This week’s shelter pet is Sally, a 1½-year-old heeler mix rescued by Kent Animal Shelter from Texas, where sadly many dogs are euthanized. Sally is one of the lucky ones and is very grateful to have a second chance at life! She is eager to please and loves to go for walks with our volunteers. All she needs is a new home. Come on down to visit her!
Sally comes spayed, microchipped and up to date on her vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Sally and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
Recent arrivals from South Carolina, Ginger (white) and Fred (black and white) are 2-month-old Chihuahua puppies currently up for adoption at Kent Animal Shelter. They’re brother and sister and come as a pair, just in time to dress them up for Halloween! Both are so sweet, love to cuddle and give kisses!
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Fred, Ginger and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
Willy, a 1½-year-old gray and white kitty was brought to Kent Animal Shelter to be neutered by a woman who was feeding him as a stray.One of Willy’s eyes was damaged from an infection that went untreated while he was living outside and had to be removed. He’s all healed now and is ready for the next chapter in his life. He loves to play and is an all around awesome cat! Won’t you open your heart to this very special guy?
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Willy and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
This week’s shelter pet is Mickey, a 6-year- old Hound mix rescued from the Bahamas and currently settling in at Kent Animal Shelter.
Weighing in at a healthy 50 pounds, this handsome boy loves to go for long walks. Mickey has the sweetest disposition, and would do great in a family with kids.He comes microchipped and up to date on his vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Mickey and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
This week’s shelter pets are kittens Robin and Raven, 8-month-old female domestic short-haired siblings waiting at Kent Animal Shelter for the next chapter in their lives.
Robin is black and white and Raven is black. They are sweet, docile and playful kittens who would love to be adopted together if possible.
Both kittens are spayed, microchipped and up to date on their vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Robin and Raven and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
Susan Trawick of Setauket devoted more than 20 years to helping Sachem East High School students develop their art skills. All the while, she continued to create her own artwork, primarily in watercolors and oil.
Following her retirement from teaching in 2008, Trawick sought to keep her art skills sharp and maybe even make some new friends. She joined several local art classes, including one taught by her neighbor Mary Jane van Zeijts, owner of Studio 268 on Main Street in Setauket.
‘West Meadow Gates’
Van Zeijts taught Trawick how to use a set of pastels she received from friends as a gift, and she immediately fell in love. “Pastels are definitely my new favorite medium to work with,” Trawick said in a recent interview. “The colors are so vibrant and intense.”
Van Zeijts was so impressed with Trawick’s skills that she invited her to create an art exhibit for the studio. That show, aptly titled Land and Sea Pastel Images, will open on March 24.
Trawick’s passion for art is hereditary, she said — her father loved to draw, and she picked up the hobby in early childhood. She married young and was a stay-at-home mother before attending Dowling College for a bachelor’s degree in fine art and Stony Brook University for a master’s in education. Without hesitation, she cites impressionists as her favorite artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Andrew Wyeth and Joseph Reboli.
While Trawick’s work has appeared throughout the area in various exhibits, this show is the first she’s done solo. It will be almost entirely comprised of pastel art, with one watercolor and one oil painting to give a taste of her other skills.
“Setauket is the best place for an artist to live — the landscapes are so beautiful,” Trawick said. “I love the water, the wetlands, the trees, even the little hills here on the North Shore that the South Shore doesn’t have.”
‘Hidden Stream’
Trawick explained that inspiration for a new piece will strike as she’s out driving or enjoying time outside, especially in the light of early morning or at sunset. When she sees something she wants to paint, she’ll take photos to preserve the memory for later. She also enjoys occasional plein air painting.
Trawick will display more than 30 pieces of varied sizes at the show. Most pieces feature recognizable Long Island scenes, while others show off the beauty of Central Park, Yellowstone National Park and Higgins Beach in Maine, all with brilliant color.
“Susan is an incredibly strong, skilled and prolific artist,” van Zeijts said. “She has used and taught other mediums, but she is so expressive with pastels. It speaks of who she is. We can all relate to her work because a lot of it is local. You can see a picture of Maine and acknowledge it as beautiful, but her Long Island work will be recognizable and enjoyable for people from this area.”
Every piece at Trawick’s show is for sale, with paintings ranging from $50 to $850 and prints for less than $10. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the show will benefit Kent Animal Shelter, a no-kill nonprofit haven for dogs and cats in Calverton, where Trawick has served as a board member for 32 years. Her two dogs and “too many” cats at home are all rescues.
The shelter also offers low-cost and sometimes free spay/neuter services for more than 3,500 animals each year. This critical work helps address excessive breeding, overpopulation and animals left homeless.
“I’ve seen so much suffering of animals in my time doing work with the shelter, so I want to do anything I can to alleviate that suffering,” said Trawick.
Reached by phone, Pam Green, executive director of the shelter, said that Trawick is the quintessential animal lover. “Susan is so devoted and has done a lot of work with helping support our spay/neuter efforts in the area. She also provides a lot of advice for people that come across homeless or sick animals,” Green said.
Studio 268, located at 268 Main St., Setauket will present Land and Sea Pastel Images from March 24 to April 14. The studio is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Join the artist for an opening reception on March 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call 631-220-4529.
Look into my eyes …You are getting veerrrry sleepy. Your eyelids are feeling heavy and you are now asleep. When you awaken you will get into your car and drive to Kent Animal Shelter. You will visit the kitty cottage and meet a wonderful loving 8-month-old kitten by the name of Vivaldi. You will adopt me (Vivaldi). You will then bring me home to live with you where you will serve me by giving me plenty of food, lots of petting and enough loving until I can’t take anymore! When I meow you will awaken and embark on your journey … MEOW!! See you soon!
Vivaldi comes neutered, microchipped, and up to date on vaccines. Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Vivaldi the hypnotist and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
For the second year in a row, Splish Splash Water Park in Riverhead held a Doggie Splash Day fundraiser to raise money to help the homeless animals at the Kent Animal Shelter. The event, which was held on Sept. 10, was dedicated to K-9 fun when pet owners brought their dogs to the park for some water fun of their own and raised $2,500 for the Calverton shelter. “This awesome gift from our pet loving friends at Splish Splash will help to provide food, medical care and spay/neuter to the more than 30 animals that were rescued and brought to the shelter after Hurricane Florence,” said Director Pam Green, pictured in photo on the left with Splish Splash sales manager Claire Smith.
This week’s shelter pet is Mason, a 6-month-old Chihuahua puppy rescued from South Carolina during Hurricane Florence. This sweet little guy arrived at Kent Animal Shelter with his brother Parker. Parker was adopted yesterday. Now it’s Mason’s turn. Come on down and say hello! He comes neutered, microchipped and up to date on vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Mason and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731.
Faith, a 4-month-old black Lab rescued from South Carolina, is now safe at Kent Animal Shelter.
Jack is now safe at Kent Animal Shelter.
Katherine is now safe at Kent Animal Shelter.
By Heidi Sutton
Amid mandatory evacuation orders in the Carolinas and Virginia in advance of Hurricane Florence, many fleeing residents left their pets behind to fend for themselves. For those pets lucky enough to be rescued, they were brought to area shelters already full to capacity. When news spread the animals would start being
euthanized if no one adopted them, Kent Animal Shelter in Calverton quickly joined other outreach groups to make a difference.
Working in conjunction with Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, the shelter took in 12 dogs two weeks ago. “We then sent our own truck down to South Carolina and when they came back last Monday night they had 17 more,” said Pamela Green, Kent’s executive director.
The most recent group of dogs came from South Carolina’s Marlboro and Horry counties, two of the hardest hit areas devastated by flooding. “Those counties were still pretty much under water as recent as last Tuesday so those dogs were from people who lost their homes and relinquished the animals,” Green said. “The people probably don’t have places to live themselves at this point.”
The new arrivals range in age from 9 weeks to 4 years and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The executive director said there are hound mixes “which are common in the South” as well as Labrador mixes and a few Chihuahuas. While many have already been adopted, all the dogs will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped before going to their new homes.
Shelters in areas ravaged by Hurricane Florence announced earlier this week that they are temporarily halting the transport of animals to give residents more time to reclaim their dogs. For the staff at Kent, however, this is only a short reprieve as they are expecting 10 dogs to arrive Sunday from a Missouri puppy mill.
According to Green, the shelter is always looking for foster homes. “Sometimes the animals we get in are a bit traumatized. In the case of the hurricane, they’ve already been exposed to some trauma so then they are transported a very long way and by the time they get here they’re pretty scared or nervous,” she said, adding, “Those animals usually come around more quickly in a foster home.”
Financial donations and supplies such as canned cat and dog food, paper towels, bleach, cat litter, treats, towels and blankets are also appreciated.
Kent Animal Shelter celebrates its golden anniversary this year. The private not-for-profit, located along the Peconic River, opened its doors in 1968. It rescues and finds homes for over 700 dogs and cats each year. “We had almost 100 adoptions this July alone,” said Green proudly, who has been at the helm of the no-kill facility for over 30 years.
Several events have been planned to commemorate the anniversary including the upcoming Wines and Canines Run/Walk fundraiser at the Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard in Calverton Oct. 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person at www.kentanimalshelter.com.
For Green, working at the shelter is a labor of love filled with rewards and happy endings. “I’ve been doing this for 33 years and I still come to the same office because I feel that we are really making a difference here. Maybe we’re not going to save all the animals, but just saving the ones that we can get to changes their lives and changes the lives of people too,” she said. “I still get so much joy out of seeing an animal leave the shelter and go to a new home. It’s the greatest thing – it makes my day.”
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