Greece group finds homes for stray pets
May 20th, 2008 Posted in Pets GuideSpring has arrived. Love is in the air, and, as Jennifer Coykendall knows all too well, stray cats and newborn kittens seem to be everywhere.
“Kitten season has started. It’s our busiest season,” says Coykendall, a volunteer with Greece Residents Assisting Stray Pets (better known as G.R.A.S.P.) who heads up the organization’s cat team.
In a typical case recently, Coykendall rounded up a feral cat and her three kittens and took them to her home in Spencerport where she and her family cared for them.
Coykendall also readied the kittens for adoption — getting them shots and other procedures. Pictures of the kittens will be displayed on the G.R.A.S.P. Web site. And people will get to see them firsthand at the group’s twice a week, adopt-a-pet sessions at Petco on West Ridge Road.
After that, if all works well, the kittens will have new homes. The mother will end up as a barn cat, taken in by one of Coykendall’s friends.
“It’s my passion,” Coykendall says, explaining why she works so hard on the behalf of cats and kittens. “Way too many animals are being euthanized.”
The other 100 G.R.A.S.P. volunteers share her devotion.
Barbara Pingree, who worked at an animal hospital next door to offices of the Animal Control unit of the town of Greece, started the group in the mid-1990s.
The animals taken in by Animal Control were euthanized if their owners didn’t claim them.
“We just wanted to give the animals a second chance,” says Pingree, who lived in Greece at the time and now lives in Penfield. “I couldn’t turn my back on them.”
To buy them some time, Pingree would take the stray animals home with her, keeping them until new owners could be found.
Eventually, other people started helping her, and G.R.A.S.P. became an official organization in 1996.
Pingree is pleased that G.R.A.S.P. has found its niche on the west side of the county. “These animals need an advocate so they’re not lost in the shuffle.”
The organization takes in dogs as well as cats, with the dog team headed by Marshall Henry of Greece. It raises money through garage sales and other events, and to offset veterinary expenses, it charges adoption fees that can range from $50 for an older cat to $200 for a dog or puppy.
This group doesn’t have a shelter, but has to depend on a foster-home network of people who can take a cat or dog into their home in the interim before adoption.
Not only does this give the animal a temporary home, it reveals whether the animal is good with other pets and with children.
Coykendall’s house provides a perfect test lab of sorts.
She and her husband, Scott, a chiropractor, have two daughters, Emily, 8, and Erin, 7, who help take care of the found animals. In addition, two dogs and one cat are in permanent residence.
And as some of the found cats go out for adoption, others are sure to come in, especially now, a busy time for animal love and a busy time for G.R.A.S.P.
Tags: adoption, animal control, animal control unit, animal hospital, animals, barn cat, bet, cat team, cats, cats and kittens, dogs, feral cat, greece residents, kitten, kitten season, kittens, kittens for adoption, love, mid 1990s, new homes, newborn kittens, official organization, Pet, petco, pets, pingree, pup, puppy, spencerport, stray animals, stray cats, stray pets, three kittens, town of greece, two dogs, typical case, vetRelated posts
Tags: adoption, animal control, animal control unit, animal hospital, animals, barn cat, bet, cat team, cats, cats and kittens, dogs, feral cat, greece residents, kitten, kitten season, kittens, kittens for adoption, love, mid 1990s, new homes, newborn kittens, official organization, Pet, petco, pets, pingree, pup, puppy, spencerport, stray animals, stray cats, stray pets, three kittens, town of greece, two dogs, typical case, vet
