Animal Welfare Groups in North Kingstown Get $70,000 from Rhode Island Foundation

A gaggle of groups that promote animal welfare or care for animals in need have received a cash infusion from the state’s preeminent charity.

The Project CHICK program at Casey Farm that teaches children and adults about heritage-breed chickens, Friends of Animals in Need, Paws Watch and The Pet Refuge in North Kingstown have all been bestowed grants from the Rhode Island Foundation totaling $70,000.

The grants are through the foundation’s Program for Animal Welfare program, which supports organizations that promote and provide ethical treatment of animals.

“The generous support of our donors and the dedication of our grantees is expanding humane education, raising awareness and increasing the quality of animal care in Rhode Island,” said Adrian Boney, the grants program officer who oversees PAW at the Foundation. “New approaches to animal welfare and humane education are emerging and our animal welfare grant program is supporting a wide variety of programs from a diverse array of organizations and community efforts across the state.”

Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island in North Kingstown received $11,793 to install a fire suppression system in its wildlife clinic on Shermantown Road. This system will enable first responders to safely evacuate all staff and wildlife patients and staff in the event of a fire.

Historic New England received $10,000 for Casey Farm’s Project CHICK. The Saunderstown farm teaches about heritage-breed chickens, the humane treatment of animals and traditional farming methods.

The activities include in-school presentations by a Casey Farm teacher who brings a chicken to the classroom, provides an introductory lesson, and delivers incubators, eggs and needed supplies. Students incubate the eggs, watch chicks hatch, and participate in related science activities. The chicks are then returned to Casey Farm in Saunderstown. For the second part of the program (Chick Day), students visit the farm, where they participate in hands-on activities to learn more about chickens and sustainable agriculture. Last year the program served a record 9,618 students and teachers in schools and 2,521 visitors to the farm.

Friends of Animals in Need in North Kingstown received $15,000 to underwrite the cost of providing veterinary care to the animals of low-income pet owners in order to prevent abandonment, surrender or being euthanized.

Paws Watch of North Kingstown received $25,000 for its Trap, Neuter, Return and Monitor (TNRM) program, which addresses the state’s free-roaming, feral cat overpopulation problem. The organization expects to spay or neuter approximately 2,000 cats.

“Feral, stray and abandoned cats are the largest part of our growing pet overpopulation problem,” said Gilbert Fletcher, board chair. “Trap and kill programs used in an attempt to solve the problem are expensive and inhumane, and simply don’t work.

“They may achieve a temporary lowering of feral cat numbers, but unsterilized survivors breed prolifically to the capacity of the site, and other cats move into the now available territory,” he said. “Our TNRM program, which enlists community volunteers in a comprehensive, humane program, costs one third to one half as much as trap and kill because it ends the cycle of reproduction and allows numbers to decline through attrition.”

The Pet Refuge in North Kingstown was awarded $8,600 to build an outdoor storage shed for supplies such as food, litter and paper goods.

“Our intake room is often utilized to hold pets. Much of the valuable cage area is now being used for storage instead. There is a vital need for a clean safe storage area which can be secured,” said Gloria Martins, volunteer. “The need is two-fold; to hold our supplies as well as to hold any items that are donated for our many fund-raising activities. Having a safe secure storage shed will greatly increase our capacity to store these much appreciated items until the fundraiser is held,” she said.

The grants were among nearly $440,000 that the Foundation awarded to 27 animal welfare programs across the state that do everything from providing low-cost vet care for needy pet owners to rescuing injured seals

PAW is funded with assistance from the Virginia B. Butler Fund, Abbie A. Brougham Memorial Fund, John B. and Ruth L. Kilton Fund, Helen Walker Raleigh Animal Fund, Dawn, Gregg and Leland Weingeroff Animal Fund, Mary Lou Crandall Fund, Vinny Animal Welfare Fund, Vernon and Mary Pierce Fund, Ginger, Sheba and Susie Carr Fund and Jeanne Marie Mehmed Fund.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. In 2013, the Foundation made grants of more than $31 million to organizations addressing the state’s most pressing issues and needs of diverse communities. Through leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential. For more information, visit www.rifoundation.org.

PHOTO CAPTION: Representatives of animal welfare organizations applaud the news that they will share in nearly $440,000 in grants from the Rhode Island Foundation.