Rob Anderson handles Cole, a one-year-old Labrador/hound mix, that he and his wife are fostering. The couple has been volunteering with CMPD Animal Control Bureau for three years and foster dogs with issues such as spinning in their cages because they have been behind bars for too long.
Classy Mall goes to Cats and Dogs
by Deborah Parkhill Mullis
Shoppers could not resist the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Animal Control Bureau adoption fair on Saturday, March 3 at South Park Mall. The fair featured animals from the agency’s foster program and animal shelter.
Sponsored by South Park, the event is one of the most successful for CMPD Animal Control Bureau, said Linda Hagemann, the volunteer Coordinator for the department.
Hagemann couldn't convince area malls to allow animals inside until she asked upscale SouthPark. The mall's general manager, Randall Thomas, generously agreed to turn over the center court to the shelter's cats and dogs the first Saturday of every month. People have been drawn to the mall in support of the cause.
Eighteen dogs, four cats and thirty-eight volunteers were on hand for the March adoption fair. Only a few cats were there because cats don’t do as well as dogs with all the commotion. Cats have to be handpicked for this kind of event, explained Sylvia Becker, who became involved with the animal shelter as soon as she moved here from Los Angeles one year ago.
Linda Middleton was watching over the cats and introduced Pappy, a stray kitten that was adopted right away. Pappy was named after the popular dog breed because of her large Papillion looking ears, she said. Middleton, a volunteer for two years, loves working adoption fairs and enjoys educating people about responsible pet ownership. "I like going into distressed neighborhoods and doing pet education. I love meeting people - either I find out something or they find out something we didn’t know before."
Becker started a fund drive in conjunction with the SouthPark adoption fairs. She put donation boxes on all sides of the venue for The Second Chance Medical Fund. The fund pays for the treatment of sick and injured animals that otherwise would not be candidates for adoption. As much as $500 in public donations has been collected at each event in addition to the sizable amount she donates from her Allen Tate real estate business each month.
Seventeen animals were adopted during the March event. "We don’t always adopt 100 percent of the animals we bring but we come close," said Becker.
Rescue a shelter pet by visiting CMPD Animal Control at SouthPark Mall the first Saturday of every month. For more information on CMPD Animal Control Bureau, see Local Animal Shelter Links in the left hand margin of this blog. (An edited of this story ran in Charlotte Weekly, Volume 6, Number 14 * April 6 -12, 2007)
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