home, because his owner passed away. He enjoys nature and exploring the world around him, according to the shelter’s newsletter, The Wag Rag. While Fasinski spoke at the podium, Hunter explored the room at the library, all the while getting up close and personal with the audience and playing with toys in the front of the room. He’s a good boy, too, if anyone is interested in giving him a loving home.
The shelter is looking for volunteers all the time. Animal care is very time consuming; the shelter isn’t staffed 24/7 so the time the animals get to interact with people is precious.
“10 minutes out of the kennel is huge for these animals,” said Fasinski, referring to dog walkers who volunteer time to engage with the dogs.
Kitties are also in need of help, as well. Cat socializers work to give a bonding experience to those cats in need of extra attention. For those interested in visiting the shelter, a volunteer tour guide can escort them around the facility.
Along with adoptions, the shelter offers low cost spay and neuter programs for dogs, cats and even bunnies. The shelter also has a few events during the year, to raise money for the animals’ care. The Holiday of Hope event and gift auction are very helpful to the shelter, but volunteers can do a lot more with just a few hours a week.
“We rescue and adopt approximately 200 animals a year,” said Fasinski. “It used to be between 300 and 400 and it’s becoming more challenging; more people are actually giving up their animals.”
The need for volunteering is at a consistently high level. Horror stories of people losing their homes, jobs, and loved ones are all too frequent. Pets are almost always the last ones to be considered, so overcrowding at many shelters is all too familiar. But there is only so much a shelter can do with record numbers of animal surrenders on a yearly basis. “We’re desperately promoting the animals to get them out of there,” said Fasinski, during the presentation.
The less time an animal spends in the shelter, the better. Unfortunately, senior animals are usually the last to be adopted. Puppies and kittens tend to be adopted first, due to their cuteness and public demand.
Fasinski spoke about their “Seniors for Seniors” program were the shelter tries to pair older animals with the communities’ senior citizens. It’s a win-win for both parties.
She wanted to let the public know a few things during the presentation. “Adopt, don’t shop…spay/neuter is the most important thing to fight over population. It’s the only thing I know to fight overpopulation, because no animal should lose their live because of a lack of space.”
At the end of the hour-long program, Hunter and the members of the shelter left, hopefully inspiring someone to look into adopting or volunteering soon. Animals like Hunter are hoping the public will answer the call. And he is most definitely a good boy who deserves a good home.
If you or someone you know is interested in helping, please contact the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter at (732) 920-1600 or email at: info@jerseyshoreanimalcenter.org. Visit them online to view all their animals available for adoption: jerseyshoreanimalcenter.org
