Category: News

SPCA Serving Erie County Paws for Love: HOUSE CALLS, Providing Virtual Comfort to Your Home!


April 2, 2020
By: SPCA Chief Communications Officer Gina Lattuca

UPDATE, MAY 5: Starting today, receive a dose or two of virtual comfort from our Paws for Love animals as they make their house calls right on the SPCA’s Facebook page! Get your daily dose of therapy here!

OUT-OF-WORK THERAPY PETS SEEK VIRTUAL COMFORT OPPORTUNITIES!

The SPCA Serving Erie County Paws for Love therapy animals have officially been relegated to house calls. Make that VIRTUAL house calls.

These Paws for Love power-paws (and feet!) have the ability to heal and comfort right through your screen…from their houses to YOUR houses!

No pharmacy visits. No trips to the doctor. No active ingredients you can’t pronounce.

Gunnar and Howdy are trying to relieve the stress of folks getting a busy signal every time they call Unemployment.

Simply stay home and visit this SPCA Serving Erie County Paws for Love: HOUSE CALLS playlist! Each visit will bring you one of our four-footed ‘out-of-work’ Paws for Love therapy pets offering some holistic, home-side comfort…and we guarantee you’ll be feeling better in no time!

Plus, now you can tune in to WKBW-TV Ch. 7 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning between 6:45 a.m. and 7 a.m. for your 3x/weekly dose of PAWS FOR LOVE comfort and therapy! With Ch. 7’s help, you’ll feel a little comfort first thing in the morning! What a way to start the day!

Wilma misses her therapy work so much that she’s taken to hoarding
Ruby decided to take a cue from Wilma
Winston misses his visits to Children’s Hospital, the Buffalo Niagara Airport, and Greenfield Manor.
This hiatus from therapy work has taught Sydney that a big part of effective therapy is to let others play the therapist!
Yeti and Rubie are ready to return to their work comforting people at any moment…but for now, HOUSE CALLS will have to do!

SPCA Paws for Love: HOUSE CALLS begins on WKBW-TV this week. Can’t wait? Visit this playlist for daily doses of HOUSE CALLS comfort! Then click the image below to see Ch. 7’s Jeff Slawson introduce the House Calls feature!

For more information, contact SPCA Chief Communications Officer Gina Lattuca: 716-875-7360, ext. 211.

UPDATE April 14, 2020:
Read more about the all-new SPCA Paws for Love: HOUSE CALLS, Project ECMC, bringing Paws for Love healing and comfort to the hardworking staff at Erie County Medical Center, here >>

 

SPCA Serving Erie County: CONTINUING TO SERVE

May 5, 2020 — While many businesses are required to pause their work during our health crisis, animal shelters are on the list of essential businesses in New York State. This means that, while limiting what we can offer Erie County, we can still do everything possible to serve the people and animals of our community, and that includes wild animals.

Check out this update from the Wildlife Department of the SPCA Serving Erie County. Clearly the wild work is definitely taking flight this spring:

Spring migration is fully underway! Baltimore orioles have been sighted at area feeders and ruby-throated hummingbirds are never far behind! (People used to think that hummingbirds hitched a ride on the backs of migrating geese, but now we know that these tiny iridescent birds fly 500 miles NON-STOP across the Gulf of Mexico under their own power!)

To the delight of area birdwatchers, warblers have begun arriving in the past few days. In the spring, these tiny colorful songbirds migrate huge distances from their wintering grounds in the tropics to their nesting grounds in the north. The first to arrive in late April are pine warblers and palm warblers, followed soon after by yellow warblers and yellow-rumped warblers. The first two weeks of May are when we really see the full range of warblers passing through, from the understated black-and-white warblers to the beautiful and elusive cerulean, blackburnian, and prothonatary warblers.

Other neotropical migrants include swifts and swallows, herons and bitterns, flycatchers, sandpipers, and other shorebirds.

One hazard that these birds face on their long migration is completely unexpected: SHARKS! It was recently discovered that small songbirds make up a not-insignificant part of the diet of baby tiger sharks! (https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/tiger-sharks-eat-songbirds).

We received our first baby mallards this week and will begin to have waterfowl volunteers coming in to care for them starting next week! We also received two goslings who are now being fostered by a nice family of Canada geese at Tifft Nature Preserve!

Other notable admissions this week include two baby short-tailed weasels (also known as stoats), three baby chipmunks, and our first baby birds of the season!

Finally, the least bittern who has been our guest since November 1 is almost ready to go! He has been living in an outdoor enclosure for the past week, and as soon as the weather is cooperative we will be releasing him!

— James Sevigny, SPCA Serving Erie County

Can you assist ill family members or friends by caring for the household pet(s) if someone becomes ill? If so, please copy and share one of these infographics, courtesy of Animalsheltering.org:

SPCA Serving Erie County:  CONTINUING TO SERVE

April 28, 2020 — The SPCA Serving Erie County is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to assist The Belle Center, a community partner of Buffalo Public Schools, by sharing with them several boxes of books, notebooks, pens, pencils, soccer balls, food, and drawstring bags. Center representatives will use these items in care packages they’re assembling for local families in need!

The mission of The Belle Center is to offer innovative educational, social and community building services for children, youth, senior citizens and families living in Western New York. Learn more about the center here.

SPCA Serving Erie County: CONTINUING TO SERVE

April 27, 2020 — The SPCA Serving Erie County’s Officer Jennifer Maleskis rescued these baby weasels from Wegmans on Sheridan Drive in Williamsville April 25 and brought them to our wildlife hospital at our 300 Harlem Rd., West Seneca shelter.

Jimmy in the SPCA’s Wildlife Department worked with them to ensure they were healthy enough to be transferred to a local wildlife rehabilitator for a somewhat “extended” stay until old enough to release!

To see what services the SPCA Serving Erie County is offering the community during its COVID-19 response phase, please visit https://YourSPCA.org/COVIDResponse.

The Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) state in a recent document concerning COVID-19’s transmission between humans and animals, “CDC is aware of a small number of pets, including dogs and cats, to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19. Only a few of the animals reported to be positive showed signs of illness.” Read that entire document from the CDC by clicking the image below.

SPCA Busy with Wildlife Rescues!

April 24, 2020
By: SPCA Communications Manager Bethany Kloc

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SPCA’s Wildlife Department is asking community members with wildlife concerns to call them before bringing an animal in to help determine if what they’re seeing is an emergency. Information can be found on our COVID-19 Response page.

WOOD DUCK RESCUE

On April 21, the SPCA’s Wildlife Department received a call about a Wood Duck who had been hit by a car in Tonawanda. “Wood ducks are a very sensitive species that are easily stressed, so we have to be especially careful with this bird,” said Wildlife Department Director Barb Haney. “When he was brought in, we took an X-ray and found that he had a broken radius, a wing bone. We’re caring for him now and we’re hopeful that he’ll make a quick recovery so we can release him back to the wild as soon as possible.”

     

CROW RESCUE

On April 22, a crow was admitted to the Wildlife Department after a good Samaritan found the bird tangled in fishing line and stuck in water. When admitted, the crow was tired and very wet, and luckily, none of his bones were broken. The fishing line was immediately cut off, and he was given pain medicine and food. He rested over night in the Wildlife Department. After an examination the next morning, the crow was cleared to be released and SPCA Officers Maleskis and Wlodarczyk had the privilege of releasing him back to the wild!

LOON RESCUE

On April 23, the SPCA’s Wildlife Department Director Barbara Haney received a call from a Buffalo citizen who was surprised to find a bird, who the caller thought was possibly a goose with a broken leg, on the caller’s second-floor balcony. “I asked him to text me a picture and immediately I knew it was a Common Loon — a species of special concern in New York State. The gentleman thought the bird looked like it had a broken leg because of the loon’s anatomy.” Common Loons spend most of their lives in water and walk clumsily on land, because their legs are located far on the rear of their bodies.

Because this is a very special bird, SPCA Officers Maleskis and Wlodarczyk went on the rescue call. Wearing PPE, they walked through the man’s apartment to the balcony and rescued the loon. They brought the loon to Dr. Karen Slote, the SPCA’s wildlife veterinarian and local expert on this very delicate species. “Migrating loons don’t breed in Buffalo and my guess is that he was on his way to Canada. If you see loons in area lakes, they’re just stopping by for food. I don’t know how in the world he got stuck on a balcony but once he was there, he probably had difficulty taking off. He was dirty and exhausted when I got him. Currently I’m caring for him around the clock,” said Dr. Slote.

     

The American Veterinary Medical Association has released a statement regarding the confirmation of COVID in two New York State cats. Read that statement and find more information on testing pets here.

April 22, 2020

The USDA has released a document regarding the confirmation of COVID in two cats residing in separate parts of New York State.

Included in this document is the following statement: “Public health officials are still learning about SARS-CoV-2, but there is no evidence that pets play a role in spreading the virus in the United States. Therefore, there is no justification in taking measures against companion animals that may compromise their welfare. Further studies are needed to understand if and how different animals, including pets, could be affected.”

Read the full USDA document here.

April 22, 2020

Today is the 50th Anniversary of #EarthDay!

Visit the SPCA’s Facebook page at 9:50 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 11:50 a.m.,
12:50 p.m., 1:50 p.m., and 2:50 p.m. for live videos from our Wildlife Director Barbara Haney and her team at the SPCA Serving Erie County!  They’ll tell you about why Earth Day is so important not only on a global scale, but why it matters to us (and our wildlife) right here in Western New York!

And we’re not forgetting the kids at home; during the 12:50 p.m. video children will learn how to make a bird house, and at 2:50 p.m. there will be a book read especially for kids to help them learn the importance of every living thing on earth! You won’t want your kids to miss these Earth Day edition videos!

Find the SPCA’s Facebook page right here >>

Couldn’t tune in?
-Find Video 1 from 8:50 a.m. here >>
-Find Video 2 from 9:50 a.m. here >>
-Find Video 3 from 10:50 a.m. (includes a behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening in various departments of the SPCA) here >>
-Find Video 4 from 11:50 a.m. here >>
-Find Video 5 from 12:50 p.m. here >>
-Find Video 6 from 1:50 p.m. here >>
-Find Video 7 from 2:50 p.m. here >>

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