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7:31am

Second Chance Animal Shelter

Featuring:

Garrett

Almost two months ago my wife and I received a phone call from a friend telling me the story of a 6 year-old German Shepherd male named Garrett. Garrett's owner had sadly passed away, and no family members were able to care for Garrett. Luckily for Garrett, he was delivered to a group of heroes who give of themselves to Second Chance Animal Shelter in East Brookfield, MA. My wife and I traveled to the shelter for what was for me, my second wonderful, seamless, and professional adoption experience with them; but my first visit to the shelter. I was amazed when I arrived in the morning of an ordinary weekday to see the buzzing activity level at such a small shelter. The staff are true animal lovers, as was evident in the way they had developed personal connections to animals that had only been at the shelter for such short times. To my surprise, however, I felt saddened by the physical limitations of the shelter and its capacity to care for such a needy local animal population. The Second Chance Animal Shelter NEEDS the resources for a major makeover and addition desperately. The shelter is in no way limited by its staffing numbers, however it is limited by space. There is barely room for the general public to walk through the shelter and for the staff to work, and there is no doubt in my mind that as more and more people have become familiar with the shelter through all of the publicity surrounding this ZooToo program, the Shelter will see increased activity, therefore becoming even more cramped. ZooToo has raised awareness in my community with regard to Second Chance, but this awareness may be detrimental to the shelter if not provided the resources to expand an already physically taxed facility. I hope that ZooToo recognized the need to provide a cleaner, safer shelter our animals in need of forever homes. Second Chance will always continue to expand and grow in its mission in caring for all animals that come to its door. I hope ZooToo will help Second Chance in completing its mission!