Animal advocates

Find a four-footed friend with Stray Animal Adoption Program

TABARI MCCOY | CIN WEEKLY

Campbell County animal control officer Terri Baker, left, embraces Squirmy, while WCPO-TV accountant Beverly Cochran, right, poses with Sadie. (Photo by Leigh Patton/CiN Weekly)

WANNA HELP?
Want to help rescue the Greater Cincinnati area's stray animals? Looking for a place to have your pets safely spayed and/or neutered? The following organizations would love to hear from you:

ANIMAL ADOPTION FOUNDATION
2795 Chapel Road, Okeana
(513) 738-0020
www.aafpets.org
aafpets@yahoo.com

BOONE COUNTY
ANIMAL CARE & CONTROL
5643 Idlewild Road, Burlington
(859) 586-5285
www.boonecountyky.org/bcas
bcas@boonecountyky.org

CAMPBELL COUNTY
ANIMAL SHELTER
1989 Poplar Ridge Road, Melbourne
(859) 635-2819
www.campbellcountyky.org/ animalshelter.htm
lbowman@campbell countyky.org

KENTON COUNTY
ANIMAL SHELTER
1020 Mary Laidley Drive, Covington
(859) 356-7400
www.kentoncounty.org/ Animal%20Shelter/ animal.htm

PETFINDER CINCINNATI
P.O. Box 62083, Cincinnati
(513) 768-3600
members.petfinder.org/ ~OH223
soscinti@yahoo.com

SPCA CINCINNATI
3949 Colerain Ave., Northside
(513) 541-6100
www.spcacincinnati.org
info@spcacincinnati.org

STRAY ANIMAL
ADOPTION PROGRAM
P.O. Box 72040, Newport
(859) 391-1234
www.adoptastray.com
saap@adoptastray.com

WCPO "PET PALS"
Approximately 8:15 a.m. Saturday morning on WCPO-TV, with adoptions available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m at Petsmart, 2310 Ferguson Road, Westwood.
www.wcpo.com/petpals

Campbell County animal control officer Terri Baker remembers the situation as vividly today as the night the bust went down last month in Kentucky's Harrison County. More than 100 mistreated dogs needed to be moved in a hurry.

"They had a search warrant signed for 6:00 that night and we had to get rid of these animals right now, and that was my job. Come down and put them to sleep, get them out the door or do something," Baker says. "It was like a little convoy with people getting dogs and piling them in their cars and finding somewhere to put them up for the night. Thank God for SAAP - we didn't have to put anything to sleep."

The Stray Animal Adoption Program - or SAAP - is a non-profit organization composed of volunteers. The group relies on donations for its survival. The organization has spent nearly 15 years working with other local animal agencies to find foster homes in greater Cincinnati for stray and abused animals until they can be adopted by a family.

SAAP recently lent Baker a hand to find new homes for approximately 60 pets previously housed at the Grant County Animal Shelter. The shelter needed to move the pets to make room for the dogs seized during the Harrison County raid. More than 100 dogs, some of which are believed to be the stolen pets of various Tristate families, were seized after authorities found them living in minimal conditions at what officials are calling a "puppy mill."

SAAP volunteer Beverly Cochran says the group's involvement in Grant County is a perfect example of what they are all about.

"The main goal of organization is we race the clock daily to save as many lives as we can save," Cochran says. "That is the heartbeat of our organization - to save as many lives properly as we can and place animals with their perfect families."

The 35-year-old Cochran is one of the driving forces behind SAAP. An adopted child, the WCPO-TV engineer turned accountant convinced the station to revive SAAP's Saturday morning "Pet Pals" segment in October 2002 as a way of showcasing pets in need of adoption. The segment has been effective since its re-introduction, according to Cochran, as more than 400 pets were adopted last year at the Westwood Petsmart location where SAAP greets potential new owners.

The work has not come without a price - SAAP is more than $10,000 in debt as an organization. The kindness of the veterinarians who work with SAAP and Web sites such as Petfinder.com are what keep the group going.

Cochran says the results of SAAP's hard work make every penny owed worth it.

"We help so many other rescues and shelters, and if someone's having an event, we feel just blessed to have the segment and maybe highlight it," Cochran says. "That's the nice part about the people beyond the animals - everybody's in it for the right reasons."

SAAP's primary focus now is to spread the word about the dangers of puppy mills, the need for adoption and getting people to spay or neuter their pets.

"Sooner or later, everyone's going to run across an animal problem," Baker says.

Cochran says SAAP's long-term goal is to find homes for all local shelter animals so none of them will have to be put down again.

She hopes the public is now ready to give the animals a chance to live.

"It is definitely worth giving a great animal a chance," she says. "We want them to get homes, and we cry when they do and we cry when they don't because we can't take another animal in and save it - we're really caring people who want to help."