News Alert: June 3, 2011

1. Exclusive Report from Joplin Animal Rescue Effort

Since the ASPCA arrived in Joplin, Missouri, on May 23, after one of the largest tornadoes in U.S. history devastated the area, we’ve received 800 animals at a temporary shelter we’re operating with the Joplin Humane Society. As of this week, more than 200 pets have been returned to their families, and we’re working around the clock to make sure the needs of the remaining animals are met. In addition to animal sheltering, we’re turning our attention to rescuing dogs and cats who are loose in Joplin and bringing them to safety.

While our emergency responders will stay in Joplin as long as we’re needed, the ASPCA is assisting the community in other ways as well. On May 27, we granted $100,000 to the Joplin Humane Society. The grant will be used by the Joplin Humane Society to support operation as well as repair infrastructural damages to its facility. Additional funding will be used for future disaster response and preparedness efforts in the community.

This grant has been named in honor of Rachel Markham, the step-daughter of Joplin Humane Society Executive Director Karen Aquino. Markham perished in the storm.

None of our work in Joplin would be possible without the support of people like you. Please help us support the animal victims of recent disasters in the South and Midwest. Text PLEDGE to 25383 to donate $10 today!

2. Cat Power! Celebrate Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month

This June, as we do every year during Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, we’re asking animal lovers to celebrate the fabulous feline! We’ve got lots of fun things in store for you this month, including our annual Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month photo contest! This year’s theme is “The Art of the Catnap.”

On a more serious note, did you know that more than four million cats and kittens enter U.S. animal shelters annually? In the spirit of Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, the ASPCA and Fresh Step® litter are working together to promote a groundbreaking way to help find loving homes for these at-risk cats. We’re encouraging shelters around the country to offer fee-waived cat adoptions throughout June—and more than 100 shelters have signed on! (Contrary to conventional wisdom, research by the ASPCA’s Dr. Emily Weiss shows that there is no significant difference between the value adopters place on their cats whether they pay for them or get them for free.)

To help spread the word, Fresh Step will donate $1 to the ASPCA for every “like” received on its Facebook page, facebook.com/freshstep, from now through July 31. The money raised will help support this program and other cat care initiatives. So get clicking, feline fans! And if you’ve got room in your heart and your home, visit your local animal shelter or cat rescue and adopt a new best friend today.

3. Animal Abuser Convicted with DNA Evidence Sentenced to Hard Time

Angelo Monderoy, who was convicted in March of dousing a cat with lighter fluid and setting him on fire, was sentenced on May 25 to two to six years in prison. Landmark DNA evidence secured by ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Agents clinched the case against Monderoy, 20, who also faces deportation to his native Trinidad.

In 2009, while investigating a Brooklyn building, Special Agent Adam Gankiewicz found a vacant room with charred tile flooring and a piece of what appeared to be skin. DNA testing, performed at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California Davis Veterinary School, showed the tissue matched that of the feline victim, establishing the crime scene. Based on this evidence, Monderoy was convicted of aggravated animal cruelty (and also of arson and burglary).

Dr. Robert Reisman, Medical Coordinator of Animal Cruelty Cases at the ASPCA, conducted the forensic veterinary medical investigation and testified in the case. The ASPCA first performed DNA analysis related to an animal cruelty case in September 2008, but these recent cases are the first in which DNA has been entered as evidence during trial.

For more information about our efforts to put an end to animal abuse, please visit www.fightcruelty.org.

4. ASPCA Happy Tails: Adoption Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

When Kim G. of Brooklyn, New York, lost her beloved cat Waldo, she thought her heart would never heal. As luck would have it, a neighborhood adoption event sponsored by the Empty Cages Collective (ECC), a local rescue group, introduced her to the furry love who would mend grief’s many wounds.

When my cat Waldo died of FIP in April 2010, I knew that I could never replace him. But I needed another cat to fill the void he left behind for me and my other cat Claire. Around the time of Waldo’s passing, I saw a flyer for an adoption event on our street. The flyer featured a cat named Basketball who was described as “the perfect house cat without a house.” She seemed like she’d be a perfect fit for us. Later that week, when I inquired about adopting her, I was told another family had put in an application for her, and the application was approved.

I later adopted another cat named Jake. On the day Jake was set to arrive home, I received an email from ECC that said the people who were supposed to adopt Basketball never returned their calls. Was I still interested? I declined thinking that we could never fit a third cat in our little apartment.

Days and weeks went by, and I could not stop thinking about Basketball. About three months later in July 2010, ECC had another event on my street, and I asked my fiancé if we could go. She ended up not being at the event, but we were invited back to the group’s shelter to see her. When we opened her cage, she started purring and let me hug her. I knew she was the cat that could fill the hole in my heart left by Waldo, so we adopted her.

Today Basketball (now Lisa) is the perfect cat. She is my furry shadow. She sleeps next to me at night. When I wake up in the morning, she follows me to the shower. If I ever need a hug, she’s right next to me and ready to snuggle. Waldo’s death was a sad tragedy. I try to be positive about it because even though it was sad for me, it was a blessing for Jake and Lisa whose lives he saved.

For more heartwarming Happy Tails, please visit www.aspca.org/happytails.