Feb. 13, 2002 – Betty Gerhardt, treasurer of the Animal Care Center of St. John, received a welcome although "very surprising" telephone call Tuesday. "It was from the Property and Procurement Department on St. Thomas," she said. "They said they were faxing me a contract to sign Wednesday."
The St. John animal shelter, like those on St. Thomas and St. Croix, has been unfunded for almost three years for services provided to the V.I. government. Government House issued a statement on Friday citing Agriculture Commissioner Henry Schuster as saying that all three shelters had received Fiscal Year 2002 funding — $75,000 each for St. Thomas and St. Croix and $10,000 for St. John.
However, Schuster said on Tuesday that the money had been "released" but hadn't made its way through the maze of paperwork necessary to get the checks into the bank accounts of the shelter organizations.
While the call from Property and Procurement was encouraging, Gerhardt said, "I'm not holding my breath on this one."
For months, she has been calling the Agriculture Department offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix to find out where the St. John agency's funding is. "They are very nice on the phone and say they will call back, but they never do," she said.
All three shelters received their 1999 funding only last year. So far, no funding has been received from the present administration.
The Animal Care Center, which Gerhardt said everyone calls "the Shack," is entirely a volunteer operation. "We are a no-kill shelter, which means we will save any animals that aren't too sick or diseased," she said That is a noble, but expensive proposition. "It costs us about $20,000 a year just for food and medical expenses," she said.
At the center, located in Cruz Bay, stray cats are sheltered and fed each evening by volunteers; it's hoped the animals will be adopted.
The center also has a spaying and neutering program for feral cats — those that run wild and must fend for themselves. "Please tell people about it," Gerhardt said. "Every month, usually the third or fourth Thursday, we take the cats to Cruz Bay Canines, Cats and Critters, where they give us a discount for the work."
People interested n this service should call the shelter at 774-1625 and leave a message, she said. The center will supply humane cage traps called "Have a Hearts" to anyone wanting to capture the wild animals and bring them in for the spay/neuter program.
"Frequently people want the cats back after they've been fixed," Gerhardt said of those who've taken advantage of the program. "They don't mind feeding them; they just don't want kittens, and they don't want the males spraying."
The St. John community is "wonderful, very, very supportive," Gerhardt said. "We get lots and lots of donations, and the St. John Times and the Tradewinds newspapers run free ads for us for adopting the animals."
But that's not the best part. The shelter received a surprise $18,000 in donations last year from what Gerhardt described as "the funniest thing I've witnessed in my entire life." It was the "Wagapollooza" dog show dreamed up by Jan Donnelly of the Jolly Dog shop in Coral Bay. Anyone could enter their dog in the show, for a fee.
In addition to the entry fees, contributions came in from local business sponsors and from the sale of T-shirts featuring the sponsors' logos. "Loads of people came," Gerhardt said. "It really was fun."
While the center isn't ready to announce its fund-raising plans for this year, she hinted that something big is in the making.
The volunteers at the center, which Gerhardt said has been in existence for about 10 years, use their own vehicles for pickups and other causes. They are hoping to improve the center facility this year, but that will depend on funding.
The center has received calls about the donkeys that run wild on the island but can't help with that problem. "They have to be taken care of by the Agriculture Department," Gerhardt said. "We are a group of rather small women, and we can't pick up donkeys."
"People assume we are government funding," Gerhardt said. "They don't realize no one is getting paid to answer our calls. It's the generous donations we get, right out of the blue sometimes, and our own funds that keep us going."
Two veterinarians, Dr. Laura Palminteri on St. John and Dr. Andrew Williamson on St. Thomas (who makes a monthly call to St. John), give the group good discounts for their services, "but that's still money," Gerhardt said.
Gerhardt, who in her business life runs Scandic Executive Services, said she isn't counting the ways to spend the still-elusive $10,000 yet. When the check does arrive, it will be a matter of prioritizing. She estimated current shelter operation costs at about $20,000 a year.