Looking for Lunch?

The DCHS Rescue Fund is having a bbq benefit from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. at First Church of God in Darlington. Plates are $7. Proceeds go to the Darlington County Humane Society Rescue Fund.

They also have some delicious homemade desserts for sale courtesy of Bella Domani Salon and Spa, Pat Anderson and Lawann Smothers.

Your Pets and Cold Weather

Please remember to bring your pets in during these cold, freezing temperatures. This is the coldest weather we have had since 1996 and the animals, just like the elderly and plants, need to be sheltered from it.

Also, if you have any old blankets, rugs, mats, towels, etc., and space heaters, please consider donating them to the Darlington County Humane Society. They need these to keep the dogs warm in the outside pens. Thank you for your support and for your compassion.

Reward for Dog Fighters

The Humane Society of the United States is working side by side with the S.C. Attorney General, Henry McMaster to offer up to a $5000 dollar reward for the information leading to the arrest and conviction of a dogfighter.

If you suspect dogfighting in your neighborhood, call one of the numbers below.
YOUR IDENTITY WILL BE PROTECTED.
For more details about the reward program, call: HSUS at 202-452-1100 or the S.C. Attorney General's office at 803-734-3970. You can also call the new Crimestoppers statewide hotline at 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).

BBQ Time!

The Darlington County Humane Society Rescue Team is raising money today with a BBQ fundraiser. Stop by the First Church God, 620 N. Main St., until 2 p.m. or from 4 to 6 p.m. for a plate!

Good news! The group sold 1200 plates by a quarter after noon!

Make Lunch Plans Now

Buy Some BBQ to Benefit the Darlington Humane Society
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 4 in the First Church of God fellowship hall at 620 N. Main St. in Darlington.
$7 per plate. Dine in or take out.
Tickets will be available and donations will be accepted at First Church of God and Bella Domani, 109 Russell Street in Darlington.
All proceeds benefit the Darlington Humane Society Rescue Team.
Info: 393-7942 or www.fcgdarlington.net.

Read more about the team in the Dec. 3 edition of the News & Press and here (The story will be posted by 5 p.m. Wednesday).

Presents for Pets

Paulette Lunn's English V Class at Mayo High School for Math, Science, and Technology in Darlington is holding a drive to raise goods for the Darlington County Humane Society. This project "Presents for Pets" will be collecting Pet Food, Bedding, Pet Toys, Cleaning Supplies, etc. Donations may be made at Mayo High School, Darlington County Recreation Department, and the Darlington County Chamber of Commerce. The students have also constructed a Web site explaining this project and it's address is www.presentsforpets.synthasite.com.

Getting a Bath

Volunteers and board members of the Darlington County Humane Society held a fundraiser dog wash Saturday.

The next dog wash fundraiser is July 12, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Darlington Piggly Wiggly on Pearl Street. The tent is set up on the side of the building facing Edwards Avenue. Donate $10 and your dog gets a wash and organic flea dip, which smells wonderful and is available at the feed store in Hartsville on Railroad Avenue.

If you want to volunteer, go to their next meeting 2 p.m. June 22 at Swift Creek Fire Department. If you don't have time to spare, donations are always accepted. If you have pets, please spay or neuter them.

For more information about the Darlington County Humane Society, click here.

Forgotten lives

Spay Day USA, Feb. 26, has come and gone with little, if any, fanfare in Darlington.

On Saturday at a visit to the Darlington County Humane Society Shelter off Harry Byrd Highway, I saw the effects of this lackadaisical attitude. Every dog kennel had two or more dogs crowded into each fenced area. There were at least three litters of puppies, and three dogs curiously located in one of the "Cat Habitats."

The volunteers were busy cleaning, feeding, walking ... doing all they could do to keep up, but I could see it was wearing on them. As the Darlington County Humane Society said in two meetings last month, the shelter is in dire straits and needs community support.

Everyone in this community needs to do their part. These animals are our responsibility.

The three litters of puppies at the shelter are a perfect example but only the tip of the iceberg. Two of my dogs (I have a total of eight.) were from a litter of puppies dumped in a ditch on a country road. How many other litters have been discarded that way? I hear of people "taking off" their animals because they reproduced, and it sickens me. The owners punish these creatures, often with a death sentence, for something only the people could have prevented in the first place.

If you can only consider these animals as the property they legally are, think about this: Who pays to clean up the trash on the side of the road? The discarded property? The "litter"?

Everyone. And everyone has to pitch in to clean up this problem too. The cheapest and most effective way to head off this problem is to spay/neuter and to educate people about it. Why do we have to let problems multiply before we do something about them?

Isn't it more sensible to fix it before it spreads?

Please help build Darlington County into a better, more responsible community.

Donate. Volunteer. Adopt. Spay/Neuter.

Donate: A few extra dollars, bleach, paper towels, laundry detergent, heavy duty trash bags, hand sanitizer, heavy duty buckle collars, kitten and puppy formula.
Volunteer: Walk dogs, socialize cats, wash bowls, staff events and fundraisers.
Adopt: If you can afford a lifelong commitment to an animal, please choose a shelter pet. As a proud owner of three shelter pets, I can say that those animals are just as loving as pure-bred animals. Often, you can find pure-bred animals in shelters too if that's your fancy.
Spay/Neter: This is the key component to ending the vicious cycle where 600 to 1200 animals are euthanized in Darlington County each year and millions more are euthanized across the United States. One unaltered cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 animals in seven years while one unspayed dog and her offspring can produce 67,000.

For more information, call 843-398-4402 or click here to visit the shelter's Web site.

- Lisa Chalian-Rock