Unfortunately it was a Sunday and I had missed their open hours by just a few minutes.
So, I actually went online and did my research into volunteering.
The two closest animal shelters are both a bit far. They're less than ten miles away, but in Virginia Beach traffic (re: every road is a pointlessly confusing highway with street lights every 1/8th mile) it could take between 15 and 30 minutes to arrive. Especially when you have no sense of direction, like moi.
Animal Shelter "A" is the Virginia Beach Animal Control, now renamed The Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center. This establishment is a bit of a hot button for me, because my dog, Dee, was dog-napped, abandoned, and ended up there. Long story short, they gave us bad info about her when we called, so we didn't realize it was her for several days, by which time she had caught some kind of illness there. She died a few weeks later.
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| Dee |
At the same time, I understand that it's not all their fault. Do you really think the animal control gets funding for all the 10-year-old dogs and one-eared cats they take in while the politicians are arguing over gay marriage and tea bagging?! No.
Anyway, the VBACAC (wow, long acronym... I'll just go with AC) wants volunteers to bring in some notarized paperwork and report to a volunteer orientation.
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| VB AC |
Shelter "B" is the previously mention Virginia Beach SPCA, which has no affiliation to the ASPCA since SPCAs are not part of any network/national organization.
I don't have any history with this shelter, but they seem like a very nice, professional place. Their website has the animals, education, and news.
Their volunteering guidelines include paperwork (not notarized) and a $20 fee that gets you your volunteer t-shirt and membership to the shelter.
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| VB SPCA |
I decided to go in an give both of them a look before making a decision about where to commit my time.
Shelter A: VB AC.
The animal control building is probably the most depressing place I've ever been in my life. The inside of the building looks like any stark generic government building that is both necessary and ignored.
It's a very cold and dingy place. All of the animals are in small metal cages stacked on top of one another, except the large dogs; they have runs.
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| The large dog runs |
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| Not the actual VB AC cages, but similar |
The floor by the runs was wet, and there were large black plastic floor mats filled with dirty water blocking the path. The cages were just large enough not to be called animal abuse.
It just felt sad. The workers were nice enough, but clearly stressed.
As I stood in the dirty, run-down large dog kennels, one dog, a Siberian Husky, was adopted. As the family pointed him out and he was lead out of the cage, all the other dogs went wild. They jumped up and threw themselves against the wire fences while barking their lonely little heads off.
I cried. There is no way I could go into that building everyday and expect myself not to fall to pieces.
I also did a little bit of research. The VB AC has been cited numerous times for its poor conditions, but the city council won't do anything about it. There was also a fire there not too long ago. Read more here: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/aging-beach-animal-shelter-harbors-deadly-dog-virus and http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/va_beach/vb-animal-control-catches-fire
I sincerely hope the City of Virginia Beach can give the money needed to at least allow this building to meet code.
A private citizen who kept animals like this would be arrested. I wish the best of luck to the amazing people who show up there everyday to take care of those animals, but me crying in your kennel wouldn't do much to help the adoptions.
Shelter B: VBSPCA
I was a bit downcast after visiting VB AC, but I still decided to visit my other option, the SPCA. I parked my car and was happy to see the nice, modern building (see above photo).
Inside is a large reception/atrium room full of people and animals. I went up to the counter to ask about volunteering and saw two little dogs scampering around inside the circular desk.
I went back to the cattery to see cool glass cages. The normal cages that lined the halls were glass and at least twice the size of the VB AC ones with ledges to climb. The coolest part of the room, though, were the "colonies." The colonies are glass rooms the size of walk in closets full of scratching posts and ledges and toys with several cats living in each one.
I noticed a piece of construction paper on one of the glass cages,
I walked around visiting the cages when I saw a huge gray cat. He looked like the Godfather of cats. When he turned his head to grace me with his presence, I was awed by his enormous colorful eyes. They were dark green and light green and yellow swirled together. That cat had the most gorgeous eyes I had ever seen.
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| "Pee Wee" - this photo does not do his eyes justice. |
The dog kennels were further back from the cattery, and the two rooms are separated by a hallway filled with little "visiting" rooms where people can take an animal to get acquainted with it. They were painted different colors and were generally adorable.
The dog room was basically a giant warehouse-type room lined with kennels surrounding an island of runs. Being a lover of all things cute and tiny, my favorite run was the small dog cage. The SPCA had placed its smallest dogs together in one cage: a Shih Tzu, a Cairn Terrier, a little mutt, and the cutest Pomeranian I have ever seen in my life. I thought it was a little puppy when I first saw it, but it was actually six years old!
He was adopted quickly, but the Shih Tzu, an adorably scared little lady named Harley Quinn is still there. She is a puppy mill rescue who needs a lot of love.
A few of the dogs had kennel cough (basically a dog cold), so they were locked in the back portion of their runs to keep it from spreading.
Everyone I saw in the SPCA was very nice, friendly, and happy. The amazing thing about this animal shelter is that it's completely privately run: they get NO government funding, NO "national SPCA" funding, NOTHING. Their millions of dollars per year budget is raised by volunteers every day!
Clearly, I will be going back!
Volunteer orientation is this coming Thursday. :-)
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