By Staff
J and J’s Homeless Pet Rescue has been in existence in Beaufort County since May 2005. Since then approximately 200 animals have been moved from county shelters throughout eastern North Carolina either to other rescues or into J and J’s own foster network.
This is only a fraction of the 3,000 animals who are killed in Beaufort County alone every year. There is a tremendous need for foster homes and funding to care for these homeless animals. Spaying and neutering is the only solution to the tremendous number of unwanted pets. However, who will help care for the animals who are already in need?
That is the situation we have here not only in Beaufort County but throughout eastern North Carolina. The mission of J and J’s Homeless Pet Rescue is to provide housing, food and medical care for homeless animals and make them ready for adoption. All animals adopted from our organization are spayed or neutered.
When we first started out, we had certain goals in mind. First, we needed to establish a relationship with veterinarians in the area who believed in rescue. Chocowinity Veterinary Hospital, McLawhorn Animal Clinic and Tar River Animal Hospital have all given excellent veterinary care while helping to keep vet expenses at a minimum. All animals are evaluated when they first get rescued from shelters. All are updated on shots. All are heartworm tested and treated, if needed. All are spayed or neutered, microchipped and are on heartworm prevention and flea and tick prevention. When the animals are healthy, they are placed for adoption through the Internet on our Web site: jandjpetrescue.petfinder.com, Petharbor.com and 1-800-save-a-pet.com.
We are always looking for foster homes to house animals. Fosters provide the socialization and housing and J and J’s provides the medical care with our established vets.
J and J has been involved in developing our network of rescue resources throughout eastern North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Colorado and the network is growing daily. We receive calls to help animals from shelters and private citizens from all over eastern North Carolina. J and J volunteers have helped to pull, vet and transport animals for other rescues on numerous occasions. It is through this network that lives can be saved. We are not saying we can save them all but a phone call asking for help with specific animals increases an animal’s chances for getting into the rescue network.
Raising funds to support basic animal needs has been and still is our biggest challenge. Wal-Mart has been generous with their broken bags of food. Our newsletters generally bring a few hundred dollars with each mailing. Our yard sales have been quite successful. J and J has been fortunate and thankful to have had some grant monies come in from time to time from Petco, Pedigree and Wal-Mart.
But most of our monetary support comes from our loyal supporters who help us out on a monthly basis. They see the need and have stepped up to help the animals that cannot help themselves. J and J has about 75 animals in rescue at the present time and we are asking for help from the community to support our efforts at saving lives. We would like to eventually see a licensed facility in Beaufort County somewhat like the facility in Pitt County that is run by the Humane Society of Eastern Carolina.
If you can see it in your heart and home to foster an animal in need, please contact Jim at 944-4969 or visit our Web site: jandjpetrescue.petfinder.com. Your tax deductible donation can be sent to P.O. Box 1495, Washington, NC 27889.