Richmond SPCA Blog

Midas of Central Virginia offering a cool car deal to benefit homeless animals

It’s almost summertime. We’re driving more. Now is a great time to think about car care. And because of the great folks at Midas of Central Virginia, great car care will also mean more lifesaving for homeless animals like Juan and Benji (pictured) who are currently awaiting homes. Midas is offering a creative way for animal lovers all across the area to help us raise money for our homeless pets and get a pretty cool deal for your car in the process.

Midas owner Mark Smith has given us 200 gift packages – each of which contains an oil change certificate and state inspection certificate – to offer our supporters. Each is a $54 value, but you can purchase it for just $25, and all the proceeds come to the Richmond SPCA. The certificates are separate, so you if you are not due for your state inspection yet, get the oil change now and save the inspection for later. Certificates do not expire for a year, so you have plenty of time!

To take advantage of this special offer to benefit our homeless cats and dogs, visit www.richmondspca.org/midas or call Susan Nelson at 804-521-1308. We are extremely grateful to Mark Smith and his team at Midas for their generosity and to you – our dear friends and supporters – for making this effort a success.

Thanks! Meow! And woof!

Liz Bryant is the manager of major gifts at the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Travels with Lottie: get a dog’s-eye view of pet-friendly RVA!

The Richmond SPCA’s 2011-2012 Mascot, Lottie Dula, is on the move to pet-friendly places around Richmond. We’ve outfitted her with a GoPro video camera so you can see her perspective on the world.

Take a look at Lottie’s first video!

Lottie is visiting the Richmond SPCA’s Lora Robins Gift Shop. It’s her favorite place to get new toys and yummy training treats because she knows that when her mom shops here, the purchase benefits homeless pets in our care. Lottie was once a homeless dog, whom we rescued from a puppy mill in 2007, and it’s her mission to help other dogs experience the unconditional love she has known since her adoption.

The Lora Robins Gift Shop carries healthy all-natural treats; toys of all shapes, sizes and styles ranging from soft and plush to durable and interactive; and collars, leashes and harnesses for cats and every breed/size of dog. If you're not sure what size your dog wears, it's no worry. Bring your dog along so our staff can ensure a comfortable fit for your companion's new walking equipment.

Lora Robins Gift Shop hours: 
Monday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tuesday - Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday noon to 5 p.m. 

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To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

With 2012 Outstanding Women Awards, YWCA acknowledges cause of animal welfare

Robin Starr with Dumbledore and Emma, credit Pink Photography

On Friday, May 4, Richmond SPCA Chief Executive Officer Robin Robertson Starr was recognized by the YWCA with a 2012 Outstanding Woman Award. Each recipient addressed the crowd at the luncheon to celebrate the accomplishments of the nine honorees. Robin has been honored in the communications category for her work to revolutionize the approaches to and attitudes about animal welfare issues in our own community and nationally as a leader of the no-kill movement. 

We wanted to share her remarks with our readers and take another opportunity to thank the YWCA for courageously acknowledging that the cause of animal welfare matters. 

Click the link below to listen to Robin's speech: 

Robin_Starr_YWCA_Outstanding_Women_Awards

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To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

 

City of Richmond’s indifference to lifesaving partnership for animals is subject of insightful RTD editorial

The lead editorial on the editorial pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, April 24, articulately and appropriately took the City administration to task for their “indifference” to the life-saving services that our organization has provided to the homeless animals of Richmond and to the immense success of the partnership that we formerly had with Richmond Animal Care and Control in saving an ever increasing number of homeless animals’ lives every year. We are deeply grateful to the editorial page writers for their perceptive piece which challenges our City leaders to act with greater responsibility and sincerity with regard to animal welfare than they have done to date. 

Our Board leadership and I worked for more than 20 months to seek to re-establish with the City the working public-private partnership that we had with them starting in 2001. That partnership reached its highest degree of effectiveness when Jody Jones headed the Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) due to her progressive philosophies and sincere desire to partner with us effectively to save animal lives.  Our partnership had expired by its terms in 2008 and Jody worked with us to try to get the City administration to work out a new partnership agreement between our organizations. The City’s lack of support for RACC and their hostility toward the Richmond SPCA and reluctance to re-establish our partnership were among the main reasons for Jody’s decision to leave Richmond. An issue of crucial importance now is whether the City will undertake a true nationwide search and will hire replacement for Jody who has progressive philosophies and will truly prioritize saving animal lives.

Even though City Council authorized the City administration to enter into a new agreement with us, the City never did so and, in fact, someone introduced into the draft agreement that went to Council for its approval a paragraph that we had never seen and never agreed to. This introduction of a new paragraph without bringing it to our attention was unethical and no one with the City administration would ever discuss the addition with us. We made more than 30 documented attempts to get the City administration to create a new working partnership with us and were consistently ignored or rebuffed. Then, last month, CAO Byron Marshall went before City Council and was asked if the partnership with us had been signed. He told them that it had been. Clearly, this was a misleading and disingenuous statement for which we have heard no explanation yet having been offered. 

While it is clear that the City of Richmond has no sincere interest in partnering with us, that does not mean that the Richmond SPCA will desert the homeless animals of the City of Richmond who need us now more than ever. Despite the absence of a working relationship with the City, we took in nearly the number of animals from RACC in 2011 that we did in prior years. Despite our help, whether desired or not, the City of Richmond saw a significant decline in its live release rate from RACC’s shelter in 2011 over the prior year. Calendar year 2011 was the first year in many that the live release rate for the City did not improve. According to annual shelter statistics submitted by RACC to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, RACC took in fewer dogs in 2011 than it did in 2010 but nonetheless took the lives of more dogs than it had in the past. RACC is now taking in more cats than it used to do when Jody was actively supporting and promoting Trap-Neuter-Return programs for feral cats. Consequently, more cats are also losing their lives. The outcome was that their live release rate declined by about 7%.

On the other hand, the Richmond SPCA worked energetically in 2011 to save more animals from a greater number of shelters in and around our community. We have done this in order to be sure that we utilize our resources effectively to save as many animal lives as we possibly can. The outcome for us is that we saved more lives of precious homeless animals in 2011 than in prior years – in fact, we saved 9% more animal lives in total in 2011 over 2010. 

Our life saving is going in the right direction and that of the City is not. They may not want our help but we know that the animals want it and need it. And, we will be there for them no matter what. The animals are the focus of our mission, not any local government entity. Please do all you can to express your concern for the lives of homeless animals to those in City administration and on City Council. If, as anyone would surmise, the inaction and disingenuousness of City administration reflect their belief that the people of Richmond do not care about the lives and well-being of companion animals, then they are very mistaken.  We need to let them and the members of City Council know that loudly and clearly. 

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Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

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Related links:
April 12, 2012: What is going on with our City? Questions about partnership raise issue of credibility
April 9, 2012: Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

What is going on with our City? Questions about partnership raise issue of credibility

What is going on with our City? Well, certainly among other things, a cavalier disregard for the truth.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call letting me know that the Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall, while speaking to City Council in favor of a paper to increase the job category of the person heading Richmond Animal Care and Control, was asked by Councilman Charles Samuels whether the Memorandum of Understanding (City speak for a partnership agreement) between the City and the Richmond SPCA had been signed. This proposed agreement had been authorized by Council to be fully executed in the early fall of 2010. Mr. Marshall replied that, yes, it had.

That was surprising news to me since we had never signed the MOU, had never received a document for signature, had never been contacted by the City about getting the document signed, and I had contacted the City administration numerous times in an effort to get the MOU executed and had never received any meaningful response from them. I had raised this issue of the City not finalizing the MOU with us with several senior members of the City administration including the Mayor. He said that they would get back to us on it. They never did. After more than a year had passed of our trying to get the agreement finalized, our Board had come to the reasonable conclusion that the City had no intention of entering into a partnership agreement with us, and therefore, the Board needed to proceed with its strategic planning for this organization and the accomplishment of our mission to save animal lives without any partnership with the City. Seemed like the reasonable thing for us to do. How long can you or should you keep on banging your head against a wall?

So, we had to wonder why Mr. Marshall would stand before Council members and tell them that it had been signed? I decided that I should go to the next Council meeting in order to give them the correct information. Not because we wanted or expected an agreement to now get done but because I thought they deserved to know the truth of what had occurred.

On the evening of April 9, I explained to the Council members that no MOU had ever been signed between us despite many efforts on the part of the Richmond SPCA to get that to happen. As I was leaving City Hall, I was approached in the hallway by a member of the City Administration who was very unhappy with me about what I said. According to him, Mr. Marshall had said what he did to Council members because the City had signed the MOU itself. That’s right, the explanation is that Mr. Marshall was asked by Mr. Samuels if the City had signed it and he was saying that the City had done so, just the City. This explanation does not even meet the red face standard – a term our family has always used for a position that you cannot take without turning red in the face because it is so embarrassing. Signing an agreement unilaterally and then sticking it in a drawer and never getting the other party to sign it, never even delivering it to the other party or letting anyone know it has been signed does not meet any rational person’s definition of executing an agreement. The administration really will need to do better than that if they are to maintain any credibility.

Or do they even concern themselves with credibility?

I have now been asked by several Council members to ask our Board if they would still be interested in a partnership with the City. I will do so as soon as possible. I can know this much – this organization will do whatever we honestly believe will result in our being able to save the greatest number of animals’ lives. It is just that simple. Whether partnering with people that you cannot trust is likely to do that is really the question, isn’t it?

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Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Related:
April 9: Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

Tonight at the meeting of Richmond City Council, the Consent Agenda contained two items of importance to Richmond Animal Care and Control. 

Item 3: To amend City Code for the purpose of providing for a Director of the Office of Animal Care And Control. 

Item 4: To amend the pay plan to create a title of Director, Office of Animal Care and Control in the unclassified executive service. 

Our Chief Executive Officer Robin Starr addressed the following remarks to members of council: 

President Graziano and the members of City Council, I am Robin Starr, the Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond SPCA. Our organization supports the creation of a position of Director to head the operation of Richmond Animal Care and Control and the related increase in salary range on one condition. That condition is that the City conducts promptly a valid and well-organized nationwide search for a truly experienced and well regarded animal welfare professional who is sincerely committed to progressive approaches to saving homeless animal lives and that the City will support the implementation of such progressive approaches. We believe that the decision on such hiring must reflect the input of persons chosen by those organizations that transfer animals from the City shelter including the Richmond SPCA. If a nationwide search is not going to be conducted and/or if the decision making process will not be reflective of the viewpoints of those who are actively saving homeless animals in the City, then we see no need for this increase in title and pay level. 

I must take this moment to correct inaccurate information that I am told you received at your last public meeting two weeks ago. I understand that, at that time, you were informed that the City had entered into a new partnership agreement with the Richmond SPCA to replace our previous one that expired by its terms. That is not the case.

This Council authorized City Administration to enter into a new partnership agreement with us in the fall of 2010. The document that was authorized we found later contained language that had never been seen or agreed to by the Richmond SPCA. When we sought to discuss this added language and find the way to arrive at a mutually acceptable document, we were unable to ever get any response from the City administration. I made numerous attempts, all of which have been documented, to address this issue, none of which received any response from the City. I will add that neither did City administration nor the City Attorney's office make any effort to get the partnership agreement that was approved by this Council executed by the parties in the form that it was approved. After our many efforts to finalize a new mutually agreeable partnership agreement proved futile, our Board made a decision last fall that we would no longer seek or enter into such a partnership with the City. 

This was an important occasion to set the record straight before City Council and explain that City administration had been non-responsive for many months. It became imperative upon our organization that we must act consistently with our mission to save the greatest possible number of lives, and that is how we have been operating  without preference to any specific local government within our community. 

The ensuing discussion made clear that members of the City Council were very surprised at the lack of a formal partnership agreement. 

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Tabitha Frizzell Hanes is the director of communications at the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Dog Jog and 5K Run proved to be a bright day for homeless pets in spite of rain clouds

The great success of our Tenth Annual Dog Jog and 5K Run, presented by Car Pool, is a testament to our supporters' dedication to the homeless animals who rely on our help no matter the conditions. Undaunted by the rain, they came to run in the 5K and brought their dogs, whose expressions seemed to say that a wet jog is just as well by them. We are pleased to share that we surpassed our fundraising goal – $131,000 – and raised nearly $143,000 for the animals in our care!

The Richmond community's devotion to saving the lives of orphaned pets was celebrated as part of the 10th anniversary of the Dog Jog and 5K Run. Staff, volunteers, board members and other friends of the Richmond SPCA surprised the crowd with a flash mob, choreographed by Catherine Noack of the Richmond Ballet, that took place in the midst of the Holiday Barn Pet Resorts Vendor Fair. Greatly exceeding the event's fundraising goal provides extra meaning to the song that was chosen, Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True." 

The participants who work in the weeks and months leading up to the Dog Jog and 5K Run to solicit contributions from friends, family and co-workers ensure the success of this lifesaving event. Their work has helped to save the lives of thousands of orphaned dogs and cats in need. 

Top individual and team fundraisers

• Top Fundraising Individual: Sarah Sinsabaugh, $3,588 raised
• Second Highest Fundraising Individual: Brenda Birkitt, $2,900 raised
• Third Highest Fundraising Individual: Whitney Kelliher, $1,993 raised 
• Top Fundraising Youth: Stephanie Story, $840 raised
• Top Fundraising Team: Team Birkitt, $8,805 raised 
• Second Highest Fundraising Team: Team Bank of America, $4,182 raised
• Third Highest Fundraising Team: Team Running Buddies, $2,275 raised

Richmond Road Runners Club is the official timekeeper for the 5K Run, and 388 runners crossed the finish line last Saturday.  Full race results can be found at www.rrrc.org/page/rrrc-race-results. Select "SPCA Dog Jog 5K" from the drop down menu. 

Top 5K Finishers

• First overall female:
  Maureen Ackerly 18:49
• First overall male:
  Chris Carrier 15:59
• Second overall female:
  Allison Hazlett 21:14
• Second overall male:
  Sean Killeen 18:27
• Third overall female:
  Ariel McGuire 21:32
• Third overall male:
  Erich Fritz 19:03

Our volunteer Rich Terrell has shared a terrific set of photos from Saturday's event on Flickr. We'll post additional photos on the Richmond SPCA Facebook page, and you can share your own photos on the wall of our Dog Jog and 5K Run page on Facebook. 

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Tabitha Frizzell Hanes is the director of communications at the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

This Saturday, adopters look forward to returning with their pets to be part of the Dog Jog and 5K Run

My Cairn Terrier, Skye, has been eagerly anticipating the 10th Annual Dog Jog and 5K Run presented by Car Pool for almost a year! We adopted her from the Richmond SPCA in January 2008, and she had not been back for a visit until last year's event. I admit, I was apprehensive that she'd take a step backwards in her adjustment to life with us - that she'd think we were returning her to the Richmond SPCA.

All of those fears washed away once we arrived at the Robins-Starr Humane Center, and we bolted out of the starting block for the 1-mile Dog Jog. She has never been so full of excitement and joy as she was that day running furiously down the street with the other dogs and their people.

When we finished the race, we cooled down with a tasty Frosty Paws treat (or two). Not only was I no longer apprehensive, but I knew that the Dog Jog was an event that I had to be more involved with to help more dogs and their people experience the same kind of excitement and joy that Skye and I had. The Dog Jog and 5K Run Committee has been tirelessly working to make the 10th anniversary of this very special and lifesaving event better than ever. If you've attended the Dog Jog and 5K Run in the past, I hope you will register and join us again this year. If you haven’t participated before, then I’m here to tell you that you don’t want to miss all the fun that is in store for you and your four-legged best friend.

There are activities for the entire family to enjoy, including the Holiday Barn Pet Resorts Vendor Fair, which features the PETCO Foundation pet fun zone, activities for kids, music, food from the Boka Truck, the Veternary Emergency & Specialty Center pet wellness tent and microchip clinic, giveaways from local businesses and so much more. If you haven't yet registered, you can sign up in person for the 5K Run, the Dog Jog or both events by visiting the Richmond SPCA on Thursday from noon to 6 p.m., on Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on Saturday as early as 8:15 a.m. You can raise donations ahead of time that will benefit our homeless pets, and you can compete against other participants for cool prizes like a vacation getaway and more.

Grab your friends – with two and four legs – and head over to the Richmond SPCA’s Robins-Starr Humane Center on March 24. Your participation is lifesaving to homeless animals in our community, and I thank you for your support!

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Christie Bieber is a Co-Chair of the Tenth Annual Richmond SPCA Dog Jog and 5K Run with Donna Beames. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Mascot Lottie leads the way at Dog Jog as shining example of animal lives saved by the Richmond SPCA

I love to jog! And on Saturday, March 24, I am going to put my passion to a wonderful cause. I am going to the Richmond SPCA’s Tenth Annual Dog Jog and 5K Run, where you’ll see me strut my stuff in the Dog Jog.

Not only am I going to jog that day; I am going to be the leader — the drum majorette of the big parade!

At the stroke of 11 a.m., I will prance forth proudly on my lovely long legs (long for my size at least), leading all of my fellow lucky dogs who will be there to enjoy some quality time with their human companions while we march down the street.

We march to honor the work of the Richmond SPCA and all the work it does to save companion animals like me. You see, I am the product of a puppy mill. I was the pick of the litter, a big healthy girl, selected to be a breeder dog for profit. I was rescued after having several litters in one of the first and largest puppy mill raids in Virginia. Over 900 dogs were saved from a life of misery that day. I was transported to the Richmond SPCA with 28 other dogs with various medical problems. After we were evaluated (the veterinary team discovered I have a heart murmur and suffer from IBS), the Green Team training volunteers were given the project of socializing us. We had never known what it was like to be touched by a caring human. I personally was so terrified that I mostly wanted to huddle against one of those warm humans and stare at a wall. Then one of those “Greenies” chose me to take home, and my life changed forever.

It took me a long, long time to believe and trust my new life. But now I want to share my good fortune and all the love I feel with all the guys at the Richmond SPCA, present and future.

I walk and jog for life, for hope for all those hundreds still trapped in puppy mills who hope someday to find their way here where they will then find a wonderful, forever home the way I did. Let’s bring them all — lost, surrendered, abused — out into the sun and wind to walk, run and play. I love to jog. I am a lucky dog!

As the captain of Team Lottie, which includes Richmond SPCA alumni participating in this event, I’m helping raise donations for homeless pets. You can visit our team’s page at www.richmondspca.org/teamlottie to make a donation in support of our lifesaving efforts. Do you have an adoptee who would like to join our team? Register online today, and we’ll see you on March 24. 

Lottie Dula is the 2011-2012 Richmond SPCA Mascot. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Guest post: Scoop the Poop, Save the Bay

Attention dog owners: Pet waste is messy and smelly, and disposing of it properly is a neighborly and necessary part of being a responsible pet owner. But you already knew that.

But were you aware that pet waste can also pollute neighborhood creeks, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay? Left “unscooped” on lawns, parks, and other outdoor areas, pet waste can run off into local waterways after a rain or snowfall, sending bacteria and other pathogens into our local waterways and making them unfit for wading or swimming. In fact, many miles of Richmond-area streams are polluted because of this very problem.

To help improve water quality in the Upham Brook watershed in Northside Richmond and Henrico County, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is sponsoring a series of free educational “dog walks” this spring to help alert pet owners about the importance of picking up and properly disposing of pet waste.

Participating dog walkers will receive an informative “Scoop the Poop” brochure and a free doggie poop bag holder (stocked with plastic baggies) that attaches easily to their pet’s leash for easy access when walking their pet.

Upham Brook, which flows through Richmond’s Bryan Park and Northern Henrico, is currently polluted by high levels of bacteria. By taking personal action to pick up after our pets, dog owners can make a real difference in making this Chesapeake Bay tributary stream cleaner and safer for us and our pets.

Below is the schedule for the spring dog walks. Bring your favorite pooch out for a walk in the watershed with CBF!

March 25 (Sunday), Three Lakes Park (Henrico), 3 p.m.-4 p.m.

April 7 (Saturday), Bryan Park-Picnic Shelter 1, 9 am.-10 a.m.

April 11 (Wednesday), Bryan Park-Picnic Shelter 1, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

April 18 (Wednesday), Cheswick Park (Henrico), 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

April 25 (Wednesday), Three Lakes Park, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

For more information, contact Jess Barton at 804-780-1302 or jbarton@cbf.org.

Today's guest post is by Jessica Barton. Jessica is the VA Grassroots Coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

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Stop by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation booth at the Holiday Barn Pet Resorts Vendor Fair next Saturday, March 24 at the Dog Jog and 5K Run. CBF will be located next to the event's official "Pooper Scooper" sponsor, DoodyCalls, a professional pet waste management company that makes housecalls.  

Doody Calls has a special offer for animal lovers in March and April. During these two months, DoodyCalls will donate 50 percent of all profits from any supply purchase made on doodycallsdirect.com and 50 percent of all new client sign ups for residential or commercial services to the Richmond SPCA and the homeless pets in our care! Just use the code "Richmond SPCA" when ordering supplies or signing up for their cool service. To sign up for the service, call 1-800-DOODYCALLS.