Seven Days Creature Feature

Marvel! at bird-saving cat collars PAGE 4

Delight! in Vermont’s pandemic pets PAGE 8

wonder! at the metamorphosis of butterflies PAGE 14

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Meet the amazing horse lady! PAGE 6

They came from the deep (South)! PAGE 12

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SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

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8

Animal Magnetism Welcome to the first-ever Seven Days Creature Feature

I

n a normal year, the theme issue Seven Dayzers most look forward to — whether they’re writers, editors, sales reps, distribution peeps or designers — is our annual Animal Issue. And that speaks to a universal truth: Everybody loves animals.

But in this, the Year of Oh-Lord-WhatNow-2020, nothing is normal. From the pandemic to widespread sociopolitical and economic strife to freakin’ murder hornets to (shudder) the upcoming election, right now is just different — to put it mildly. So we had to ask ourselves a hard question. In the midst of all that, and when editorial real estate is already at a premium, could we justify devoting an entire issue of our newspaper to, ahem, fluff pieces? The answer was no.

But … there’s always a but.

What we could do, we realized, was produce a new supplement full of the animal stories we love, while the regular paper reports the real-world news we need. In your hot little paws you now hold our first-ever Creature Feature. (Catchy title, no?)

Inside you’ll find content to give you warm fuzzies. For example, scads of Vermonters have adopted pets during quarantine. We found some photogenic new arrivals for a photo essay on VERMONT’S PANDEMIC PETS (page 8).

Many of those ANIMALS COME TO THE GREEN MOUNTAINS FROM SOUTHERN STATES (page 12).

That’s a net positive for cats and dogs who

end up in good homes rather than high-kill shelters in Mississippi or Alabama. But, as Ken Picard reports, the practice also raises complex quandaries, further complicated by pandemic-related travel restrictions.

If your new kitty has a killer instinct, you may want to read Margaret Grayson’s profile of BIRDSBESAFE (page 4). The Vermont company makes colorful cat collars designed to prevent murderous felines from catching birds.

We’re not sure how well those collars would work on a cat who has a thing for butterflies. But we’d still recommend the experience of tending the winged insects if you’re looking for a new pandemic pastime. As Elizabeth M. Seyler writes in an essay on RAISING BUTTERFLIES (page 14), it’s a centering and rewarding pursuit.

And you might just save the world while you’re at it.

Meanwhile, at the CHARLOTTE EQUESTRIAN CENTER (page 6), Ashley Meacham is doing a lot more than just horsing around. Even with the pandemic, Grayson writes, she’s managed to stay in the saddle.

We hope you enjoy reading Creature Feature as much as we enjoyed making it. With any luck, we’ll be back to the full-on Animal Issue next year. On the bright side, when you’re done reading it, this supplement works just as well as our regular newspaper for that most important of jobs: lining litter boxes and birdcages.

DAN BOLLES

4

12

6

14 SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

3

Dressed (Not) to Kill I Birdsbesafe cat collars keep felines from killing songbirds

4

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

COURTESY OF NANCY BRENNAN

t all started with a murderous house cat. His name was George, and he was a skilled killer with an eye for birds.

When Nancy Brennan, a bird-watcher, moved in with George and his owner, who would become Brennan’s husband, she found George’s hobby upsetting, especially when he dragged his prey into the house.

“It was awful,” Brennan said. “I tried a couple different ways to stop him. I tried bells on his collar. I tried extra bells.”

George’s hunting prowess couldn’t be hindered by a bell, and making him an indoor cat was not an option. Once cats are accustomed to going outdoors, Brennan said, it’s extremely difficult to keep them inside. One day, George brought home a ruffed grouse, and an idea popped into Brennan’s head: What if I make George more obvious?

She’d recently been reading about how songbirds, due to a unique eye structure, are extremely sensitive to bright colors. Human eyes contain three color receptors, but many types of birds have four, meaning they’re seeing colors in ways we can’t even imagine.

So Brennan went to her sewing machine and made George a collar out of brightly colored, patterned fabric, sort of like an Elizabethan ruff. Then she waited.

“At first, it was almost hard to believe that he had stopped,” Brennan said, referring to the cat’s hunting. But as the days went by, and then the weeks, she realized the collar was working. “It was such a difference, and [the reduction in kills] was so close to 100 percent for him that it was stunning,” she said.

After about a year, during which George seemed to lose interest in hunting altogether but never showed any negative effects from the collar, Brennan thought it might be time to bring her innovation to the world. What about all the other cats?

She asked herself. If I don’t do this, who will? Birdsbesafe was born.

In Duxbury, Brennan and George were living out a dynamic that exists in millions of homes across the country. The U.S. has somewhere between 58 million and 94 million pet cats. Many of them are allowed to wander outside. And, for years, outdoor cats have been at the center of a roiling debate around the threat they pose to birds, many of which are already vulnerable to climate change and human encroachment into their habitat.

The cat-bird conflict has, inevitably, led to quite a bit of human-human conflict. On a local level, this often comes in the form of Front Porch Forum posts.

BY M A RG A RE T G RAYSON

Sasha wearing a Birdsbesafe collar

My product addresses the actual truth that many people let their cats outdoors.

NANCY BRE NNA N

“Could you please put a bell and collar on your cat? There are nesting birds around my home that this long haired black cat is preying on, not to mention chipmunks,” pleaded one poster in a Burlington neighborhood. “I know COVID has made birders out of many folks out there, so I hope this message finds some traction,” wrote another, who said they’d been chasing cats away from a downy woodpecker nest outside their home.

On a larger scale, cats versus birds became the subject of a lawsuit in New York, where a colony of 30 cats living in a state park threatened the endangered piping plovers that nested there. The

cat caretakers insisted the felines were harmless. The case was settled in 2018, and the cats were removed from the park.

“Personally, I think cats should stay indoors,” Brennan said. “But I don’t control 100 million cats. So my product addresses the actual truth that many people let their cats outdoors.”

Brennan’s business started small in 2009. She sewed all the collars herself. In 2015, a St. Lawrence University professor published a field study that found Brennan’s collars reduced the birds caught by the average cat by 87 percent.

That finding came with a lot of publicity, and Birdsbesafe took off. Brennan now contracts out her sewing within the U.S. Word of mouth accounts for a lot of the company’s success, she said, but there are organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy that also recommend the collars.

Brennan, now in her sixties, is coy about how many collars she’s sold, but she said the company has been her fulltime job since 2015. She’s kept careful track of customer responses since the

beginning and believes she has fine-tuned which fabric colors and patterns are most effective.

Birdsbesafe collars don’t lose their effectiveness over time, Brennan said. In fact, songbirds can get better at spotting them and send warning calls to other birds in the area. She said the collars don’t seem to prevent cats from catching mice and other rodents.

In the future, Brennan hopes to see her product make inroads in Europe, where even more cats tend to spend time outside, she said. Bird-focused organizations already recommend the collar in France and Belgium.

“There are ever-expanding opportunities, and my goal is to help protect the most birds possible,” she said.

George, the original inspiration for the business, has long since passed away.

Brennan has a new cat now. She keeps her feline friend indoors.

Contact: margaret@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Find out more at birdsbesafe.com.

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PHOTOS: MARGARET GRAYSON

Ashley Meacham

In the Saddle

Charlotte Equestrian Center’s Ashley Meacham isn’t just horsing around

A

shley Meacham has a horseshoe tattoo behind her ear and a ring shaped like a snaffle bit resting above her sparkly pink fingernails. She twisted it around her finger absentmindedly as she walked the grounds of Charlotte Equestrian Center in early March.

Her 42-acre horse farm bustled with activity. In the indoor ring, a trainer worked with a horse. Outside, dogs ran free and a worker removed fence posts.

Several veterinarians came in and out in trucks. This summer, after emerging from coronavirus-related shutdowns, the farm has been bustling again.

Meacham bought this place, a horse boarding farm previously known as Steeple Ridge Farm, for nearly $1 million when she was just 21. In the five years 6

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

since, she’s upgraded and added to the operation; she currently has some 50 horses under her watch. At least half of those belong to clients who pay Meacham and her team to board them.

Most are working show horses, worth up to $100,000 apiece, that require aroundthe-clock attention, regular conditioning, and careful tracking of their feed and medicine. Charlotte Equestrian Center also offers lessons, coaching and training, and it facilitates horse sales.

As if that weren’t enough to manage, Meacham also has a 2-year-old daughter. Suffice it to say, she’s got a lot on her plate. Meacham is often in the barn for 14 hours straight taking care of the horses and giving lessons. Still, she said, “It doesn’t even feel like work. I play with horses all day.”

BY MAR GAR ET GRAYSON

In early August, Seven Days checked in with Meacham about how the pandemic has affected her operations. During Gov. Phil Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order, she said, everything shut down — owners couldn’t even visit the horses they were boarding at the farm. But Meacham said her lesson program has actually grown this summer, as kids look for new, socially distanced pastimes. She also plans to offer activities for the days when kids, many of whom are taking part in a hybrid model of schooling this fall, aren’t in classes.

Horse shows are just starting up again, too, Meacham noted. Her farm will host one August 29 and 30.

Below is Meacham’s pre-pandemic conversation with Seven Days about starting a business in her twenties and the work that goes into caring for her equine charges.

SEVEN DAYS: What does a typical day look like for you?

ASHLEY MEACHAM: I get here at 7 a.m.

The other night we didn’t get out of here until nine o’clock. Each horse has its own file. In the file, it has the medications they need, their emergency contact. It’s like a toddler going to school.

These guys are on such a schedule, and they’re used to it. If we leave them outside a little bit longer than they’re used to, they get wild, pacing the fences. Some of them want to get really hyper. Keeping them on a schedule reduces their stress, which can cause ulcers and colic. Horses are so sensitive.

We had a horse that came in the other night from Florida. She got off the trailer, and my barn manager and I were here to make sure she was OK. It’s a stressful trip, being on the trailer for over 24 hours.

Keep your dollars local. Even online.

That’s where all the clients are thankful that I live here on the property. During the night, I checked on her every three hours. Thankfully, we were able to make her comfortable quickly.

SD: How did you get started riding?

AM: My uncle runs Thornapple Farm and does a trash route in Bristol and Middlebury with draft horses. My grandmother bought me my first horse and a ton of lessons. I started when I was 3 or 4, and I was competing. It was a childhood dream. I rode here at Steeple Ridge when I was younger, and I bought my first horse here.

SD: How did you decide to buy the farm?

AM: I went to college at Mount Ida, in Massachusetts. I studied equine management and business management.

At first, I got a really nice job offer working for a show barn down there during my senior year. I was going to stay

They were like, “Are you sure you want to do this, at 21 years old?” I said, “Yeah, it’s my dream.”

I presented my business plan to the bank. I worked with a bunch of professors at school. I graduated college in May and, two weeks after, I closed on this place. I still have not had a graduation party, because I’ve been so busy for five years.

SD: Was there ever a moment when you hesitated and thought, This is a lot to take on?

AM: There was! Right before I was about to close, I was like, “OK, my mortgages are really high.” It took eight months to buy this place, because it took eight months to convince the bankers that I could do this.

I have loans forever.

SD: What made you want to own a place and be the person in charge?

It’s so different from just working in a barn.

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in Massachusetts. The horseback riding down there is way more established than here. But I missed my family. I’m such a homebody.

I was renting another facility around here and opened my business, and I outgrew the facility. So I was either going to build or I was going to purchase somewhere.

We called [previous owner Mindy Hinsdale] and said, “We’re thinking about building a horse facility. What are the pros and cons to building one?” She was like, “I have grandkids coming. Do you want to just buy this place?”

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AM: I like to make my own schedule, and I’m so OCD about making sure everything is made out to a T. It’s such a great feeling when you’re at a horse show and you see one of your horses go in, and someone’s like, “Wow. That horse is gorgeous. That horse looks great.” It feels so awesome.

Being the youngest person, you have to build the trust with everyone. I know I take care of these horses. They’re super healthy. They’re all in show. They all look fantastic.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Contact: margaret@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more at charlotteequestriancenter.com.

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

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All Fur Love Meet Vermont’s pandemic pets BY DA N B O L L E S

W

hen the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, hundreds of thousands of people around Vermont had the exact same thought: Oh, sh*t. An only slightly smaller number of them had an immediate followup impulse: We gotta get a pet.

And so they did.

While it’s impossible to know exactly how many animals have been adopted in Vermont since “social distancing” and “flatten the curve” entered the popular lexicon, anecdotally we know that pet adoptions have skyrocketed. Seven Days reported in April about a run on animals at shelters all over the state. And, as Ken Picard reports on page 12, the surge has continued even

as pandemic-era restrictions and considerations have made it more difficult to import animals into the state.

It’s easy to understand why so many have chosen the defining catastrophe of our lifetime as a great moment to become pet parents. For one thing, isolation is lonely, and pets are wonderful companions.

Also, quarantine provides an opportunity to devote all the necessary love, attention and training to a new furry friend that normally might not be available.

“Puppy training certainly made working from home more interesting, and it’s given us a non-pandemic topic to worry about and to talk about with family,” said Burlington’s Amelia Schlossberg. She’s the human

mom of Sabine, a 9-month-old shelter dog from the South. Plus, Schlossberg added, dogs are great for protection. “Her six-foot dog leash helps us remember to keep far away from strangers when we go on walks!”

Recently, Seven Days put out a call to readers soliciting pictures and stories of pets adopted since the coronavirus arrived — pandemic pets. We received an overwhelming number of submissions, some of which you’ll find here. For even more pet pics, visit sevendaysvt.com.

Alice, aka Bean

z

Contact: dan@sevendaysvt.com

ALICE, AKA BEANZ

SABINE

“It was love at first sight — actually, at her tiny ‘meow.’ Alice has extra toes on all her paws! She wants to be with us at all times: We have a FOMO kitty. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” — Rebecca Silbernagel

“Sabine is very affectionate and loves belly rubs. She only fetches squeaky balls. Her favorite food is peanut butter, and her favorite activity is swimming. She excels at finding and rolling in poison ivy.” — Amelia Schlossberg

13 weeks, Fayston

9 months, Burlington

SPARROW

Twentysomething, Shelburne “Sparrow is his own guy. He’s very independent, a little grumpy, likes to sleep a lot, but he also has a soft side and loves his companion very much. They are pretty much joined at the hip.” — Katherine Lucas Sparrow

Sabine

BERNIE

6 months, Richmond “He’s smart, but he looks like an idiot. He rings a bell by the door when he wants to go outside. He does a bunch of tricks.

We just taught him to jump through our arms like a hoop.” — Holly Dolan and Alan McManus

BOOSH

1 year, Burlington “He is an excellent harmonium player, an Olympic high jumper, a trained insect assassin and a connoisseur of houseplants.” — Sadie Brent and Noah Burton 8

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

Bernie

Boosh

See more pandemic pets online at sevendaysvt.com.

Nala

NALA

12 weeks, Colchester “Nala is an escape artist who can get out of any gated area.

She can also jump super high.

We think she may be half monkey or kangaroo!” — Melissa Gara

John and Owen

JOHN AND OWEN 3 months and 4 months, Cambridge

“They are the cutest kitten and puppy we have ever seen. Owen and John both answer to their name. John the cat is better at fetch. Owen is a lazy puppy.”

— Meagan Beley and Eric Denardo

FLEURY

12 years, South Burlington While many Vermonters have adopted pets during the pandemic, others, like South Burlington’s Nian Wan, have had the opposite experience: surrendering their best friend.

MAISY

6 months, Burlington “Maisy is really smart. Sometimes too smart, which keeps me on my toes. My favorite Maisy trait is when we make eye contact, and that’s enough for her to roll over in ‘belly rub’ position.” — Abby Parker

Maisy

DIMMA

18 months, Winooski “She was known at the rescue for being mean and bitey, but she seems to like me! She loves chasing toys, is obsessed with treats and has been quickly learning how to communicate that it’s time to curl up in my arms to sleep: She makes tiny squeaking meows with her eyes half closed.” — Emily Pogozelski

In March, while studying as part of a clinical internship in Rochester, N.Y., through the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Wan was hospitalized with what her doctors suspected was COVID-19. Four rounds of testing were inconclusive, she said, but it is “almost certain” she had the disease. Fifty-yearold Wan, who is disabled, deteriorated quickly and was eventually placed on a ventilator. Her doctors didn’t expect her to live, and so her service dog, a 12-yearold Maltese named Fleury, was brought to a Rochester animal shelter.

“No one believed I would survive,” Wan said.

She spent eight days in the hospital, three of them intubated. Miraculously, Wan recovered. Not long after, she was reunited with Fleury — thanks largely to the efforts of SUNY Plattsburgh faculty and, specifically, biology professor Nancy Elwess, who stayed in communication with Wan’s family about the dog.

“It is just a reflection of the amazing kindness and teamwork to help save Fleury,” Wan said.

Wan suffers from PTSD and anxiety and has spent about half of her life in mental institutions. But 12 years ago, on a therapist’s recommendation, she adopted Fleury as a service animal. She’s lived independently ever since.

Fleury “has been instrumental in ensuring my emotional stability is maintained,” Wan said. “Fleury gave me a reason to hope, aspire. She provides me the courage to aspire to achieve my goals.”

Wan explained that she tends to be reclusive, but that Fleury helps bring her out of her shell and get out and about.

“I dyed her hair to look like Megan Rapinoe when the [U.S.] women’s soccer team won the World Cup [in 2019],” Wan recalled. “She loves sitting in my shopping basket when we go to the farmers market, and others smile and laugh.

When she goes to the vet, she needs to do her ‘thank you’ tour and greet every single staff person.”

Wan considers herself lucky not only to have survived but especially to have been reunited with Fleury — the Rochester shelter was a kill shelter, she noted.

Other pets, and their humans, haven’t been as fortunate.

“There are animals in shelters all over the country whose owners have died or couldn’t take care of them,” Wan said. “I call those pets the ‘silent victims’ of the pandemic.”

INFO

To see more Pandemic Pets, check out the slide show at sevendaysvt.com.

Dimma ALL FUR LOVE

» P.10 SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

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All Fur Love « P.9

Cee Cee

Bunny

Sydney

Tully

Lunnyy Luch and Snezinka

Willoughby and Bomoseen

Hank

CEE CEE

BUNNY

“She’s a big girl — 17 pounds! And she talks a lot. She also loves to hang out in my home office. When she’s not hanging out with us, she’s working on the computer.

She’s a bit of a workaholic.” — Martha Hull

“Bunny has only one ear. We don’t know the cause, but she doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. She likes to sneak up on our elderly, sight-impaired kitty to snuggle.”

— Julia Ginorio

8 years, Burlington

4 months, Huntington

SYDNEY

TULLY

“Besides being able to levitate, he is ready for every adventure that comes his way.

He has the cutest snore and is an excellent drooler!” — Gwen Schuppe

“Tully gives us the best morning greeting!

It’s our favorite time of the day. He is great at making toys out of things that aren’t toys.” — Lacey and Julian Girard, ages 9 and 6

7.5 years, South Burlington

10

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

13 weeks, Brookfield

WILLOUGHBY AND BOMOSEEN 5 months, Montpelier

“They are sisters and best friends. Our 9-month-old loves them, and they are unbelievably sweet and gentle with him.”

— Emily Byrne

HANK

1.5 years, Pomfret “He’s a big, lovable goofball and has enjoyed all sorts of adventures in his new life. He picks his own blueberries right off the bush.” — Scott Woodward

LUNNYY LUCH (MOONBEAM) AND SNEZINKA (SNOWFLAKE) 8 months, Jericho

“Both kittens are Siberian cats — Snezinka is a colorpoint, but Lunnyy luch is a very rare Bimetallic point (silver and gold).

The kittens have an extreme amount of patience with our family and love to play fetch, keep us company when working on school work or remote working, and snuggle in bed.” — Pauline Jennings

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8/14/20 2:51 PM

Gimme Shelter

How animal welfare groups deal with interstate transports during the pandemic and beyond

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SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VT DOG RESCUE

N

ormally, when Brigitte Thompson’s dogs reach the end of their journey to Vermont, she lets them out of their crates and gives them time to play, wrestle and chase each other around on the grass — “letting dogs be dogs,” as she put it.

Thompson runs VT Dog Rescue, a nonbrick-and-mortar shelter founded in 2015.

The Hinesburg nonprofit works with about 75 volunteers around the state to import, foster and find permanent homes for dogs pulled from shelters in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Pre-COVID-19, the group had vans arriving in Vermont every two weeks, importing about 300 dogs per year.

These days, Thompson cannot allow the ritual of volunteers congregating in a central location to greet each pup as it emerges from the vans. After their road trip, which can last 18 hours or more, the dogs are whisked away by volunteers to their foster homes. There’s no pause to cuddle new puppies or throw Frisbees to older dogs.

“All that had to stop,” Thompson lamented. “It’s very, very different, but that’s the only way we could follow the rules.”

After Gov. Phil Scott issued his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order in March, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development released new rules and guidelines that deemed shelter employees “essential workers.” Shelters could continue caring for animals already in their custody but were prohibited from importing new ones from out of state.

In some respects, the pandemic created a perfect storm for animal welfare groups.

As the economy tanked and millions of Americans lost their jobs — and, in some cases, their housing — charitable donations dried up and more animals were surrendered. Meanwhile, interest in acquiring pets surged, as people who were now homebound sought the comfort of companion animals.

But the greater supply of shelter animals didn’t necessarily satisfy the increased demand. When Vermont effectively shut off its pipeline of out-of-state pets, it created logistical and financial problems for many of the state’s animal rescue groups. And as the rules were updated, each organization interpreted them differently. Some resumed importations; others did not.

When the rules were first released in March, the Humane Society of

Puppies fresh off the van at VT Dog Rescue

A puppy from VT Dog Rescue

Chittenden County already had a transport en route from the South with 60 dogs and cats aboard, according to president and CEO Joyce Cameron. All those animals were adopted within four days. In one week alone, HSCC received 450 applications from people wanting to become foster parents. Said animal care manager Cynthia Harris Cole, “We cannot keep kittens in the building. They just fly out of here.”

So, how many transports have arrived at the South Burlington humane society since March? None, Cameron said.

“Our partners right now are chomping at the bit,” she added, referring to their source shelters down South. “They have animals, and we have huge demand. And here we are, sitting with a limited supply.”

Nearly all of Vermont’s nine humane societies rely on interstate transport animals as revenue streams. For HSCC, the state’s largest, adoption fees from mostly out-of-state rescues account for 25 percent of the organization’s $1.2 million budget. Humane societies and non-brickand-mortar shelters elsewhere in the state, which have smaller populations and fewer strays, are even more reliant on transport animals. They’re “feeling the hurt more than we are,” Cameron added.

By mid-May, VT Dog Rescue, which operates almost exclusively on adoption fees, devised a way of getting rescue dogs to Vermont safely. Its Mississippi-based transport driver quarantines for a week before traveling north. The cargo van, which holds 30 dogs, is equipped with a bathroom and all the food and water she and the animals need. The driver sleeps in the van and only gets out to fuel the vehicle and to feed and walk the dogs.

BY K EN P ICAR D

But not all shelters took the risk to receive rescues. Jessica Danyow is executive director of Homeward Bound, Addison County’s Humane Society in Middlebury.

In mid-March, Homeward Bound closed its doors to visitors and suspended all adoptions for three weeks. Her staff of 12 continued caring for the animals on hand and accepted local strays. But Homeward Bound stopped importing animals from the South — and not just because of the state mandate.

“To me, bringing a bunch of animals and people across the border that have been traveling up the East Coast just made no sense,” she said.

By mid-April, Homeward Bound had switched to an appointment-only adoption system, which it’s still using. It converted its three-season porch, with its large windows, into a cat viewing area where people could see the animals and transact adoptions through a slot.

Dogs were easier to meet, Danyow explained, because they could be brought outside on a leash. And though visitors were still permitted to physically interact with potential pets, Danyow found that many were willing to adopt based solely on discussions with Homeward Bound’s staff and foster parents.

In early August, Vermont began allowing rescue animal transports from out of state without imposing geographic restrictions or mandatory quarantine periods.

But even as those caravans began rolling again, they’ve fueled discussions that were already under way about the long-term implications of this interstate trade.

In the last 20 years, Vermont has become a prime destination for thousands of shelter animals rescued primarily in the South. It’s difficult to determine how many are imported annually, said state veterinarian Kristin Haas, because Vermont has few regulations governing the practice.

What is known: New England has a higher rate of spaying and neutering than other regions, so it doesn’t have comparable challenges with animal overpopulation. Consequently, many Vermonters (including this reporter) have adopted multiple animals from other states.

When done responsibly and humanely, animal welfare experts say, such transports can be mutually beneficial to the “source” communities where those animals are rescued, as well as to the “destination” communities that desire those pets and can offer them loving homes.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY

But experts caution that the interstate transports can also create unintended consequences, leading some rescue groups to rethink whether the practice fulfills their purported missions.

B.J. Rogers has been an animal welfare advocate for 15 years. Prior to his current position with Emancipet, an Austin, Texasbased nonprofit provider of low-cost veterinary services, he was vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and before that, CEO of HSCC in South Burlington.

Rogers isn’t necessarily opposed to interstate transports if they’re done right.

But, as he pointed out, the practice has downsides. Transport animals can spread infectious diseases, such as intestinal parasites and heartworm, from areas of high to low prevalence.

In source communities, the tendency to transport only the animals deemed highly adoptable — notably, kittens, puppies and smaller dog breeds — can exacerbate preexisting income disparities by leaving behind less-desirable animals that have significant behavioral or health problems, which are more difficult and expensive to care for.

And for some organizations, Rogers added, adoption fees become the sole purpose of interstate transports, creating a revenue stream they rely on for their survival. That dependence, he said, “can sometimes create this perverse incentive to engage in transport on a high volume that’s more about sustaining the organization and its local relevance than it is about addressing the larger issues of animal welfare.”

Such concerns aren’t lost on Homeward Bound’s Danyow, who is also president of the Vermont Humane Federation, a coalition of organizations that includes the state’s nine humane societies, as well as wildlife and farm animal protection organizations, national animal welfare nonprofits, and low-cost spay and neuter groups.

When rescue groups partner with out-of-state shelters but don’t address the underlying causes of their animal overpopulation, Danyow said, “You’re just bailing out the ocean with a bucket.”

For this reason, Homeward Bound gets its transport animals through St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, which runs a way station program in Madison, N.J. For every animal Homeward Bound receives, it pays $50 to St. Hubert’s 44 source shelters. Those shelters, which are as far away as Puerto Rico and California, then use that money on vaccinations, spaying and neutering programs, and improving the conditions of animals in their communities.

Like other humane societies, HSCC is

A new arrival at the Humane Society of Chittenden County

Kitten transport van

We cannot keep kittens in the building. They just fly out of here.

CYNTHIA H A RRI S CO L E

rethinking interstate transports, Cameron said, with an eye on community services that better meet the organization’s mission.

Consider the case of Josie, who had all her teeth pulled out earlier this year.

Stacey Miller, her owner, said the dog has never seemed happier and is barking and playing like a puppy again.

“Her tongue sometimes falls out of her mouth,” Miller added, “but she’s a whole new dog now.”

Josie, an 11- to 13-year-old Yorkshire terrier — her age is a vet’s best guess — was staying at HSCC when animal care manager Cole noticed her rotten teeth.

Realizing the dog likely was in pain, she

recommended that Josie see a veterinarian at Green Mountain Animal Hospital in South Burlington, who extracted her teeth.

At the time of Josie’s surgery, she was staying at HSCC temporarily. Miller, who’d adopted her from a Tennessee shelter, had lost her home in October 2019 and couldn’t find an apartment that would allow animals; Miller also has a 5-year-old cat named Miley.

“Honestly, we slept in my car sometimes,” she said, “but I couldn’t give up my pets.”

Miller, who was struggling financially, took advantage of two programs HSCC offers to low-income Vermonters. The Good Neighbor Program provides up to two weeks of emergency pet housing if their owners are hospitalized, incarcerated, or lose their job or housing. Miller also benefited from HSCC’s Rainy Day Pet Fund, which provides emergency veterinary care and spay and neutering services to financially insecure Vermonters.

Programs such as these, Cameron said,

are “the wave of the future” for humane societies, as many adopt a communitybased model called “human-animal social services.” Its goal is to reduce the relinquishment of animals to shelters and to keep people and their pets together.

Cameron readily acknowledges the conundrum: On one hand, there’s a high demand in Vermont for transport animals for adoption. On the other hand, importing dogs and cats from out of state reduces the space available for animals rescued or surrendered locally.

“There have been times when we’ve had a three-week waiting list for people to relinquish their animals,” explained Cameron, whose facility can house only 20 dogs at a time. “It doesn’t feel good for me to be putting community members on hold. Normally, when someone is relinquishing an animal, it’s highly emotional and there’s usually a good reason behind it and time is of the essence.”

No one in Vermont’s animal welfare community suggested that the practice of interstate animal importation would cease anytime soon — during the pandemic or beyond. But animal welfare advocates were eager to remind Vermonters to do their research before adopting animals from out of state, especially without meeting them first.

As state veterinarian Haas noted, it’s difficult to know whether that animal has been evaluated for behavioral problems — such as biting or aggression toward children or other animals — or underlying health issues. Haas has heard stories of new pet owners facing considerable vet bills, or worse, after adopting animals sight unseen.

Haas also cautioned Vermonters against adopting pets from organizations that won’t allow visitors on their premises or provide veterinary or vaccination records.

Finally, Vermonters should ask about an organization’s return policy if the placement doesn’t pan out. Humane societies often end up with animals adopted through other rescue groups, either because that organization lacks the resources to take them back or it has no available foster homes.

“It’s very compelling to go online and see a picture of a cute little puppy and think, Gosh, I’ve got to have this dog!”

Haas said. “But there’s some homework that people should be doing before making emotionally based decisions.”

Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more at vtdogrescue.com, hsccvt.org and homewardboundanimals.org.

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Butterfly Bodega A How an accidental pollinator project lifted my spirits

mong my favorite short stories when I was a teen was Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder.” In it, a frightened time traveler falls off the approved levitating path in a prehistoric jungle and inadvertently steps on and kills a butterfly. When he and his companions return to 2055, life has changed: The English language is different, and a fascist president has won the election, not his sane opponent who had won when they’d left for the past.

I’ve long wondered about the sequence of events that could take place over millennia, from prehistoric dead butterfly to altered current reality. Recently, I’ve mused on the opposite sequence: Could six butterflies raised and released at my home in the urban outback of Vermont alter the future for the better? In my wildest dreams, could their influence reverse our current trajectory toward ecological collapse and a fascist police state?

It all began when I brought in some fresh dill from the garden. I put it in a jar of water and noticed two tiny black-andwhite things. Each was barely the length of a piece of rice and remained very still on its dill frond. By morning, they had doubled in size.

A quick online search revealed that they were eastern black swallowtail instars, the first stage of the species’ development from egg to butterfly. A few days later, they had turned into small green caterpillars with black bands and yellow spots. I was hooked.

Over the next week, I brought four more in from the garden (others were eaten by birds) and set up an impromptu butterfly nursery. I gave them fresh dill every two days and dumped their frass, collected on newspaper, into the garden.

Curious about whether raising these butterflies was a good idea, I spoke with Margaret Skinner, a research professor of integrated pest management at the University of Vermont. She encouraged raising them because all butterflies are helpful pollinators, and this species doesn’t generally pose a threat to the common Vermont crops it eats, such as carrots, celery, parsnips and parsley.

The six caterpillars settled into an enviable routine: eat, poop, rest, repeat.

While consuming the delicate herb, their maneuverings were worthy of Olympic gold. With back legs secured on a dill spear, they’d walk their front legs to the end of it, reaching the very tip while arching back nearly in half, like a gymnast touching 14

SEVEN DAYS CREATURE FEATURE 2020

STO RY & PH OTOS BY E L I ZAB ET H M. S EYL ER

This caterpillar species is known to roam far and wide to find its perfect spot. And, depending on the conditions present when it turns into a chrysalis, it may emerge in a week or in the following spring. Still intent on protecting them from birds (who benefit from bird feeders and a birdbath in my yard), as soon as each showed an inkling to roam, I put it in a large mesh, nylon clothes hamper that I’d fashioned to open and close easily, with a soft towel at the bottom.

As they motored across the top of the hamper, upside down, I could see their 16 little feet moving in a perfect, synchronous pattern. It was a beautiful sight, like water rippling on a lake, or a pianist playing arpeggios.

Once in its selected spot, each caterpillar spun delicate strands to attach itself, and then bowed its head forward to form a J shape and shrank by half its size over a few days.

Then, in a span of roughly four hours, its body went through a biochemical transformation from top to bottom, turning from caterpillar into chrysalis. It never spun a cocoon A newly formed chrysalis and disappeared; it simply morphed into a new structure, like a shapeshifting magician.

I’d never before studied insects so closely and found them fascinating and calming. The state of the country and the planet often keeps me up at night, stuck in fight-or-flight mental loops. Watching and nurturing these creatures rooted me firmly in the present, and a dance performance I created a week later based on their movements anchored me in my body, where equanimity is accessible.

Most of the butterflies emerged hours before I saw them and could bring them outside. But one emerged just minutes before I’d checked, and I watched her go through the most amazing transformation. Just out of the chrysalis, she looked drenched, and when she happened to fall to the bottom of the hamper, she crumpled in a heap like wet silk. After she had

An eastern black swallowtail caterpillar

Watch a video of an eastern black swallowtail caterpillar devouring dill at sevendaysvt.com.

Watching and nurturing these creatures rooted me firmly in the present. head to feet on a balance beam.

They’d chomp on the tip while walking their legs in advance back down the spear until they’d devoured it completely.

After eating their fill and stopping to rest, they’d vibrate for about a minute before expelling a round, green wad of caca, reminiscent of a loose cannon shooting a ball — or a president spouting nonsense.

As I chopped dill one day for a salad, I marveled at the fact that the caterpillars and I love the same food. Research scientists tackling human diseases work with fruit flies because about 60 percent of their genetic code is identical to that of humans. How many double helixes do we share with dill-loving caterpillars? I’m still sleuthing that one.

Once they were about two inches long, they stopped eating for a few days and remained still. Then they headed off in search of a spot worthy of attaching their chrysalis.

A female eastern black swallowtail butterfly

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An eastern black swallowtail butterfly letting its wings harden

crawled back up to the top, she hung upside down, wings dangling to dry and harden. I took the hamper outside, opened it and watched. About an hour later, she crawled out on top of the hamper, opened and closed her wings for 20 minutes, flew to the nearest bush, and disappeared into the sky.

In total, three males and three females ate their way to freedom at my butterfly bodega. It’s easy to tell them apart by looking at their open wings from above. Males are black with bright yellow spots; females are black with muted yellow spots and bright blue markings on the lower part of their wings.

Though I opened the hamper for some butterflies while I was working and couldn’t watch them for long, each one waited until I was right there before flying off. Perhaps they were thinking, Thanks for the protection. We’re off to heal the world! But they also could have been thinking, We’ve changed you.

Go heal the world! Either way, there’s hope.

Contact: elizabeth@sevendaysvt.com

A caterpillar with dill in the altered clothes hamper

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