Community Spotlight: Mercy Rescue & Adoption

Everyone involved in Hunter’s Heroes, including Hunter and his family, wanted to find a way to showcase the community in which they live and so the idea of “Community Spotlight” was born. From time to time heroes4hunter.com will be publishing articles talking about different people, businesses and organizations in and around North Vernon as our way of saying thank you to the community, which has come out to support Hunter in more ways than we could have ever anticipated! 

On the weekend of June 8^th, Hunter’s Heroes kicked off a series of events designed to raise money to purchase a wheelchair accessible van for Hunter at the North Vernon City Park. So many wonderful people came out over the course of the two-day event to support Hunter! He enjoyed meeting everyone and making new friends, especially of the four-legged variety! Anne and Jamie Poore, along with Georgia of Mercy Rescue Adoption of North Vernon were among the many who stopped by the park that weekend. Mercy Rescue has been part of the North Vernon community since 2005, providing not only rescue services to animals in need, but community outreach and education, including regularly scheduled spay/neuter/rabies clinics for cats and dogs.

 Few people understand the integral part smaller rescues like Mercy provide to the communities in which they exist. All over America right now state and county animal shelters, if they even exist in an area, are over crowded. Simply put, smaller rescues like Mercy have saved countless animals like Daisy (pictured) from euthanizations that too often occur due to overcrowding and/or treatable medical conditions. These selfless men and women, most of whom work full-time jobs in addition to their work with animals, take in animals who otherwise wouldn't be given the opportunity to find fur-ever homes, get them the medical, social and hygiene related services they need and then work tirelessly to match the right animal to the right family. Often times, they dig into their own personal bank accounts to pay for things like vet care and food.

 A cornerstone of Mercy’s mission is their ongoing effort to promote spaying and neutering family pets in an effort to stem the tide of unwanted pets that end up in shelters or worse. According to data collected in 2012 by the HSUS, while “the number of homeless animals varies by state—in some states there are as many as 300,000 homeless animals euthanized in animal shelters every year. These are not the offspring of homeless or "street" animals—these are the puppies and kittens of cherished family pets and even purebreds. Many people are surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters. Spay/neuter is the only permanent, 100 percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats.”  Mercy provides a monthly transport to Bloomington Pets Alive Spay/Neuter Clinic the second Tuesday of each month. People in need of the service can contact them at 346-8751 to sign up.

All the animals available for adoption, like Honey Boo and dogs like Charlie (see his video story at the end of this article) and Baxter who need expensive heartworm treatments (which can range from $600.00 - $800.00) and special needs animals like Lincoln who is deaf and blind and has been in a Mercy foster home since he was eight weeks old (he’s now two years old) rely on the kindhearted folks that run and volunteer with Mercy to take care of them. Mercy would not be able to take in as many animals in need without the ongoing help of Seymour Animal Hospital who works with Mercy to ensure that the animals get quality medical care.

What’s particularly amazing, but not unique in the humane world is that Mercy does not have a formal facility but rather relies on a network of volunteer foster homes to house the critters in their care. That is one of the most frustrating parts of small-scale rescue, the inability to help save more animals. Limited by available funds and space, the ultimate goal of a small-scale rescue is to get the animals healthy and ready for adoption in the shortest amount of time possible without sacrificing quality of care. Mercy can always use financial donations but they need people too! If you can volunteer your time or your home, whether for long or short-term fostering, please contact Mercy Rescue by visiting their website.

**All the animals featured in this article are available for adoption through Mercy Rescue