Mercy Animal Hospital to participate in Spay Day, appointments to be presold between 1-3 p.m. on Saturday
By Rachel Davis, The North Jefferson News Feb 3, 2016

Miranda Trammell, of Mercy Animal Hospital, said she and the other vets at Mercy noticed their spay and neuter numbers weren’t that high, particularly in the face of the high number of stray animals in shelters and on the street. Mercy decided to reevaluate and lower their costs to encourage more residents to alter their pets.

Since then, Trammell said the number of spay and neuter surgeries performed at Mercy and Mercy West have more than tripled.

Mercy West, in Pleasant Grove, opened more than a year ago to offer lower-cost vet services to the community there and encourage people in the area to spay or neuter their pets to help with overpopulation.

But, the number of unwanted pets remains high so Mercy partnered with Friends of Cats and Dogs Foundation, The Animal League of Birmingham and the Alabama Spay and Neuter Clinic to celebrate the annual World Spay Day for the first time in 2015. The partnership was an overwhelming success, spaying and neutering more approximately 200 animals in one day.

This year, the group is preparing to participate once again. World Spay Day 2016 will be Feb. 23 this year. On that day, vets at Mercy, Mercy West and the Alabama Spay and Neuter Clinic will perform as many alteration surgeries as they can.

Mercy will begin surgeries at 6 a.m. and will continue until the last patient is completed, Trammell said. In addition to the four staff veterinarians at Mercy, there will also be a relief vet on hand to help with what the clinic hopes is a record number of surgeries. Last year the event set the state record for the number of surgeries performed in a single day.

In order to further encourage residents to have their pets altered, the cooperative will offer the surgeries, along with pain medicines, a Capstar to kill fleas and a rabies vaccination for just $20 per pet, regardless of gender, size or any other factor. Pets who are in heat will also be accepted.

The reservations for these surgeries will be presold between 1 and 3 p.m. on Feb. 6, this Saturday, at either Mercy or the Alabama Spay and Neuter Clinic.

Anyone interested in having their pet spayed or neutered should visit the clinic of their choice during that window to undergo a need-based screening. Those who receive government assistance should provide proof of that assistance at the time of registration.

Volunteers from The Mercy Project will also be on hand to assist with the event. For more information, contact Mercy Animal Hospital in Gardendale.

by ERICA TECHO
February 22, 2016

A runner finishes at the Animal League of Birmingham’s annual Paws for the Cause fundraiser.

Rather than help individual pets, this Shelby County nonprofit helps support animal rescue groups and shelters in Birmingham and surrounding areas, and its lack of a home base means more animals can benefit.

“We’ll probably never have a facility,” said Peggy Cropp, who serves on the league’s board and as its president. “We are able to therefore use all of our money strictly for our cause, and we don’t have to pay rent; there is no overhead.”

The Animal League of Birmingham started when a lack of manpower meant Paws for the Cause, a 5K and fun run benefiting the Shelby Humane Society, almost couldn’t continue. Donna McFeeters, a co-founder and treasurer for the league, said their organization came together to continue the event.

In 2014, the Animal League raised $10,000 to go toward spaying and neutering at the Shelby Humane Society. After that donation was made, the humane society called to say they had a matching donor, so they received $20,000 in total for their spay/neuter program.

“That was probably one of our best moments,” Cropp said.

The seventh annual Paws for the Cause took place in October, and they used the money to improve the lives of animals — 100 new beds, one per kennel, and high-quality food were purchased.

“To me, the money that we got from that race this past year and the year before were the most powerful donations we’ve ever made to Shelby Humane Society,” Cropp said.

While Paws for a Cause benefits the Shelby Humane Society specifically, the Animal League holds several events throughout the year that benefit multiple nonprofits.

“We didn’t really get into this to be a rescue,” McFeeters said. “We want to help rescues. We know sometimes they take in animals that need medical care, and they don’t have funds for the medical care, or rescues that get in a bind and need food and don’t have the money.”

When a shelter or rescue is struggling, the group is also able to help rescues and shelters quickly, Cropp said. One shelter was in need of donations, and Cropp said they were able to quickly get $1,000 to them.

“There was no grant process. It didn’t go on for days, weeks,” Cropp said. “There weren’t animals starving, waiting for that to happen. It was literally an overnight vote we took.”

Functioning this way is necessary with shelters, Cropp said. Sometimes, a shelter’s need is immediate and they cannot wait for a fundraiser or donor.

“A lot of times their cries for help are not well thought out, meaning sometimes it’s an overnight, desperate emergency SOS,” Cropp said, “and that is where we are very beneficial to their organizations.”

The Animal League currently has about 30 members, but March is their “Friends and Family” recruitment month. They hope to add 20 new members in 2016.

“We’re always looking for more members because the more manpower we have, the more we can do and the more money we can raise,” McFeeters said. “Then, the more money we can give to organizations to help them.”

Volunteers organize and work at events and meet once a month. The volunteer work is fun and rewarding, Cropp said, but participating is about more than just loving animals.

“Everybody says, ‘Oh, I want to join because I love animals,’ and that’s fantastic, but you need to be willing to get dirty, too,” Cropp said. “We don’t mess around.”

Cropp and McFeeters said if people are looking for a way to help out, they also encourage people to volunteer at shelters.

“It takes people to come and volunteer,” McFeeters said. “An animal is a lot more desirable if they’re clean, if they don’t smell. If they’re healthy and look good, and if you go into the shelter and volunteer, even if you just go and walk dogs, they’re happier.”

For more information about the Animal League of Birmingham, visit theanimalleagueofbirmingham.com or find them on Facebook.

As shown on HooverSun.com.

The Animal League of Birmingham has no animals. Sure, its members do. But some people think The Animal League is a rescue organization. Or a shelter. Or something.

Well, it is something. It’s a young nonprofit that has animal welfare at its very core. It’s a valuable resource for shelters and rescues. It’s caring people doing amazing work, but often under the radar and out of the spotlight.

The Animal League’s mission: “To help animals in need, with any medical issues,” said Sandra Varallo, president of the organization. “To help small humane societies and small rescues.”

The Animal League’s reach is Jefferson County and those counties that touch Jefferson County.

Varallo, who served as secretary of the organization for a couple of years before becoming president, said The Animal League organized in 2010 and really got going in 2011.

Animals

In that short time, the 501c(3) organization has given around $30,000, mostly to support heartworm treatments and surgeries for animals that are in area rescues and shelters.

“We’re pretty excited to be such a small group and to have done that,” said Varallo.

“We try to help everybody we can, as long as they put their request through us and work through channels,” said Peggy Cropp, a vice president and director of grants for The Animal League. “We try to help everyone, as long as they’re in good standing.”

In other words, rescues or shelters with poor histories and “iffy” reputations need not apply. There is a vetting process before funds are disbursed.

“We ask them for a letter explaining who they are,” Cropp said. “We ask them to explain the situation, what the animal needs. We try to figure out what’s up with them.”

And, Cropp said, “We have denied people.”

The Animal League has made a difference in many animals’ lives — including whether some have lives at all — but one particular case stands out.

Some folks saw a sack thrown from a moving car to the side of the road, and then noticed that there was movement in the sack as it bounded to a stop. They pulled over found three kittens in the sack. One of the kittens, now known as Popeye, had one of his eyes knocked out of the socket in the cruel event.

These good Samaritans gathered up the kittens and turned them over MomaKat Rescue. Funding from The Animal League helped cover the medical treatment for the kittens, including the surgical removal of Popeye’s eye. Popeye was eventually adopted and lives a comfortable life today.

Cropp said The Animal League gets one or two requests for funds each month, but “a lot of people don’t realize we have the ability to help. They don’t have a clue we’re here to help.” The group hosts fundraisers throughout the year, including the upcoming Birmingham’s Big Ice Cream Festival at Avondale Brewing Co. on June 7 at noon.

Still, as The Animal League becomes better known and develops a higher profile, it’s likely to get even more requests for aid. Won’t that stress the organization’s limited resources?

“That’s OK,” Cropp said. “It’ll just give us a reason to have another fundraiser.”

Have you or your rescue or shelter used the services of The Animal League? Tell us your experience in the comments below.

See the article on al.com!

There needs to be people/dogs playing and enjoying the park – can you be there?

Veteran’s Park
7305 Hwy. 119
(located 1 block south of Chevron Station)

Wear solid colors, no prints & only bring dogs who do well off-leash with other dogs!

See you there!