Your help is needed
It’s been a year since we moved, but we still have much left to unpack. I spent most of the past few weekends sorting through boxes in our garage, dividing the contents into cartons marked Keep, Sell, Donate, and Trash. The collars were in the last box I opened.
The raggedy blue collar with a bell was worn by Gypsy, our first shelter cat, when we brought her home four years ago. She’s long since outgrown it.
The thick red collar had belonged to Jade, the most gorgeous (and only slow-witted) German shepherd I’ve ever known. She’s been gone 15 years.
There was the expensive training collar meant to help when walking bull-headed dogs, the collar with flashing lights for walking dogs in the dark, and a leash that says, “Which one of us is a bitch?” (Both my dogs are males.)
Each triggered memories of the animal who once wore it, and I remember how some of our dogs would seem upset when their collar was off, then proud when it was put back on. Perhaps to them, it was the equivalent of a wedding ring, of knowing they belonged to someone.
Still, I wasn’t sure what to do with my collection of collars, so I slid them onto a shelf in my undecided zone.
And then I got an email from Nicky Walters, news reporter for WOWK-TV. 
Walters, a board member of the Charleston/Kanawha Humane Association, is in charge of the shelter’s observance of National Homeless Animals Day on August 16. In order to raise public awareness of how many of the animals at the shelter end up not getting homes, she’s attempting to collect one collar for every animal euthanized at the Kanawha shelter when it wasn’t adopted.
In other words, she needs to collect 6,553 collars.
Walters plans to make a chain of those collars, hoping the visual impact will help open the public’s eyes to the large number of animals put down every year.
I called Donna Clark, head of the Kanawha-Charleston Animal Shelter, to talk about the project, and mentioned I was stunned by how many animals end up being put down.
“During cat season, we’re inundated with kittens,” said Clark. “Some people bring in 10 or 20 at a time, packed in one box. It’s not unusual for us to have to put 70 or 80 cats and kittens down in one day. The odds of a kitten at the shelter finding a home this time of year isn’t good.”
A large number of the animals taken to the shelter are owner surrenders, and Clark said their reasons for dropping off the animals seldom vary.
“So many of them say it’s because they’re moving,” said Clark. “I always want to ask, ‘Do you give your kids away when you move?’ Or they’ll say someone left a box of kittens on their porch or the pups just showed up in their yard. No one wants to own up to having never bothered to get their pet fixed, and they think because the pups are so cute, they won’t have any trouble finding a home.
“The only dogs that fare pretty well at the shelter are the small breeds. Bigger dogs don’t stand much of a chance.”
Clark believes the chain of empty collars is an excellent idea, and likes that the shelter can make use of the collars once the event is past.
To aid in their collection effort, a barrel has been placed in the lobby of Charleston Newspapers. Those wanting to help can leave collars, new or used, in the barrel. Since the shelter needs other items, donations of cat litter, puppy and kitten food, old blankets and towels, bleach, and paper towels can be left in the barrel as well. Donations can also be taken directly to the shelter on Greenbrier Street in Charleston.
Walters is in charge of the Kanawha-Charleston Shelter’s Kids Club, which meets every Saturday (except June 21) from 12:30 to 5. Karin Fuller can be reached via email at karinfuller@cnpapers.com and Nicky Walters can be reached at nwalters@wowktv.com.
