The Humane Society of Broward County and its supporters are preparing for the upcoming 36th annual VCA Walk for the Animals. Local 10 News Animal Advocate Jacey Birch’s goal is $5,000 this year.
Day in and day out, the staff starts a routine at the shelter at 6 a.m. The feeding rituals start with the puppies’ breakfast.
The cleaning tasks include spraying foam and scrubbing in the kennels. Then, there are the morning baths. Vaccines start at 8 a.m. Spay or neuter surgeries follow.
“It’s important from a health standpoint, but also from an overpopulation standpoint,” said Cynthia Rogers, the HSBC veterinarian. “We don’t want unnecessary breeding in our community because there are so many pets that don’t have homes.”
The clinic’s special treatments start at 9 a.m. Some days, there are injuries and a high demand for the X-ray machine. Rogers was really busy recently.
“We’re doing surgery on all our pets, making sure they are sterilized before they leave, taking care of other medical conditions, like if they have a lot of dental disease, tumors, things like that,” Rogers said.
There are the teeth cleanings, cold laser therapy, and even acupuncture. At 10 a.m., the kittens go to temporary homes, and dog walks start at 11 a.m.
“We employ nearly 100 people, we have more than 650 volunteers, and we are open 7 days a week, minus a few holidays,” said Cherie Wachter, a spokeswoman for HSBC.
Wachter said the HSBC clinic helps about 17,000 patients every year, and helps nearly 5,000 pets to find homes annually.
“We have to raise each and every dollar to operate,” Wachter said. “We have an operating budget of more than $9 million, so that’s a lot of money to raise.”
The walk raises more than $500,000.
“Every homeless animal we hope will one day have a loving family,” Rogers said. “We want to give every pet the opportunity to be as healthy as possible to get adopted into their forever home.”
Luann Scott recently adopted “Sammy,” a 5-month-old orange cat.
“She woke up and came to the window and meowed at us,” Scott said.
Every adoption is a celebration. Heidi May recently adopted “Angel.”
“A home is not a home without an animal to give you love and to love back,” May said.
Join the Local 10 News team at the event from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 21 at the Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park, at 80 Las Olas Circle, in Fort Lauderdale. The actual walk starts at 9 a.m. For more information, visit this page.
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