Opinion

PAWS cuts hours

About three weeks ago someone special crawled into my life, and I couldn’t be happier with him.
His name is Niko, and he is a black and gray, longhaired domestic kitten. Niko is about 4 1/2 months old and has every quality a kitten should have…and them some.

After summer had passed and it was time for classes to begin again, Jeremiah Bull and I knew we wanted a little bundle of joy and fur and had our sights set on specifically, Niko.

One day we decided to drop everything and take a trip to Clarion PAWS in hopes of finally meeting him. Bull and I walked in, immediately making a B-line to the kitten cage and much to our surprise, there was a black fur ball underneath two other smaller kittens on a lounge chair.

We knew at that moment he was purrfect for us. About a week and a half later, Niko was in the car coming home with us. Since then he has done nothing but make us smile.

As wonderful as my story of Niko is, there is a downside. Last week, a passionate volunteer for PAWS informed me that the center will be reducing its hours from noon – 7 p.m. to 5 – 7 p.m.

This is leaving those animals with only two hours of interaction.

Does that sound like an adequate amount of time for a kitten to have interaction?

Not only are the hours being cut, but the center will no longer accept cats for adoption, and the current cats there need to be adopted. Reading this news made my heart ache.

As an ardent animal lover, I feel the importance of a no-kill shelter should be considered extremely high in every community, especially one that I am considered a part of.

After hearing this news, I decided to look online for a support page, which I came across on Facebook. When I went to hit the like button the title of the page included the words “Clarion PAWS,” which is a page in support of not only the kittens and cats at the shelter, but also the volunteers.

Today, if you look for said Facebook page, the title would read “Clarion friends of cats support page.”
Scrolling down the page through many posts, one particular post caught my eye.

The post was an email from a former president of the board of directors of Clarion PAWS stating that the name “Clarion PAWS is a legally registered name with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Pet Adoption and Welfare Society, and you do not have license to use that name.”

Following that statement was, “Having consulted with an attorney, we will be pursuing legal cause of action. Please take the Facebook site Clarion PAWS support page down immediately.”

As a viewer, this page was simply in support of the shelter and volunteers themselves to prove how important PAWS is to the Clarion community.

With that being said, if you have a love for animals just as I do, or see the importance of a no-kill shelter, please visit the “Clarion friends of cats support page” and let them know you are there to support them and see what you can do to help.

If you have pets at home, think about how much they’ve added to your life. I know Niko has become part of my family, and I was thankful to adopt him from PAWS.