Celebrate Crucian pets—join your friends at the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (AWC) for a Challenge Carnival.

On Saturday, July 30 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. the pets and staff at the animal shelter will hold a mini carnival to honor local culture [...]]]> St. Croix Animal Welfare Center Kicks
Off National Adoptions Event with “Challenge Carnival”

Celebrate Crucian pets—join your friends at the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (AWC) for a Challenge Carnival.

On Saturday, July 30 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. the pets and staff at the animal shelter will hold a mini carnival to honor local culture and promote adoptions as part of the ASPCA Challenge.

The event will feature food, music, a mock tramp of animal shelter pets, prize raffles. Free microchips will be offered to the first 50 pet owners who request this service. As an added bonus, adoption fees will be wiaved for approved applicants.

“A portion of the competition is community outreach and AWC staff felt that holding a mini carnival was a great way to welcome the public and highlight our local culture as part of this national competition,” said shelter coordinator, Gretchen Sherrill. “Besides, shelter pets, like all Crucians, love to fete.”

AWC is one of 49 shelters nationwide competing for $300, 000 in grant awards from the ASPCA. AWC will be judged on the number of adoptions, reunions of lost pets to owners and transfers to other rescues that takes place during the review period of Aug. 1 to Oct. 31, 2011.

Not able to adopt? Consider supporting AWC with a gift. No amount is too small. For example, $10 buys a heartworm test, $25 a microchip, $50 buys 2 bags of dog food, $100 sponsors an adoption and $250 buys an airline ticket for a pet to fly cargo to a new home via pets from paradise.

Donate via Paypal on this website or mail gifts to St. Croix Animal Welfare Center RR2 #32 Clifton Hill, Kingshill, VI 00850. AWC is a registered 501 c 3 non profit in good standing. Gifts are tax deductable.

For more information about this event or how you can donate, please contactl Gretchen Sherrill at communications@stcroixawc.org.

St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (AWC) participated in two hurricane preparedness events last week. On June 2, AWC staff attended the VITEMA expo held at Sunny Isles. In addition to providing information and hand outs to the hundreds of patrons who visited the event, AWC provided pet licenses to attendees. [...]]]>

AWC Staff at VITEMA event

St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (AWC) participated in two hurricane preparedness events last week. On June 2, AWC staff attended the VITEMA expo held at Sunny Isles. In addition to providing information and hand outs to the hundreds of patrons who visited the event, AWC provided pet licenses to attendees. Stray intake at the shelter facility dramatically increases after weather events. AWC provides rescue and shelter to pets affected by storms; however, if owners fail to license pets, reuniting lost pets with their families is incredibly difficult. More than 20 attendees picked up pet licenses in addition to valuable information about including one’s pet in disaster preparedness.

On June 4, more than 80 pets received microchips thanks to St. Croix AWC and EPayment America who sponsored the event. Microchips were provided to pets at no charge and volunteers  along side AWC staff and board members registered patrons and provided the chips. The event was held on the beach in Frederiksted at Rhythms at Rainbow Beach.

Puppy Tina gets a microchip with help from Senator Nellie O'Reilly and Epayment America's Todd Gentilucci

This event was a double bonus for Nikki, the lab mix, who’d been at AWC since January seeking a home. EPayment America employee, Heidi, is adopting Nikki who couldn’t be more excited about moving from STX (the big island) to NYC (the big apple). Congratulations, Nikki!

Epayment America Family with Nikki--l-r Todd, staff member Heidi (who adopted Nikki) company president Chris Reckert and daughter Olivia

More than 2500 strays entered the shelter in 2010, the majority lacking id tags or microchips. In an effort to increase registration and successful reunions, AWC promoted this successful event. A second event will be held mid island near the end of July.

“AWC wants to encourage St. Croix pets owners to get prepared for the hurricanes of life and remember to id your pet,” said Shelter Coordinator Gretchen Sherrill. “We commend the individuals who tagged or chipped their pets this week as part of our outreach and we encourage more owners to take responsibility and ensure the safety of their pet with proper identification.”

The year 2010 saw an unwelcome jump for the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, as some 3,500 animals came through the [...]]]> The article below is from the St. Croix Source and can be found here.

 

Gretchen Sherrill (left) and Stephany DeJesus shows off a puppy up for adoption.

The year 2010 saw an unwelcome jump for the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, as some 3,500 animals came through the center, about 500 above their average.

Director Gretchen Sherrill pointed out that the shelter is the only place on St. Croix where they have an open admission policy. They will accept any animal in any condition and will never turn away any animal regardless of how dangerous or ill nourished it may be.

To break down the numbers a little further, 2,000 of the animals accepted last year were strays that had been abandoned and/or were victims of abuse, criminal activity, or neglect. The remaining 1,500 were owner surrenders – either because they have too many, are moving off the island, or simply can no longer afford them. Sherrill thinks that the major factor in the increase is due to the struggling economy. Owners simply can no longer afford their pets.

She is worried the economy might also take a toll on AWC’s operations. About one-fifth of their funding comes from government contracts, but with the economic decline, these funds could also be affected.

“We as an organization need to be innovative to get ahead of the game,” she said about trying to make up the difference in case of funding cutbacks.

The shelter offers many low-cost options for animals. For example, a pet can be sprayed or neutered for $25, and adopted for a mere $100, which includes de-worming, microchip, tags, vaccines, and spay/neuter services. Furthermore, if a pet is terminally ill, severely injured, or a threat to society, they offer low-cost euthanasia.

Another positive service that AWC offers is its decade-long transfer program called Pets from Paradise, where animals can be adopted from people off-island. Over 200 were placed last year with people living abroad. One major area where adoptions take place is in New York, particularly in the Hamptons.

AWC has worked for more than 20 years with local veterinarians on St. Croix to operate their low-cost spay/neuter program. But in 2010, they began an exciting venture collaborating with the Fix It Foundation, a PetSmart Charity company, to review the AWC database that tracks trends and problem areas for stray animals to help reduce population overgrowth by providing spay/neuter services to these animals at a low cost.

Bethany Bradford, D.V.M., the director of Veterinarian Services for the Department of Agriculture, was also at the conference with other board members Liz Goggins, Karen Poates and Jennie Parrish.

“This year we have really stepped up collaboration and cooperation [with AWC],” Bradford said.

Generally, the department works with livestock and horses, but occasionally, their paths cross and the two services work together to deal with animals who are abused and neglected.

Stephany DeJesus, an adoption technician, then allowed the media for the first time ever to look at their “quarantine surgery center,” which is divided into three sections: treatment, surgical center, and an area for euthanasia. She then took out a few animals that were being housed there and had either been treated for fleas and ticks, or were awaiting adoption.

There were also youth volunteers on-hand who seemed to be loving their weekend duties. One volunteer, Kareem Murrell from Free Will Baptist Church, typically comes every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. because he thinks it’s fun bathing and walking the animals.

“I do this because I have a passion for animals,” he said smiling.

If you would like to volunteer, or have a desire to adopt a pet, please visit www.stcroixAWC.org, or contact (340) 778-1650.

Attendees are asked to prepare an entrée utilizing a Chef Daniel recipe. All dishes will be judged in a Top [...]]]> Calling all St. Croix amateur top chefs. Chef Daniel will host a dinner party contest to benefit the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (AWC) on Friday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. at Le Club head quarters.

Attendees are asked to prepare an entrée utilizing a Chef Daniel recipe. All dishes will be judged in a Top Chef-style competition to be held pool side.

Event begins at 6 p.m. with judging at 7 p.m. No contest dishes accepted any later than 6:45 p.m. Entrees that are not prepared using a Chef Daniel recipe will be disqualified, but will be enjoyed by all in attendance. All dishes should serve 6 to 8 people.

Judging is based on taste, presentation, and creativity. The grand prize is a private lesson for 6; second prize is an apron, Italian VI Trading wine and three free cooking classes; third prize is an apron, Italian VI Trading wine and a black Club de Cuisine tote for carrying recipes.

“We are grateful to Chef Daniel and Teresa for hosting this competition for the benefit of the pets and to promote our Hearts of Hope anti-neglect campaign,” said Gretchen Sherrill shelter coordinator. “Neglect is the number 1 problem we see at the St. Croix AWC and we depend on community supporters like Chef Daniel and Teresa to help us raise awareness of these issues.”

Hurry to RSVP as space is very limited. Entry fee of $5 payable to St. Croix Animal Welfare Center required for entry. For recipes, directions and more information, please contact Teresa Wyatt at 626-5883.

Chef Daniel is professional chef, restaurateur and hosted his own cooking show on Univision/Telemundo networks. Learn more about him at www.Chef-Daniel.com

If you answered yes, to any of the above, consider becoming a [...]]]> Do you have an eye for second- hand fashions? Can you help turn one man’s trash into treasurers? Do you like to clean and organize? Would you like to use your free time to help the unwanted animals of St. Croix Animal Welfare Center?

If you answered yes, to any of the above, consider becoming a volunteer at the Animal Welfare Center flea market in Richmond (one driveway east of the Richmond post office). If you can help us just a couple of hours per week anytime during operations Tuesday thru Saturday, please email our new store manager Leslie at fleamarket@stcroixawc.org.

The flea market is one of our consistent sources of revenue to benefit our pets and you can help us help them. Email Leslie today!