8The Daily Tar HeelMonday, April
Shelter advises community about responsible pet ownership
By LEIGH ANN McDONALD
Features Editor
ummer's arrival brings its own
'baby boom, but human
'babies are not the problem.
Unwanted kittens, puppies and
other animals are.
The Orange County Animal Shel
ter is overcrowded throughout the
year, but the summer months
increase the problem, said Pat San
ford, executive director of the
Animal Protection Society (APS).
"There are many more babies born
from May to September," she said.
"We will have to slow down our
animal control activity during the
summer."
APS is the volunteer community
organization that operates the shel
ter, housing more than 7,000 anim
als each year. During 1988, the
number of animals increased by 14
percent, and the shelter is now hous
ing twice its capacity. "We've been
increasing fast," Sanford said.
But increasing business at the
animal shelter causes no joy for the
organization. It only means that
more animals will be injected with
an overdose of sodium pentobarbi
tal, the euthanasia method recom
mended by the Humane Society as
being the least stressful. A shelter
volunteer holds each animal, petting
and talking to it, as another injects
the lethal substance. Only 14
seconds pass before the animal
lapses into unconsciousness.
Because APS hires people that
love animals, shelter volunteers are
placed under much stress when they
must practice euthanasia, Sanford
said. More than 65 percent of the
animals are put to sleep each year.
"It's ridiculous outrageous," she
said. "It's a complete waste of life.
"So much of what we have to do
to kill animals could be avoided if
the community would become more
responsible."
Community responsibility and
awareness are the keys to keeping
pets safe in their homes and reliev
ing some of the shelter's burden,
Washington internship program offers students experience, credit
By HART MILES
Staff Writer
Students interested in the "inde
pendent sector" of American
society may want to partici
pate in a new program next fall
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Sanford said. Shelter volunteers
help teach the public about caring
for animals by providing a humane
education program. These volun
teers go to public school third-grade
classrooms and talk to students
about pet ownership.
The shelter also gives people who
adopt animals an APS Friends of
Animals certificate, allowing owners
to have their animal spayed or neu
tered for one-half the cost of going
to a veterinarian.
But the shelter cannot promote
awareness about animal control on
its own. "Orange County needs to
have better differential licensing fees
for animals," Sanford said. The fee
is incentive to have pets spayed or
neutered because owners must pay
higher taxes on unsterilized animals.
Orange County now has differential
licensing fees, but Sanford said the
difference in taxes is not great
enough to have any effect on the
animal population.
"In Orange County, the human
population is growing," Sanford
said. "This growth and the lack of
strong enforcement of animal con
trol laws contributes to the animal
overpopulation. "
About 50 percent of the homeless
animals are brought to the shelter by
people who do not want to care for
them. The other 50 percent are
brought by animal control officers.
An "open door" policy at the shelter
allows any type of animal to visit for
a while.
"WeVe sheltered horses, para
keets, a peacock, hamsters and the
standard dog and cat," Sanford said.
The shelter's missing-pet service
attempts to match animals brought
in with reports of lost animals. If an
animal is a stray the shelter keeps it
for five working days, giving its
owner a chance to claim it. After
this period, the animal is available
for adoption. People adopt about
1,200 animals from the shelter each
year.
offered by The Washington Center,
a non-profit educational
organization.
The independent sector consists of
foundations, advocacy groups,
membership associations and non-
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Adopting a pet is not free, how
ever. A female dog costs $67, a male
$50. Cats are cheaper; a female costs
$49, a male $44. But this price
includes such things as distemper
shots, deworming, a physical exami
nation by a veterinarian and sterili
zation, Sanford said.
All of the pets brought to the
shelter are available for adoption;
walking through its rooms is like
walking through a pet store. Many
of the pets are babies, such as sev
eral multi-colored kittens living with
their mother in one of the steel
cages. Even rabbits and birds are
available.
But college students looking for a
pet are usually not good pet owners,
according to Sanford. "They should
wait until they graduate and are
settled," she said. "Pets are a 10 to
15 year commitment, but they often
end up like foster children. They are
passed from person to person and
often develop behavior problems."
Homeless animals are not always
confined to the four walls of the
shelter until they are adopted. The
APS operates Outreach, a pet visita
tion program where volunteers take
shelter animals to local retirement
and nursing homes and let residents
visit with the animals. "It is the only
time that these people who desire
contact with animals can touch and
feel them," Sanford said.
Although placing pets in respons
ible, caring homes may be its most
important function, the APS is
more than a dog pound. The organi
zation operates an Emergency
Rescue Service. Volunteers are on
call day and night to respond to
animal emergencies. "Our people are
trained to go out and rescue (ani
mals) and then transport (them) to a
vet," Sanford said. "It is usually for
animals that are abandoned, hit by a
car or up a tree."
The APS also operates a wildlife
rescue and rehabilitation service that
profit organizations. The program,
Internship Initiative in The Inde-
pendent Sector, places 25 student
interns with senior level managers
and executives in Washington, D.C.
foundations and non-profit organi
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is renowned statewide. Members
rescue and rehabilitate injured or
orphaned wildlife and then return
them to their natural habitat.
Advocating animal protection
zations. The American Council on
Education and the National Organi
zation for Women are two such
organizations.
These internships will provide
leadership development and encour-
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laws is a function of the APS. They
are now petitioning Orange County
in an attempt to persuade county
officials to pass a law against animal
leg traps made of steel.
age values that emphasize working
in the service area, according to
Teresa Sparks, Senior Program
Associate of the center. This new
program was created because of "the
increasing evidence that a majority
of students have shifted from con
cern for social issues to preoccupa
tion with financial security and per
sonal career aspirations," she said.
A student must be a second-
semester sophomore or above, in
good standing at a U.S. institution
of higher learning, and have at least
a 3.0 grade point average to apply
for the internships.
UNC does offer academic credit
for internships. A student can
receive a maximum of six hours
credit for the program, which lasts
from Sept. 2 to Dec. 16, according
to Robin Joseph, experiential learn
ing coordinator for the University
Career Planning and Placement Ser
vices. A student must remain
enrolled in school to receive credit.
The fee for the fall program is
$1,345. Students selected for the
Internship Initiative in the Inde
pendent Sector receive a $1,000 sti
pend. Scholarships, awarded on the
basis of need, merit and availability
of funds, are available to members
of minority groups, but they do not
completely cover student tuition.
Housing arranged through the
Washington Center costs an addi
tional $1,330 for the fall program.
The center also continues to offer
internships in all career fields for
students.
UNC senior Agustin Diodati
received an internship as a law clerk
through the center. He worked at
the law firm of Tendler and Biggins
last summer in Washington, D.C.
The internship required a 40 hour
work week, Diodati said, but he
normally worked 50 to 55 hours a
week by his own choice. Weekly
seminars, taught by senators and
mom
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animals at the shelter
Although APS performs many
functions in Orange County, they
cannot do it alone. Animals are not
just their owners' concern, they are
the responsibility of everyone.
other leaders, were also mandatory.
"The Washington Center is good
in that it finds you an internship,
which is hard to get without connec
tions," Diodati said.
But the cost and the required
seminars are two drawbacks to the
program, Diodati added. He also
recommended that students find
housing on their own without going
through the center.
The center secures rooms for
interns from Woodner Apartments,
about one and a half miles from the
White House.
The application deadline for fall
internships is June 1. For more
information, contact Teresa Sparks
of the Washington Center at (202)
289-8680.
The center is also offering a two
week symposium this summer called
Crisis and Choice in American For
eign Policy. It will take place in
Washington and features speakers
such as William Colby, former
Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, and Lawrence Korb,
former Assistant Secretary of
Defense.
The symposium is designed for
students interested in careers in for
eign policy or those who just enjoy
following foreign affairs. It runs
from Aug. 14-26. An optional third
week on American-Soviet Relations
will be held Aug. 7-13. Students will
review recent summits between Pres
ident Reagan and General Secretary
Gorbachev.
Academic credit is usually not
given for such symposiums, but stu
dents can ask individual department
faculty members for special consid
eration, said Robin Joseph.
The registration deadline for Cri
sis and Choice in American Foreign
Policy is May 2, 1988. For more
information, talk to Loretta Hawley
of the Washington Center at (202)
289-8680.
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