Companion Pet Rescue has retired, educational endowment created
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Trisha Stilley remembers her very first pet and the heartbreak she felt when it disappeared.
Her pet was a worm kept under a makeshift cage in the yard. It did not occur to her that worms dig themselves into the ground.
"I even tried to corral in a nightcrawler because I didn't have a pet. I came in from lunch and it was gone. I was devastated," Stilley said.
In Spokane, Wash., 26 years ago she began a pet adoption program. She continued her work in animal welfare in Eldorado in 1986 with her co-founder Alex Schreiner of Harrisburg, eventually forming Companion Pet Rescue. The board of Stilley, Grace Stephens of Harrisburg and Edna Rosenberger of Benton retired the program in December 2008.
"It was lack of money, lack of volunteers, foster homes, transporters. And I had a health issue of my own. I had open heart surgery earlier this year," Stilley said.
"When you're hit with something like that you think, 'Oh. I may die. Have I done all the things I want to do?' You think of family and home."
Stilley operates Stiltmore Kennels. She and Schreiner knew there was a problem in Saline County.
"There are an enormous number of unwanted animals in the area and irresponsible pet ownership. Overpopulation and irresponsible pet ownership led us to taking it to the public," Stilley said.
Stilley and Schreiner began their work with the Companion Dogs Unlimited, a canine obedience and care course, educating pet owners, hoping to instill the skills needed for a good relationship with their pets.
"Very often it's behavioral problems and behavioral problems can probably be solved through education," Stilley said.
Common situations involves inability to properly housebreak animals, animals having too many offspring and animals leaving their owner's property and being taken to the pound.
The program evolved into Companion Pet Rescue in August 1991.
Stilley did not want a shelter program that would have quickly been filled; she wanted to find good homes for unwanted pets and build a network of "foster parents" to care for animals until CPR located new homes for the pets.
"We grew into a cybershelter," Stilley said.
CPR entered descriptions of animals in foster care into various Internet databases and built contacts with other pet adoption organizations.
"Our referral program with the Internet made it increasingly easy to network with areas all over the country," Stilley said.
She is proud of what CPR accomplished during its 22 years.
"Through the years we were able to place thousands of dogs that would have wound up in shelters otherwise," she said.
She plans to continue her pet rescue and adoption work, but on a much less time-consuming basis.
"You get rescue in your blood it just doesn't go away. I wanted to make a difference, but I wanted to give up fund-raising, fostering, travel and all the things I've given through lack of volunteers," Stilley said.
Fostering an animal takes a special kind of person. Stilley said many people have trouble letting go of pets they have kept over a period of months. She tells them every dog or cat they let go frees them space for the next rescued animal.
In foster care the animals can receive attention they need that animal shelters lack the volunteers to provide.
Foster owners can housebreak animals and teach them manners.
"When you adopt from a foster home you've got an already made pet," Stilley said.
At Stiltmore Kennels she is providing day care for a 7-month-old beagle pup named Gracie, socializing the dog and admonishing it for jumping on people. Gracie's owner works and would not have time to give the dog the early training she needs.
Cats do not require as much training as dogs. CPR has placed many cats, but overpopulation is severe.
"The need for cat spaying and neutering is essential for Southern Illinois," she said.
Cats prowl all over town at night in Eldorado and the field behind KFC in Harrisburg is filled with cats at night, she said.
On the upside, with no cats the rodent population would explode. But there are too many feral cats and there are more all the time.
She says people have misconceptions about spaying or neutering cats.
"They still hunt and play as much as you interact with them and they are much healthier," Stilley said.
Spayed and neutered cats have less risk of cancer, she said.
Stilley hopes Saline County may one day start a pet licensing program with money raised benefiting the Saline County Animal Shelter.
She is afraid problems with pets are going to get worse before they get better due to economy.
"If people are losing their homes and have no employment (pets) are the weakest link. Who's going to take care of these animals? The economy trickles down and it will be a sad state for animals," Stilley said.
"I think it will be a long row to hoe for animal welfare."
CPR is leaving its legacy in the form of an initial $5,000 educational endowment to Southeastern Illinois College for an annual Companion Pet Rescue Scholarship of $250 or more to a student involved in a field in animal welfare or environmental preservation.
During CPR's existence the group:
-- Built and donated over 750 dog houses for the needy.
-- Successfully re-homed over 15,000 dogs and cats through its referral/foster systems.
-- Logged over 24,000 miles transporting pets to new homes or other shelters.
-- Donated over $5,000 in materials to Saline County Animal Control in the hopes of making life a little better for the animals in their care.
-- Developed a low-cost spay and neuter program that helped hundreds of area residents alter their pets.
-- Helped resolve problems for many area residents who were faced with placing their pets because of behavioral issues.
-- Donated companion animal reference books to local schools and public libraries.
-- Submitted pet care articles and tips and showcased "Pets of the Week" in local newspapers and on radio.
-- Presented educational canine obedience demonstrations and presentations to teach responsible pet ownership to area schools, youth organizations and adult civic groups.
-- Participated in many area festivals and parades with the CPR marching canine drill team -- often taking first place awards -- to demonstrate what great and well-behaved companions dogs can be.
-- Helped several other communities start their own companion pet welfare organizations.
-- Helped other pet rescue groups re-home over 100,000 unwanted dogs and cats.
-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.
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