ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605060067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
SPCA'S PET ADOPT-A-THON helped many pound puppies and kittens wiggle their way into the arms of loving families.
It only took a few minutes Saturday for Jay Vaughan to learn the basics of owning a dog: Don't pull its tail. Keep it on a leash. Play with it, sleep with it, and give it a name. Vaughan decided on "Tookie-Toom."
"He's gonna sleep with me in my bed, and play with me on the ground," said the 4-year-old, who, with help from his mom, had just adopted an oh-so-cute puppy at Pet Adopt-a-Thon '96, sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The Vaughans had been looking for a dog for a few months, but just hadn't found the "right" one, said Deborah Vaughan. Temperament was a lot more important than breed, she said.
The little pup played his cards right Saturday, because "he just came up to Jay and licked him in the face."
'Nuff said.
Over by the SPCA's tents in Elmwood Park, a 6-week-old black kitten was all eyes and claws as David Collins clasped the mewling fuzzball in one large hand. Collins' fiancee, Carla James, had been looking for a black kitten for months, and finally found one.
"We just got engaged to be married, and we're adopting," she said, laughing.
The Roanoke Valley SPCA joined with hundreds of other shelters across the United States and Canada to sponsor animal adoption events this weekend. Here in Roanoke, it happened to coincide with the ever-growing Strawberry Festival and the Chili Cook-Off on the downtown market.
Despite the overflowing crowds, and the utterly adorable animals, there weren't many people adopting on impulse. Besides, the SPCA staff screens potential owners to make sure the animals are going to a good home, said Executive Director Al Alexander.
After filling out applications, "Each person is, I don't like to say questioned, but interviewed," he said. Sometimes, it comes down to a value judgment, he said, but there are specific things the staff looks for. Dogs should not be chained, for instance. And when a potential owner is renting his or her home, the SPCA must speak directly with the landlord. Otherwise, no sale.
The agency charges a $50 adoption fee, which covers the pet's first shots and a certificate for a discounted spaying or neutering. The SPCA also conducts follow-up visits to the homes for up to six months, and "repossesses" the animals if need be.
Last year, the SPCA found homes for 57 percent, or about 1,900, of the animals brought in, Alexander said. That's four times the national average.
On Saturday, the group matched another 54 cats, dogs, kittens and puppies with proud new owners.
Elisha Gauley wasn't one of them.
"Oh, he's so sweet and cuddly," said the 12-year-old Roanoke County girl, nuzzling a tan shepherd-mix pup. She'd been working on her dad most of the morning, trying to persuade him to let her have the dog.
The Gauleys already have Bear, a chow-shepherd mix they adopted four years ago, the day before he was to be put to sleep.
Her father had given her a choice for her birthday next week - a trampoline or the puppy. Elisha wanted both.
A little while later, the tan pup was back in the playpen with his siblings, sound asleep after all the attention.
Pam and Matt Lucas brought their "Lily" down to see old pals from the SPCA. Lily, part black Labrador, was born without paws. The Lucases saw her on television, and decided to adopt.
"She was just so cute. When I saw her, I fell in love. She deserves a chance," Pam Lucas said. A local maker of prosthetics, Doug Walters, offered to make some "shoes" free of charge for the pup, who now clumps around without a care.
Even "Elvis" put in an appearance. You know, Elvis the "you ain't nothin' but a hound" dog that was found last year along Interstate 81 in Troutville with a fractured pelvis. After a newspaper story about him, the SPCA's injured-animal fund got a major cash infusion, but for months, no one adopted the mutt.
Until Alisha Vaught, 6, came in and Elvis licked her chin.
'Nuff said.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Carla James cradles theby CNBblack kitten she adopted through the SPCA at Elmwood Park Saturday.
She'd been searching for a cat for months. color. 2. Bradley
Thompson, 2, got a mixed hound dog for his birthday, compliments of
his parents, Angela and Rodney Thompson of Salem, his grandmother
Darleen Akers, and Roanoke's SPCA.