Pups and their people had a paw-some time recently as more than 250 people – and a good many four-legged friends – turned up at the Sebastian Community Center for the fourth annual Chase Your Tail 5K and 1-Mile fundraiser to benefit the HALO No-Kill Rescue.
HALO (Help Animals Live and Overcome) strives to save homeless pets and protect them from abuse and neglect by offering community resources, education and programming.
Since opening almost 15 years ago, the nonprofit has saved more than 14,000 animals; some 1,500 last year alone. According to Jacque Petrone, HALO founder and executive director, the pandemic brought a whole new set of challenges, with increases in the number of surrenders and medical procedures.
“Just last year, we spent $100,000 more on medical than we’ve ever had to do,” said Petrone.
“It’s very expensive to have a pet. There’s always going to be that population in society that, no matter how much they love their animals, they can’t afford to care for them.”
Her goal is to establish a discounted vet clinic so that HALO can provide low-cost services, including spaying and neutering. Now, as every year, an influx of kittens highlights the importance of spaying and neutering pets.
“We took in over 300 kittens in April last year. We have kittens coming at us in barrels every day. We can always use help with fosters during puppy and kitten season,” said Petrone.
“We did really good during COVID with fosters and adopters because people were home. So, while surrenders were high and medical issues were high, they were leaving as soon as we had them ready to go. Now it’s harder to find fosters and adopters because people are going back to work. We’ve had an increase in surrenders. While people did commit to taking an animal now, they’re moving or working full-time and don’t have the time for the animals,” said Petrone.
She said the collaborative spirit fostered among the local animal nonprofits has been helpful, adding: “This cooperation means there are better resources for the community.”
To keep in touch during the pandemic, they began publishing HALO’s Heartbeat, a resource for pet people that has been so well received that they plan to increase publication to four issues in 2022.
At HALO, no dog is left behind, so they added a fastest dog award this year. HALO adoptee Chance took home a well-deserved basket of pet paraphernalia for crossing the finish line ahead of the dog pack with a time of 28:25 alongside his human, Sherri Glaab. Brandon Rinchack took first place overall with a time of 18:24, and Deborah Szatko finished first in the women’s division with a time of 24:31.
After the race, humans and canines alike gathered for an awards ceremony and breakfast bar, and visited with vendors offering pet products. Adding to the fun, Downtown Hound set up a lure course for the dogs to show off their chasing skills.
Coming up, HALO is hosting Pups, Pints & Pin-Ups from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 23, at Mash Monkey Brewing Company, and on July 11, HALO will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a party.
For more information, visit halorescuefl.org.
Photos by Brenda Ahearn
