VERO BEACH — Guests mingled poolside at the Indian River Club Friday evening for the In the Ruff Cocktail Party, a precursor to the fifth annual In the Ruff Golf Tournament held the following day.
Funds raised at the events will benefit the no-kill HALO Rescue shelter in Sebastian, and Stray No More, Inc., which provides a low cost spay/neuter program.
“We rescue 1500 animals every year,” said Jacque Petrone, who founded HALO Rescue in 2006.
“We’ve pretty much maxed out with space. The next seven years will be dedicated to expansion.”
Petrone said that while they don’t turn animals away because of age, health or behavioral issues, they often have a wait list because of space constraints.
They currently house approximately 80 dogs, 150 cats and a miscellany of smaller animals.
“I even took in a saltwater fish; I have an aquarium at home,” said Patrone. “They said it’s either you or we flush it. It was a Nemo fish. I had to take it.”
She explained that they are exploring options to open an expanded shelter in a more rural area of Indian River County.
The current facility on U.S. Highway 1 in Sebastian could then be turned into an adoption center, plus the continued boarding and grooming services which help fund shelter expenses.
“She gave me a real hard time,” laughed Joe Cramer assigning good-natured ribbing to Petrone’s home visit requirement that meant he had to wait a week before taking home Taffy, a dachshund mix.
It is now more than two years later and he has clearly forgiven her, even donating an oxygen incubator.
Like models walking the catwalk, a handful of decked-out dogs were introduced to the crowd by Joe Kern, Indian River Club’s head golf pro, who gave a brief history of each dog’s sad tale adding “That is why we are here for the next two days.”
The dogs included Bruiser, a bulldog mix found abandoned on a porch; Cookie, a terrier whose owner didn’t have time for him; Minnie, a very sweet lab mix; Theodore the Adorable, a Staffordshire mix born on Valentine’s day, and Lucky, an elderly poodle found tied to the front door of an abandoned home.
Stray No More was founded as a rescue organization almost 20 years ago, but its founder Sandy Hightower said they soon determined that, “Rescue does not solve the problem.”
To eliminate the financial excuse given by irresponsible owners as a reason not to spay or neuter their pets, they have partnered with local veterinarians to provide low cost services.
They also visit schools to educate the next generation on the simplest way to alleviate the problem of homeless animals.
Serious golfers would compete the next day, but Friday night guests vied for a chance at an airboat ride donated by Captain Bob, by chipping balls onto a floating island in the pool.
And to retrieve the balls? Why nothing less than a stunning mermaid, aka Trina Mason.
“This is the first year we’ve had a live auction, and I think we are the first in the county to have a mermaid,” said event organizer Kim Kern.
Two unique live auction items were a Paw-casso work by Bruise and a sanctuary tour of the Elephant Center in Fellsmere.
Members of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Canine (K-9) Unit wowed the crowd, demonstrating the remarkable teamwork between the highly alert German Shepherd and Belgian Malinois dogs and their capable handlers.
The K-9 Unit includes patrol dogs trained to search for, track and apprehend criminals, and detect bombs, drugs or poached game, as well as a search and rescue bloodhound trained to track missing children and Alzheimer patients.
And while the job is very serious business to the officers, to the dogs it’s just a really enjoyable game.
All the dogs have been outfitted with bullet-proof vests thanks to Martin Lavander, owner of Blue Ribbon Boarding and Grooming and founder of the Blue Ribbon Charitable Foundation, which has also provided three-size kits of pet oxygen masks to each of the fire rescue stations.
In the Ruff continued on Saturday with a sold-out contingent of golfers competing on the picturesque and challenging Audubon Signature Sanctuary course.
