Turley Publications photos by Ruth M. Lyon

John Lane and Sheryl Blancato stand in what will be the public education room of the North Brookfield Second Chance Animal Shelter facility.

Second Chance Animal Shelter obtains second location

Shelter receives MAC award of $8,000, ASPAC grant of $2,500

By Ruth M. Lyon

Turley Publications Reporter

EAST BROOKFIELD – The Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC) has announced that Second Chance Animal Shelter, Inc. of East Brookfield has been awarded an $8,000 grant, to be used specifically for spaying and neutering animals.

The grant, one of 29 awarded to animal shelters, rescue organizations and municipal animal departments across the state, was raised through the “I’m Animal Friendly” license plates sold through the Registry of Motor Vehicles to be used for spaying and neutering animals.

A MAC board member, announcing the award, said, “These caring individuals and organizations have proven their commitment to the common goal of reducing the number of homeless animals. We are so pleased to make this award.”

The “I’m Animal Friendly” license plate program, instituted in 2004, has resulted in the sale of more than 8,000 license plates; as of July of this year, a total of $824,350 has been given in grants, and more than 18,500 cats, dogs and rabbits have been spayed or neutered in that time. The plates can be purchased from the Registry online or at any Registry office.

Sheryl Blancato, owner of Second Chance, has recently announced the purchase of a property in North Brookfield, near the junction of Route 67 and Oakham Road, where she plans to expand the spaying/neutering program she began several years ago in East Brookfield. That facility, with approximately 1,200 square feet of space, limited the extent to which she could offer, not just the spaying/neutering, but also the educational aspect of what has become her mission: the rescue of animals abandoned by owners and the subsequent overpopulation of un-owned, uncared for dogs, cats and rabbits.

That mission, she explained, began when, as the animal control officer for East Brookfield, she observed the need for controlling the animal population and, additionally, educating the general population as to proper care and appropriate adoption of pets. Emphasizing that she works with, not in competition with veterinarians, she remarked that a large percentage of pet owners had never taken their animals to a veterinary clinic for inoculations, examination or care. “In my work as animal control officer, I recognized an unfilled need. First and foremost, I recognized that pet owners needed an affordable facility for spaying and neutering. Pet overpopulation leads to abandonment and unnecessary suffering, starvation, and disease of animals.”

She also announced Second Chance’s recent acceptance into the membership of the Humane Alliance and its National Spay Neuter Response Team (NSNRT) a strategic training program designed to address a national epidemic – the disposal, by any means, of unwanted animals.

According to Janet M. Scarlett, DVM, MPH, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at Cornell University, “There is no disease or condition of companion animals that takes more of their lives than euthanasia. The vision of NSNRT is the strategic placement of spay/neuter models across the nation, providing targeted, aggressive, high-volume, high-quality, low-cost sterilization.”

According to Blacanto, her team will be heading to the NSNRT training center in Asheville, NC, to be trained by experts on how to set up the new clinic and its procedures so as to allow for cutting-edge efficiency, safety and effectiveness. The goal, she said, is to achieve 8,000 spay/neuters per year, as opposed to the 2,200 that her clinic achieved in 2009. “With an estimated birth rate ratio of five for every surgery, we can lower the pet overpopulation by close to 40,000. This is the key to bringing us closer to our dream and vision of eliminating overpopulation and suffering in animals in central Massachusetts and beyond.”

In addition to the MAC grant, Second Chance has also been awarded an ASPCA grant of $2,500 to help spay/neuter more feral cats. Blancato explained that a feral cat is an untamed domestic cat, either born in the wild or abandoned and reverted to a wild state. Stray cats are not considered feral, she said, unless you cannot touch or pick them up. Feral cats will usually run from you when approached; they will not live in the house with human contact.

When a feral cat is brought to the shelter, it is examined, inoculated, neutered, and then returned to the place from which it had been taken.

An important part of what Second Chance offers, Blacanto says, is the dissemination of education regarding pet care, pet sterilization, and pet adoption. The animal clinic regularly hosts school groups, scouts (Boy Scouts earn a pet merit badge) and others. The new clinic will enable her to expand the educational outreach program, she says.

John Lane, formerly owned the building and lives directly across the street from it. Lane explained that he had recently become aware, through news stories, of Second Chance’s disappointment in the charity’s search for quarters in North Brookfield. He’d constructed the building in 1954, home to an American Motors agency and garage. “Chrysler purchased American Motors, and said ‘good-bye’ to me,” he recounted. “For 17 years now, the building has been used for storage, briefly for the library, when Haston Public Library was undergoing renovation, and I’m a Yankee packrat, so it was a good place for that. I decided that Second Chance would make a good neighbor, so I called Sheryl and we reached an agreement. I’m pleased that it’ll be used for so excellent a purpose. There’s about 6,600 square feet of space here, and Sheryl has already figured out how most of it will be used.”

Blacanto says her East Brookfield Second Chance will be used for kennel space entirely, with the new facility strictly for intake evaluation, spay/neutering, and educational programs, with space for an office as well. “I am so grateful for these grants; they will enable Second Chance to accomplish so much. All of us at the shelter are appreciative of this vital help,” she smiled. She pointed out the convenient layout, the handicap accessibility and bathrooms, as plus values.

Blacanto said she plans to open another facility in Auburn in the future.

For information regarding the many programs and services provided by Second Chance, or to volunteer or make a donation, phone 508-867-5525, or visit the website: www.secondchanceanimals.org, or e-mail: info@secondchanceanimals.org.