January 15, 2021 | Vol. 2 Iss. 02
$1.50
ANIMAL LOVERS GIVE OF THEIR TIME
Volunteers donate thousands of hours to County Shelter
KAREN SEIFERT NUZZLES a cat at the shelter. She is a volunteer photographer and drives from Tooele every week.
Photo by Judy Kiel
By Becky Ginos becky.g@davisjournal.com
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AYSVILLE—Every Sunday Karen Seifert drives from her home in Tooele to Animal Care of Davis County (ACDC) to photograph cats. For the past year, she’s put in more than 147 volunteer hours. Seifert is one of 275 active volunteers who give their time to help animals in Davis County. “Our service volunteers gave 4,324 hours and above in 2020,” said Maria Bingham, Volunteer and Events Coordinator for ACDC. “It was super surprising, especially with COVID. In the past there’s been four or five volunteers but in the last two or three years it’s really grown.” Bingham said dog walking is the most popular, contributing 50 percent of the volunteer hours. “A lot of people have a lot of fun. They do clicker training and give them a treat to reinforce good behavior. It helps with potential adoptions.” Volunteers provide stimuli for the dogs and enrichment such as toys and treats. “It’s cute with our younger volunteers who can’t come in. We have them make toys or blankets at home. The animals love it. We’ve noticed more younger volunteers with kids doing school online.”
ACDA welcomes 4H, scouts and youth groups to volunteer. “We accept pretty much everybody,” she said. “We also have fostering services. Community members can volunteer to take kittens or dogs usually between March and September. It’s another route to help animals in a less stressful environment and to see how they react to others and if they’re good with people, etc.” Cats need a lot of care Bingham said. “Socialization is a big one with cats. They still need to be loved and get used
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It’s cute with our younger volunteers who can’t come in. We have them make toys or blankets at home. The animals love it. Maria Bingham
to people. They come out and say ‘please pet me, please love me.’ We have our younger volunteers read to them so they get used to voices and feel their presence. It makes their living space comfortable.
We try to create a fear free atmosphere. Cats have a hard time adjusting.” Bingham said Seifert only specializes photographing cats. “They like to
Please see VOLUNTEERS: pg. 9