Wednesday, October 01, 2003

By Linda Wilson Fuoco Post-Gazette Staff Writer

There was great joy when a bull mastiff named Rusty left the shelter to go to a new home. It was a good thing that he left, for several hours later an elderly man walked in with a big-eyed Pekingese cradled in his arms.

	Shelter director Ina Marton holds two of the smallest residents of White Oak Safe Haven. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

Sugar is 6 or 8 years old, the man said, as he explained he had moved into a condo that does not allow dogs. He handed the little dog over without a tear and walked out the door without a backward glance.

The White Oak Animal Safe Haven Inc. was again at full capacity with eight dogs and 40 cats. Many of the cats are actually young kittens, and two of those are too young to leave their mother. That was last Thursday, just four days after the official Sept. 21 grand opening. More dogs and cats are being fostered in the homes of shelter volunteers.

There's also a long waiting list of people who want to turn their cats or dogs in to the shelter. None of the present canine and feline residents will be euthanized to make room for those animals. All will live in the haven until someone adopts them, for the White Oak facility is a "no-kill" shelter.

"No-kill is the only way I could do this," said Ina Marton, who started the fund-raising drive in March 2000. More than 400 volunteers have raised $125,000 to build the new 30-by-50-foot building at 2295 Lincoln Way, across the street from the White Oak municipal building. Many people donated building supplies and others, including union carpenters, donated their time and construction skills.

The shelter is surrounded by the woods of White Oak Park, so there are no neighbors to complain about barking dogs. Allegheny County owns the land and is leasing it to the shelter.

Marton, an elected member of White Oak council since 1994, said she got tired of voting to spend hundreds of tax dollars per year to pay an outside animal contractor to pick up stray animals. Most of those animals are killed, "but I felt like I couldn't just complain about that. I felt I had to come up with an alternative.

"I am so proud that not one penny of tax money has gone into this shelter," Marton said. "We are so proud of this place. From the floor to the ceiling, it is a labor of love."

Though the shelter is small, it boasts a staff of 13, including Marton and Ken Obusek, who is assistant executive shelter director and one of the two animal control officers when he's not working at his job as a White Oak EMS. Though shelter workers are proud to be called staff, none is paid to work there.

In fact, the staff could not provide a figure for yearly operating expenses. "We just started, so we don't know," Obusek said.

Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle are supplying cat and dog food, and a grant from a private foundation is covering most of the cost of spaying and neutering, allowing the shelter to keep adoption fees low by local shelter standards -- $75 for dogs and $65 for cats.

Dr. Marybeth Cline from Riverside Veterinary Clinic in Elizabeth Borough comes once a week to tend to the animals' health needs, and veterinary technicians come twice a week. All the animals are neutered, inoculated and healthy when they enter their new homes.

A constant stream of fund-raising activities is planned to keep the shelter operating.

Garbage cans have been placed outside the shelter so that cans can be dropped off at any hour of the day or night.

"We've already recycled enough cans to pay for our washer and dryer," Marton said. Both machines run almost nonstop to provide clean bedding for the animals, who never have to lie down on bare concrete kennel floors or cat cages.

"We clean constantly, and all of the dogs are walked outside, morning and afternoon," Marton said. "We raised another $2,800 to build an outside run. That will go up this week."

Sugar, the Pekingese, trembled and screeched when she was placed in the kennel run so recently vacated by the big mastiff. One volunteer took her out to cuddle and coo to her, despite the fact that Sugar was crawling with fleas. Another volunteer sat with her in the kennel to soothe her.

Sugar wagged her tail and was happy to cuddle with any stranger who showed her kindness, but she trembled and screeched and cried for nearly an hour when volunteers put her back in the kennel so they could tend to other dogs. Then she curled up in a cozy quilt and took a nap.

One of the volunteers with Sugar that day was Nancy Cebek of North Huntingdon, who is at the shelter every day. She's also the shelter's coordinator of volunteers.

"At the end of the day I have to go home, where I am neglecting my own house and my laundry is piling up. And my own dog misses me," Cebek said of her red husky, Blitzen.

Her favorite shelter dog is Bandit, a Shetland sheepdog mix who was part of a two-dog family moving in with relatives who would take in only one dog.

Another almost-every-day volunteer is Karen Yunn of North Huntingdon, who has made Lancelot her special project.

The young, exuberant black- and-white coonhound was left behind in an apartment when his family moved away.

Also in the shelter that day were Romeo, a gentle and dignified beagle mix; another frisky coonhound named Wallace; Ashley, a 5-month-old blue tick pup; and Milo, a 4-month-old black Labrador retriever-Great Dane mix.

And then there is Sinbad, the dog that tugs especially at the heartstrings of staff and volunteers.

He's black, male, about 1 year old and a mix of Labrador retriever and Doberman pinscher. He was abandoned, tied to a tree in a remote area of a county park.

He was thin, hungry and thirsty when someone brought him to the new no-kill shelter.

Sinbad is friendly, affectionate and playful but acts very quiet and sad when it's not his turn to be walked or played with.

Volunteers who help with the animals include students from the McKeesport Area High School, where Marton was a special education teacher for many years.

Students from that district, and from the West Mifflin and Elizabeth Forward districts, have also held fund-raisers for the shelter.

A steady stream of visitors has been in and out of the shelter since the Sept. 21 opening. Some have dropped off cans, bedding, newspapers and toys for the cats and dogs. Some have come to look.

Some have left with cats and dogs. In fact, about 30 cats and dogs have been adopted in the past few weeks, counting the animals that were in the foster homes of volunteers.

Last Friday, one day after a reporter and photographer visited the shelter, a volunteer took Sugar to a groomer to be bathed and groomed.

Her black and beige coat is flea-free, clean and fluffy and a number of people have stopped by to look at her. She is expected to soon be in a new home, which is usually the case with small dogs.

Last Friday, Romeo the beagle went to a new home, as did Milo the Lab-Dane pup.

Upcoming fund-raisers include an Oct. 11 Nite at the Races at The Whinery in White Oak and the first Fido Ball on Oct. 25 at Stratigos Banquet Center, North Huntingdon.

The shelter is open seven days a week -- 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. all other days. For further information check out its Web site http://www.woanimalshelter.petfinder.com or call the shelter at 412-672-8901.

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