Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
It takes a real animal lover to volunteer their time to help control the feral animal population and help families and individuals adopt and care for their pets.
That’s why Elissa Cavender and Sharon Filmer are excellent additions to the Pocahontas County Humane Society board. Cavender is the new executive director and Filmer is serving as president.
Both women are self-proclaimed animal lovers who grew up with a menagerie of pets. Cavender is from Fairmont and moved back to West Virginia, specifically Pocahontas County, in 2018 from Arizona. Filmer grew up a military brat, but mainly called Virginia home until the COVID-19 pandemic altered her and her husband Paul’s plans.
They were building a home in Pocahontas County and moved in earlier than anticipated to “hunker down” during the pandemic.
After settling in to the county, Filmer and Cavender quickly found themselves volunteering with the Humane Society, putting their love for animals to work.
The Humane Society of Pocahontas County, a non-profit organization, serves the community in several ways. It also asks for assistance from community members who are also animal lovers.
The biggest program the Humane Society pilots is the TNR – trap, neuter and return – program. In order to control the feral cat population, the TNR program is a humane way to collect feral cats, get them neutered or spayed and then return them to their feral lifestyle.
“Being that Pocahontas County is the third largest county, the geographic area that we’re trying to cover is very difficult for our small group, so we really lean in hard on our community,” Cavender said.
“We will train,” Filmer added. “We will be in the field with them until they get into the comfort zone where they feel like they can take it and run with it. We’ve been trying to educate the community to reach out to us and understand that if you’re feeding one kitty that shows up on your front porch, then a second kitty shows up – in a year, you’re probably going to have twenty kitties because they breed so quickly.”
While the Humane Society will help regardless of how many cats show up in the community, they say it is easier and better to reach out for help when just one or two are seen wandering around because the TNR program will ensure they don’t make more kitties that will also end up feral.
With TNR, the Humane Society provides training and equipment for community members who wish to help. They teach how to set out the traps and provide food to make the process as smooth as possible.
The program also helps capture cats that may have health issues that can be treated if they are caught.
“It’s just awful when you see the conditions some of these cats are living in,” Cavender said. “That’s probably one of the nice things we do, transitioning to that part of it. For instance, this barn cat that I’m fostering –she was outdoors, not spayed and now has four kittens. Now, those kitties are going to go to a home – and even the mom.
“We stopped that cycle,” she continued. “That’s not every case, but when it is, it does kind of sustain you to deal with the bad outcomes.”
Sadly, there are times when the cats come in and are too far gone with their illnesses, and the best thing for them is euthanasia, which is difficult for animals lovers, but it is the humane thing to do.
“It’s very heart wrenching when they come in and you see the conditions that they’re in,” Cavender said.
“You have to look at it from that angle sometimes and euthanasia is what is best,” Filmer added.
Along with the TNR program, the Humane Society also hosts clinics for pet owners to get their dogs and cats spayed or neutered, get rabies shots and chipped for identification purposes.
“Rabies shots are required by the state,” Filmer said. “We also offer chipping clinics. It’s your way of locating your dog or cat. If your pet gets lost, then we can reunite you with your pet if you take the time to do it. We offer it at a discount. It’s a very simple process. It’s an injection that goes in between the shoulder blades. It’s about the size of a grain of rice.”
The chipping process is not entirely pain free, but if the pet is also being spayed or neutered, the chip can be placed while the animal is under anesthesia.
The Humane Society makes the chipping process even easier by doing the online registration of the animal to the national database. Filmer explained that sometimes this process is skipped which negates the purpose of the chip. doing the database entry for pet owners ensures that the information will be readily available if a pet is lost.
For those interested in the spay/neuter program, they are asked to apply for a voucher by calling 304-799-6767. Cavender suggests that the pet owner set up the appointment with their vet at the same time they call because the voucher will be in the mail within days of contact and it expires in 30 days.
The vouchers are provided through grant funding and make the spay/neuter surgery 100 percent free – as long as the funding lasts.
The Humane Society has a great group of volunteers, but Cavender and Filmer said there is always room for more. Filmer said the nonprofit couldn’t exist without its volunteers and people like Greg Hamons, who donates the corn that is sold at Greenbrier Grille to feed the ducks. Feeding the ducks is a popular thing for visitors and the sale of the corn is a way of raising funds for the organization.
“We have donation boxes all over Marlinton,” she added. “I’ve got several up at Snowshoe. These little boxes get filled up by the kindness and generosity of people in this community who care about animals. We depend on it to do the work that we’re doing.”
If you’re not interested in helping with the TNR program, the Humane Society also needs foster families to help take care of cats and kittens that are waiting for their forever homes.
“Our nursery is fine to a point, but pets do so much better in a home where they can be handled and loved,” Filmer said. “So that is something we are looking for with volunteers. We will provide everything they need to take care of them. It’s not going to be any money out of their pockets.
“It helps enrich the life of the cat,” she added.
There is also the first right of refusal for foster families who fall in love with their foster cat or kitten.
“We’ve had that happen,” Cavender said. “It’s so easy to fall in love with them.”
The best way to contact the Humane Society is to reach out on the Facebook page at Humane Society of Pocahontas County.
