A nine-week-old kitten frolics in a 3-by-3 foot cage batting a cloth mouse. The animal is seemingly oblivious to the fact that shortly after it was abandoned, it sustained severe nerve damage to its right front leg that will never allow it to be used properly.

Rusty, a two-and-a-half-year-old black lab/Brittany mix, comes to attention by sitting upright and wagging his tail as anyone passes his kennel. He was no longer wanted by his owner because he roamed from his country home too much.

Bert and Ernie, two gray short hair cats, were brought in by a woman who said they were strays wandering about her apartment complex. Bert was wearing a purple collar. If Bert and Ernie were truly strays, not just the victims of a fabricated story to avoid adoption board fees, they obviously had not spent all their lives on the streets.

Casey, a tortoise shell tabby cat, was dumped on a farm.

Oreo, a ten-year-old Dalmatian, was given up by an owner who was moving away.

Molly, an 11-year-old cocker spaniel/chow mix, was given up because her owners were not home enough.

These are all stories of animals that are either homeless or abandoned by their owners, but there are many more.

Help for the animals

The Humane Society of the United States documented that approximately 11.6 million cats and dogs will end up in animal shelters this year, and only 30 percent of those will be reclaimed by their owners or find new homes. The other 7.6 million animals will be put to death.

It is not hard to find the reason why these animals are put to death.

Statistics show that every hour in the United States more than 2,000 dogs and 3,500 cats are born. In the same amount of time, 415 humans are born.

In a year, more than 17 million dogs and 30 million cats are born in America. When added to the current population of dogs and cats, the total exceeds one billion.

If it were not for the building located at 325 Billy Sunday Road and others like it across America, these animals would have no hope.

This is the address of the Ames Animal Shelter and Control.

Ames Animal Shelter and Control

Walking into the shelter may give an entirely different impression than most people expect. It is a very bright and cheery place, with pictures and posters on the walls and animal knickknacks everywhere. Taking all factors into account, the shelter’s appearance is much more like a home than a prison.

The shelter, staffed by three full-time and three part-time employees, has a very firm understanding of its “mission.”

“…To shelter and care for stray, lost or abandoned animals and to responsibly place animals in new homes and enforce animal laws. We are also here to better educate people in ways to be solutions to animal problems, not causes,” said Lorna Lavender, supervisor of the Ames Animal Shelter.

Lavender said that during fiscal year 1994-95, 49 percent of dogs and cats were adopted, 28 percent were reclaimed by their owners, 3 percent were turned over to Story County and 18 percent were euthanized.

Lavender said adoption is always the shelter’s goal.

Saving a life

“We ask people who come in to select an animal. They then spend time with it, encouraging bonding with the animal. We call that socialization,” Lavender said.

When an animal is chosen, the possible owner fills out an application form. This form must then be reviewed — not every adoption is approved — and the applicant must sign a binding contract, enforceable under state codes, agreeing to spay or neuter the animal. Lavender said the process takes about 40 minutes. One day later, the new pet can go home.

The shelter does charge an adoption fee. However, the new owner will get the money back in the form of coupons for medical procedures, such as veterinary examinations, rabies shots and spays or neuters. The shelter also gives an initial vaccination, worming and flea treatment to the pet.

“These are non-profit adoptions,” Lavender said.

However, Lavender said adopting a pet may not be the best idea for college students because of the housing situations of many students.

“It is difficult to project where you will be in five or six years and the animal could live 15 years. So be prepared to make a lifetime commitment,’ Lavender said.

She said there is a low percentage of animals adopted by students.

Older pet adoption

Lavender said people should not go to animal shelters looking to adopt only a puppy or kitten. Instead they should also consider older animals.

“People have this love affair with puppies and kittens without considering that they are only going to be that size for maybe 2 percent of their life. They need to consider the qualities that an animal a little older has to offer them. There are not always puppies and kittens available, but there’s always many young adult animals available that have so much potential to bring companionship into people’s lives,” Lavender said.

Waiting for a home

While waiting for adoption the animals spend time in their kennels, which have food, litter and often toys. Each cage and its components are cleaned and sanitized daily.

“We have to do that because so many of our animals have unknown health backgrounds and there’s a possibility that an animal could be ill. There’s a real workload involved in doing this type of work correctly,” Lavender said.

While the animals are at the shelter they are exercised and played with frequently. Some people, like Frankee Oleson, visit the shelter for the exclusive purpose of visiting the animals.

Oleson works at the Iowa State University Alumni Association and visits the shelter often. On this day she is visiting Pete, a yellow semi-famous tabby cat who has appeared in several adopt-a-pet profiles in Iowa newspapers.

“I come by about once a week and hold cats, like Petey here. I like to get them out of the cages, give them some attention, make them more adoptable and I just like them,” Oleson said.

Oleson apparently has a very good opinion of the work the shelter is doing and the people doing it.

“The shelter is a wonderful facility run by very competent and caring people. These animals are in the best possible hands they could be,” Oleson said.

While Oleson was speaking, Jane Biddle, the secretary at the shelter, came into the cat room with two new striped tabby kittens and headed toward a cage. The cage door came off and swung toward the kittens, but Biddle put her own body in the way.

“I’m OK. I was just worried about this little guy,” Biddle said.

“That just shows you the kind of people that work here,” Oleson said.

Adoptions — a good alternative

The shelter does adopt out many animals a year — nearly 55 a month — and many people have their own reasons for adopting a pet.

Scott Bross did not adopt his cat from the shelter in Ames, but did get it from an animal rescue shelter.

“We’d rather save a cat from death than go out and buy one,” Bross said.

Bross said when he and his wife adopted their cat two years ago, they could see its ribs and the animal was very sick. The shelter provided the right medicine and Bross said the cat is now happy and playful.

The unfortunate

However, not all animals are fortunate enough to be adopted.

Animals are allowed an average stay of five weeks. This may be longer if there is space available. Pete the cat has been at the shelter since May 6.

When the time is up, the animals are euthanized using a lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital, which is one of the more humane methods available.

“The goal of humane euthanasia is to depress brain activity first, then other organs will cease to function. The important thing is to be humane. We don’t use, for example, something that depresses the lungs first. This would lead to suffocation with an alert animal,” Lavender said.

After the animal has passed on, Lavender said the remains are incinerated, not “put in a landfill somewhere.”

Despite years of going through the process — seeing some animals adopted, others euthanized — Lavender is not bitter toward people.

“The lives of these animals depend on people. You can’t be bitter toward them or the animals have no hope. Some shelter supervisors develop an attitude of bitterness toward people from observing this process, but when that happens it’s time for them to move on. They’re not helping the animals,” she said.

Lavender has worked at the shelter since 1982 as a part-time animal control officer and has supervised the shelter since 1989.

As for her furry colleagues, Pete, Rusty, Oreo and all the other animals at the shelter will wait patiently in their kennels, hoping that there are people out there who want a new cat or dog in their lives.