F o r t h o s e w h o p l ay, l ove , l i ve o r wo r k w i t h a n i m a l s .THE PAW STREET JOURNAL • SUMMER 2012 • VISIT US ONLINE AT ADOPTME.ORG OR @HUMANESCTYBAYCO ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & YOUTUBE

inside this issue:Upcoming Events

Adoptable PetsVolunteer Recognition

Calendar Friends Finale Party

Meet Lazarus and Kaylee, two Bassett Hound mix pups that have scratched at deaths door, twice.

The happy part of working or volunteering with The Humane Society of Bay County is being able to play a role in helping homeless animals find their forever homes. It is a won-derful experience to witness the moment an animal and a human agree to love one another.

Lazarus and Kaylee were part of a litter of six that came from animal control. They were scheduled to be euthanized in the next morning. Upon ar-rival at the HSBC shelter, they were set up in the quarantine room. All new additions have to go through a quarantine process to insure that any hidden illnesses have time to show symptoms.

All new additions are vaccinated, de-wormed, given blood tests, treated for fleas and started on monthly flea and heartworm prevention, and so it was with the new additions. The little family set-tled in and the proud momma, named Troubles, seemed happy to have a quiet place of her own.

Two days after their arrival it became appar-ent something was wrong. One pup started showing signs of lethargy and not eating.

The puppy was rushed to the shelter’s vet-erinarian, Breeze Animal Hospital, where it was promptly put on IV fluids and an-tibiotics. Then the next one got sick. Our worst fears were realized, it was Parvo, a deadly and highly contagious canine virus.

We are a no-kill shelter that exists on donations from the community. Our surrender and adop-tion fees just cover the expense of vaccinating, testing, de-worming and prevention medication for one month. There is not enough money to pay for sick animals. The adoption fee does not cover food, litter, utilities, insurance and various other operational expenses. Fortunately for us, the revenue from our Thrift and Gift Store on Harrison Ave. covers payroll but all the other ex-penses of running a shelter is paid by donations. We have no federal or local government funding.

It is our mission to re-home the homeless animals and reduce the number of animals needlessly eu-thanized. Yet now we are faced with a situation that could cost upwards of $2,500 and that was with Breeze Animal Hospital donating quite a bit of their services. We did not have the funds to cover such an expense. It seemed a contradiction to our mission to deny these babies the chance to survive this illness because of money. Thankful-ly, Dr. Breeze understood and extended credit to us and her staff donated a great deal of their time.

Only Lazarus and Kaylee survived. It was devastating to the staff at the shelter to try so hard yet have to watch the lives of four of the puppies slip away. The virus hit, and in a few short days the four were gone.

The dilemma with pulling animals from animal control is that many of the animals there have fallen through every crack. They are the hope-less. They are the ones that “we” as mankind have failed so miserably. They are malnour-ished, neglected and often abandoned to live on what they can scrounge to eat. If we are committed to helping reduce the number of

SUMMER 2012 / ISSUE: 4 / FREE

Joe and Laurie Sweeting represent the people behind the scene when The Humane Society of Bay County puts on an event or fundraiser. They recruit other volunteers to help set up, organize the flow, run various components and tear down the tables, chairs, tents and whatever else is needed for the event or fundraiser. They have been involved with The Humane So-ciety of Bay County in a volunteer capac-ity for nearly a year. The Sweeting’s had worked with an ani-mal rescue organiza-tion in Texas prior to their relocation to Panama City Beach. Once settled, they searched for a local no-kill shelter to offer their services in what-ever capacity was needed other than fostering. Condomin-ium life is not conducive to fostering animals. The Humane Society of Bay County was the first to say they needed vol-unteers in a capacity that didn’t involve fostering animals. Joe is a Chief Navy Diver instructor and Laurie just fin-ished her Master’s degree in Finance and Accounting. Lau-rie’s goal is to become a Certified Public Accountant. Both Joe and Laurie are very involved in their Homeowners’ As-sociation, with Laurie on the Board of Directors and sev-eral committees and Joe, who is on several committees.

Joe and Laurie have done everything from wash-ing cars to helping Santa raise funds for the HSBC. It takes a lot of people to put on an event and without people like Joe and Laurie who can be counted on to always show up with a group of volunteers from the Navy base, things would not run so smoothly. The Humane Society truly thanks both Joe and Lau-rie Sweeting for their dedication and commitment to the HSBC.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

2 • THE PAW STREET JOURNAL • SUMMER 2012 • VISIT US ONLINE AT ADOPTME.ORG OR @HUMANESCTYBAYCO ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & YOUTUBE

• Terri Davidson - President Managing Owner of The Wine Dog

• Aaron Rich - Vice President Web & IT Services Manager, ARINC

• Desiree Gardner - Secretary Media Consultant

• Kathy Marshall Realtor, Latitudes Realty

• Peggy Zacchio Practice Manager, Breeze Animal Hospital

• Melissa Frye Frye Accounting & Bookkeeping Services, and President of Greater Panama City Dog Fancier’s Association

• LeAnne Carlin Radiographer, Panama City Surgery Center

• Heather Radke-Rich Buyer/Planner, Ingersol-Rand/TRANE

• Kelly Polk Closing Asst. & Marketing Director, Trucks & Associates

Don’t miss the Cal-endar Friends Finale Party on the very last day of voting (Satur-day August 4th). Fes-tivities will include final voting for Cal-endar Friends**, Taste of Bay County (free samples of signature dishes from more than eight top area restau-rants), Silent Auction, LIVE music, Draw-ing for the new 32GB iPad and much more.

TICKETSTickets are $30 a per-son and $50 per cou-ples. If you’ve entered a pet in the contest, your tickets are $15 a person and $30 a couple. To purchase

advance tickets now, visit tick-e t s . a d o p t m e .org.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 6:30pm-7:30pm / Complimenta-ry Wine & Beer6:30pm-8:30pm / Silent Auc-tion (including items such as a weekend stay on the beach)7:30-8pm / Ce-lebrity judging

of Taste of Bay Coun-ty signature dishes8pm-10pm / Top 26 Showdown (FI-NAL voting to de-termine 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners)**

SPONSORED BY: THE SHRIMP BOAT, LAMAR, PINEAP-PLE WILLY’S, MAG-IC BROADCASTING & ATHENA DESIGN

For more informa-tion, or to become a sponsor or vendor at the party, please con-tact Sean Brosnan at 850-691-2725 or mar-keting@adoptme.org.

**VOTING AT THE FINA-LE PARTY IS HANDLED THROUGH OUR WEB-SITE AND PAPER VOTING FORMS. THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED AFTER ALL VOTES (INTERNET AND PAPER FORMS) ARE COL-LECTED AND TALLIED. TAL-LYING MAY TAKE LONGER THAN 20MINS AND WIN-NERS WILL NOT BE VISIBLE ONLINE AT EXACTLY 10PM.

NOW until August 4thCalendar Friends Pet Photo ContestOnline at AdoptMe.org

July 28th - 12pm to 4pmHooters Dog Wash to benefitThe Humane Society of Bay CountyHooters (1136 Thomas Drive, PCB)

NOW until August 4thCalendar Friends Pet Photo ContestOnline at AdoptMe.org

August 4th - 6:30pm to 10pmCalendar Friends 2013 Finale PartyThe Shrimp Boat (1201 Beck Ave., Panama City)

August 25th - 12pm to 4pmBooks-A-Million Back to School BookFairBooks-A-Million (1201 Beck Ave.)

41 WEST 4TH ST - DOWNTOWN PANAMA CITY

SUMMER 2012 • THE PAW STREET JOURNAL • 3

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

animals euthanized, then we must help animal control adopt the animals in its care. By bring-ing them into our no-kill shelter, we are giving them a 100% chance at being adopted, yet we in-crease our risk of getting a seemingly well ani-mal that in reality has been exposed to illness.

Do we walk away from our core beliefs and deny these poor animals a chance because of the financial risk or do we try harder to generate community support so we can continue helping the hopeless as well as offering a pet owner a no-kill solution when they can no longer keep their pet? Owner surrendered animals usually have adequate to good health and there certainly are enough of those to keep our shelter full at all times.

In 2011, animal control took in more than 7,000 animals. That number does not reflect the num-

ber of kittens and puppies that came in as part of a litter. Animal Control counts a litter as one, not as the eight little ones that make up the litter. The number of animals in Bay County that are in need of a shelter is epidemic. Our job is never ending.

After ten years of volunteering with one shel-ter or another in various states, I can say that most of the animals that end up in shelters are not what you would expect. There are many purebreds, gor-geous mixes, and unlikely combinations that are just so odd they are cute. They are kind and lov-ing underneath their confusion, fear and sadness. They just want to belong to someone who will love them back. Adopt. It’s really that simple. You can have a profound impact on a living being by simply choosing to share your home, your love.

If you would like to contribute to the HSBC’s Athe-na Fund, a fund established to offset healthcare ex-penses of our animals in need, please send your donations to: HSBC, P.O. Box 883, Panama City, FL 32402 with a notation on your check: Athena Fund, or go online to our website, AdoptMe.org and donate via PayPal. Your support is what en-ables us to do what we do; help the animals in need.

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4 • THE PAW STREET JOURNAL • SUMMER 2012 • VISIT US ONLINE AT ADOPTME.ORG OR @HUMANESCTYBAYCO ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & YOUTUBE

LuLu

Sam

Sara

Female SpayedLulu is a precious 2 year old black lab who plays well with all dogs and seeks out human com-panionship. She is extremely well mannered and would love to call you her own.

Male NeuteredSam is an amazing 4 1/2 year old cream colored lab. Very loving & wants to be with his people above all else. Happy indoors, enjoys playing outdoors. Thinks soft toys rule. Kids- 3+ yrs. He doesn’t realize his size.

FemaleSara is the sweetest little Yorkie mix ever! Almost 1 yr old, good with kids, other dogs, and cats; and is potty pad trained. She is very affectionate and just loves to be held.

Phyllis

FemalePhyllis is a Maltese mix who was rescued with five of her siblings after her owner passed away. She is a sweet bundle of energy who is very interested in the people around her.

Mustang

Male Neutered“Mustang” is a 4 year old long haired Orange Tabby. Declawed, uses a litter box. Loves to jump up on the bed at night when called to come say good night!

Dipsy

FemaleDipsy is a 4 month old female Tabby kitten! Sweet and outgo-ing, this little beauty will keep you entertained!

When you adopt an animal from The Humane Society of BayCounty, you get an animal that is up to date on vaccinations,

spayed or neutered, wormed, dogs are tested for heartworms,cats are tested for Feline Aids and Feline Leukemia and any

known medical issues have been noted and/or treated.

ADOPTION FEESDog - $100 / Puppy - $125 / Cat - $75 / Kitten - $100

Puppies and kittens require a series of booster shots, thereforetheir adoption fee isslightly higher.

Check out some of our amazing animals available for adoption below. For a more complete list, visit adoptme.org or our Animal & Adoption Center at 2620 E. 15th Street (in front of Coin & Bullion). You may call us at any time with questions at 850-215-7120.