The Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County welcomed a miracle baby into its midst last month.
“This is our pride and joy,” says Ilka Daniel, director of animal protective services, pointing to Rosie, a 15-year old bay mare, and the delightful little colt she gave birth to on Aug. 20.
He is, in a word, adorable. With big brown eyes, a blaze down his soft muzzle, and long, gangly legs, he has clearly melted the hearts of shelter staff and volunteers alike. Rosie eyes strangers warily, protectively placing herself between them and the foal, but the colt is full of boundless energy, kicking up his heels and frolicking on still rather wobbly legs.
What makes his birth so remarkable is that Rosie was quite literally at death’s door when she and Billy, an 11-year old gelding, arrived at the Humane Society the end of April. Sgt. Brad Fojtik and Dep. Dave Partin of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Ranch and Grove Unit, along with HSVBIRC equine volunteers Bruce Dangerfield and John Thompson, helped transport the two severely underweight horses to the shelter.
“The horses were so malnourished and so emaciated, we didn’t think they’d make it here,” says Daniel, adding that veterinarian Tanya Ciacciarelli of East Coast Animal Medical Center, who has been overseeing their care, was afraid the horses might not even have enough energy to eat.
“The vet said she had never seen a horse that starving that was still standing,” adds Dangerfield, who is also the City of Vero Beach Animal Control Officer. Pointing to Billy, a speckled grey with startling blue eyes, he says, “All his ribs were showing and the bones in his hind quarters were sticking up.”
“We started feeding them very small amounts every two hours,” says Daniel. “When the vet examined Rosie, she determined she was pregnant. That concerned us as we knew that for the last few months she hadn’t been nourished at all.”
Counting back from the foaling, Rosie was roughly seven months pregnant, but at the time they didn’t know how far along she was.
“All we knew was she was pregnant and she was starving. We knew we had to get nourishment into her for the baby to survive,” says Daniel.
Their special diets are clearly working. Rosie has gained roughly 200 pounds, Billy more than 300 pounds, and the colt is standard weight.
“He’s as normal and healthy as he can be,” says Daniel with a big smile. “They’ve both done beautifully. The vet has given them a clean bill of health.”
All three are available for adoption, but until he is weaned, the mother and colt would have to be adopted together. The public is invited to help name the colt by making a donation to Rosie’s Raffle at HSVB.org. For a donation of $10, $50, or $100 your name choice goes “in the bucket” one, six or 15 times respectively, with the winning name drawn in time for his one-month birthday celebration.
The Humane Society is better known as a rescue organization for dogs and cats, but livestock and exotics are also cared for. The Livestock Pavilion, completed in 2009, is home to several resident animals and a constant stream of surrendered and confiscated animals.
“Someone thought having a pig was the best thing in the world, until code enforcement made a visit,” says Daniel, pointing to Bacon, a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig.
Two other pigs, Choo-Choo and Winston, along with goats Johnny and June, are used in the Humane Society’s education programs.
“Some children have never had the opportunity to see or work with livestock,” explains Daniel. “It goes a long way to teach about empathy and love and the different care the animals require.”
Another resident is Sammy, a huge Sulcata tortoise.
“What happens is someone purchases a cute little tortoise in a pet store that’s the size of a pear,” explains Daniel. “They don’t realize they’re an exotic species that can reach about 150 pounds and live for close to 200 years. And this is what’s so sad. It’s a challenge to find a home for these. We get in quite a few throughout the year.”
It’s the same situation with pythons and other exotics that are surrendered, or worse, released into the wild. Pointing to some invasive Muscovy ducks, she said, “Because they’re so prolific, we have to find a home where they can be confined.”
Their largest fowl influx occurred in 2004 when the Sheriff’s Office busted a Fellsmere cock-fighting ring. More than 1,700 roosters, full of disease and steroids, were confiscated. Approximately 400 evidentiary birds were housed at the shelter, just in time for the twin hurricanes.
“We’re so lucky because we have close to 48,000 square feet under air,” says Chalmers Morse, Humane Society executive director. “The way the building is designed makes it possible to take in these large numbers of animals. We are able to quarantine them without compromising the health of our population. When you hear about us taking in X number of animals, it’s not like they’re being housed in one facility. We have space. But the roosters were a challenge; we had to do some shuffling.”
As with smaller animals, shelter staff attempts first to help owners either find ways to keep their pets and livestock, or to find good homes for them.
“A big misnomer is that if people bring animals into receiving we’re going to kill them,” says Morse. “We do everything we can to help keep animals out of the shelter first – supplying pet food, spay and neutering, behavioral training – we’ll do everything we can to keep them from being surrendered.”
But it takes someone reaching out to get animals the care they need.
“I’ve been an investigator for 14 years and I think what surprised me the most was it was a conscious decision to not feed these animals. And honestly, [the owners] didn’t feel that the animals were in that bad shape,” says Daniel of the horses. “Animal abuse doesn’t occur in a vacuum. There have to be other mitigating circumstances to have a person not realize that an animal is in distress, because reasonable people, when they’re in trouble, ask for help. People who are emotionally healthy don’t allow this to happen to their pets.”
She encourages anyone noticing an animal in distress to call the shelter at 772-388-3331 x130.
“They can call in anonymously, and we will be more than happy to do a welfare check and intervene if necessary. That’s what happened with horses; we received an anonymous call. If that call had not come in, they would have perished.”