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Three black, 4-month-old kittens bound around the cat visitation room at the Capital Humane Society. Two volunteers, Lisa Clover and Krista Skarin, watch helplessly as the cats jump on each other and explore the chairs and mop bucket.
Lisa Clover poses three kittens for a photo for the Capital Humane Society's Web site. Pictures of animals attract people looking to adopt new pets. Photo: Jenifer Calandra, NewsNetNebraska
Skarin has been taking photographs of the shelter animals since May, when she showed Alisa Eichorn, director of education and volunteers at the humane society, some pictures she'd taken of dogs playing outside.
"She said, ‘My god, you need to take pictures,'" Skarin said.
She sits at the ready, the viewfinder aimed at the chairs covered in a white sheet, waiting to capture the second the cats pose for the picture. Clover tries to subdue the portrait subjects long enough for this to happen. The volunteers are hoping these photos will help get the kittens adopted before Halloween.
"There's a superstition that nobody wants a black cat," Clover said. "I don't believe it's true, but these guys have been here a while."
For a split second, six green eyes focus on the camera in Skarin's hand. One kitten rolls sideways and knocks the decorative prop, a plastic pumpkin, off the chair. It bounces off the tile floor, and all three cats scatter. Skarin misses the shot.
Without volunteers like Skarin and Clover, the humane society wouldn't be able to keep the shelter running. They exercise, socialize, clean up after and groom the animals. Eichorn, who is in charge of volunteers at the humane society, says volunteers work between 1,100 and 1,200 hours a month.
Volunteers must be at least 16 years old, but volunteers between 13 and 15 years old can help out with adult supervision. Eichorn prepares all volunteers by teaching a mandatory two-hour class in which she explains her expectations and shelter and-animal-handling rules.
"The bottom line is that we're doing things correctly, that we're not jeopardizing the animals here," she said.
Skarin and Clover aren't new to volunteering. Skarin has been donating her time for about a year and a half, and Clover has helped out for at least eight months. Both say they do it because they love animals.
Clover remembers her first time volunteering at the humane society.
"My husband kept saying, ‘No pets.' I came in on a Monday and had a dog by Friday," she said. "I think he knew it was going to happen. It was inevitable."
Clover and Skarin prefer working with cats at the shelter, though. Working with dogs presents different challenges.
Parvovirus, a disease that attacks digestive tracts, sometimes infects dogs at the humane society. People surrender unvaccinated dogs, and sometimes they bring the disease with them. Each time an infected dog arrives, all the shelter dogs are put on 10-day lockdown to prevent the spread of the illness.
Cheryl Codr, left, talks with Lisa Clover about adopting Felix, an adult male cat. Photo: Jenifer Calandra, NewsNetNebraska
Clover takes a break from trying to contain the black kittens when Cheryl Codr comes in to look for a new pet cat. Codr wants an adult cat; the humane society is waiving the adoption fee for them until the end of the year. To Codr, the lower cost is a perk of cat adoption, but mostly she just wants to give one a good home.
"I believe in the humane society and want to support them," Codr said. "I'll send them donations, and I love animals. I do what I can to help."
At home, Codr has a dog and two other cats she adopted from the humane society. Today, she's looking at Felix, an orange and white cat who is about 2 years old. He's in his kennel, staring out at everyone looking at him through the glass room divider. She tells Clover she wants to see him. Once Felix reach's Codr's waiting lap, she knows she wants to take him home.
"With cats, I don't want one that's skittish or afraid, and this one started purring right away," she said. Clover puts Felix back in his kennel and leads Codr to the front desk to fill out adoption paperwork.
At the desk, Codr writes down information about her pets at home. She watches as the humane society staff helps customers find good pets for them.
"I don't think I could work here," she said. "I'd want to take all of them home."
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Editor: Thanks. It's now fixed.