Businesspeople unite to save pets left behind

By Nicole Lucht

Friday, June 19, 2009 | 3 a.m.

We’ve all heard the heart-wrenching stories of animals left behind when families vacate their foreclosed homes.

Sometimes the animals are rescued; other times their discovery comes too late.

Now, a group of well-meaning businesspeople are joining forces to create a nonprofit clearinghouse to help animals left behind and serve as a resource for animal-rescue organizations. The group will not operate as a rescue organization.

Sharon Powers, CEO of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, is leading the effort, working with other animal lovers in the business community to help stop the surge of abandoned pets that have a 50-50 shot at surviving.

Tentatively calling the group No Paws Left Behind, Powers, a self-described avid animal lover, said she was struck by the Las Vegas Valley’s high abandonment and euthanasia rates.

“I was thinking, ‘This is absolutely atrocious,’ ” she said. “You just can’t sit by and say that’s OK.”

Already, more than a dozen people from the business community have joined the effort. Powers said the group is seeking three outcomes: Keeping animals from being abandoned, increasing the adoption rate and decreasing deaths.

Although the group is Powers’ brainchild, it is not a chamber effort.

The group will be working closely with Lied Animal Shelter, specifically because it is a kill shelter. The shelter takes in 1,900 animals a month and euthanizes about half of them. Powers said she doesn’t blame Lied for those statistics.

“I blame irresponsible people for that,” she said.

The group intends to develop a Web site to assist people in difficult situations who are trying to keep their animals, whether it’s linking to subsidy programs for pet heath care, educating schoolchildren on responsible pet ownership, finding temporary foster homes until a family gets back on its feet.

There is also a summer pet food drive.

“This is just in its infancy stage,” Powers said. “Somehow we need to tie everything together.”

The next meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. July 13 at the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, 3365 W. Craig Road, Suite 25. For more information, e-mail Powers at [email protected].

In other do-gooder news:

The Torino Foundation, headed by developer Brett Torino, kicked off its 2009 camp season with a gospel brunch July 13.

For 11 years Torino has opened his Lovell Canyon Ranch to children with serious illnesses or living in at-risk environments so that they might experience the joys of childhood camping.

“We believe that through education, proper nutrition, outdoor activities, art and experiences in nature, people can make a difference in each life they touch,” the foundation said. “Bringing joy and hope to these children is our privilege and passion.”

This summer the foundation is partnering with six nonprofit organizations: American Lung Association, Arthritis Foundation, Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, Hemophilia Foundation, Nathan Adelson Hospice and Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. Volunteers run the weeklong camps throughout the summer.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit Torino’s ranch, and with its lush location in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, it definitely serves as an oasis for children needing a break from life’s harsh realities (something no child should have to deal with).

• • •

Camp has already started for some of the children participating in the Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp Fund.

The fund helps send economically disadvantaged youth to weeklong camps in Nevada, Arizona, California and Utah.

A higher demand is expected from children looking for a chance to go to camp this summer because of the recession.

The Las Vegas Sun, a sister publication of In Business Las Vegas, absorbs all the administrative costs of the fund, with 100 percent of the donations going toward sending children, ages 8 to 14, to camp.

Last year, the fund, through employee and outside donations and sponsorships, sent 1,200 children to camp at a cost of $400,000. The fund started sending children to camp in 1970 under the leadership of Sun founder Hank Greenspun.

Nicole Lucht covers health care, workplace and banking issues for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-8832 or at [email protected].