News & Notes

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A generous donor by the name of Margaret L. McLoughney has helped improve the Lifesaving Programs at Camden County Animal Shelter.  Margaret has had a love and passion for animals her entire life and was always looking for ways to help any animal in need.  Unfortunately, Margaret passed away in October of 2017 after a long and courageous battle with metastatic ovarian cancer.  However, thanks to Margaret’s large contribution and the creation of the Margaret L. McLoughney Memorial Fund, her legacy will live on.

On Saturday, August 11^th, from 11 am to 3 pm, Camden County Animal Shelter hosted an Open House in Margaret’s memory to showcase the lifesaving programs that Margaret helped fund, including the Foster Care, Adoption, Community Cat, and Outreach Programs.  During the open house, adoption fees will be waived for all cats and kittens to celebrate Margaret’s love for her felines.  Her contribution will also allow Camden County Animal Shelter to waive adoption fees during any of the high intake months in order to encourage pet adoptions.

Margaret always loved seeing pets go home to their forever families, which is why she wanted to help fund programs that focus on getting animals out of the shelter and into loving homes.  In addition to allowing Camden County Animal Shelter to waive adoption fees, Margaret also helped implement special foster care programs for animals like our neonate kittens.  This allows the shelter to provide these animals with a temporary home prior to their adoption.  For animals who are not qualified for adoption or fostering due to an extreme medical condition, Margaret helped fund our “Fospice” Program, or Foster Hospice, that matches a terminally ill animal with a foster parent who is willing to provide housing for the animal in its final days.

However, Margaret realized that she would not be able to save every animal from shelter life but saw that there was a way to improve these pets’ stay at the shelter by creating the Children Pet Reading Program where children in the community are invited to come to the shelter and read a book to any of the animals.  Not only does this help the children improve their reading skills, but it also allows the animals to spend more time with someone.  Not stopping there, Margaret wanted to get the elderly involved by supporting the Cat Cuddlers Program where the shelter reaches out to retirement homes in the area to encourage foster care, socialization, and enrichment for our animals.

Margaret’s love for animals even extends to the community, especially feral cats.  Camden County Animal Shelter offers a Trap, Neuter, and Return Program for all feral cats to help reduce their rapidly growing population.  Taking this program one step farther, Camden County Animal Shelter introduced the Barn Cat Program, funded by Margaret L. McLoughney, which redirects community cats from the shelter to new families that are seeking a barn cat to help reduce rodent infestation.

Because of donors like Margaret, Camden County Animal Shelter is able to continue its mission to end companion animal homelessness in Camden County through community awareness and responsible ownership. Camden County Animal Shelter invites the community to come on-site on Saturday, August 11^th to help celebrate Margaret’s life and the life changing contribution she made for the animals in Camden County.

Camden County Animal Shelter, celebrating its 20^th anniversary, launched the Pure Hearts Awards from February 14^th through April 20^th. The Pure Hearts Awards was an online award process where individuals had an opportunity to nominate an individual, business or pet to receive recognition as a Pure Hearts Awardee.

Nominations were open to public individuals to recognize members of the community that have made extreme efforts, improvements and achievements in animal welfare and animal advocacy.

Five categories were determined; Public Servant, Young Hero, Noteworthy Volunteer, Humane Business and Lifetime Pet Achievement. There were numerous nominations made from members of the community, which included an essay and an optional photograph.

The ‘Top 20’ Awardees were chosen based on review from the Judges Committee. To view all the nominees and read the remarkable stories and successes toward the improvement of the humane treatment of animals in the community, please visit www.homewardboundnj.org.

“Our hearts in the animal welfare community go to members of society that deserve to be recognized for their dedication to furthering the mission of Camden County Animal Shelter”, said Vicki Rowland, Executive Director of Camden County Animal Shelter. “Together, we celebrate the compassionate nature of people and pets”.

Public Servant Awardees: Patrolman Matthew Woolleen of the Runnemede Police Department, Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt, Congressman Donald Norcross, Camden County Detective Nipsey Rivera, and Chief Scott Cairns of the Oaklyn Fire Department.

Young Hero Awardees: Aiden Page and Briella Page of Pine Hill and Jenna Lannon of Runnemede.

Noteworthy Volunteer Awardees: Debbie Wright, advocate and CCAS volunteer, Karina Sharma, volunteer for Dog Town Rescue, Kim Mangione of New Life Animal Rescue, and James Whiteside, CCAS volunteer.

Humane Business Awardees: Champs Dog House, St. Francis’ Feral Cat Sanctuary, Fureverhomes Doberman Rescue, Inc., and Mount Laurel Animal Hospital.

Lifetime Pet Achievement Awardees: James, Bobby, Sweet Pea and Queenie.

Camden County Animal Shelter will host a ceremony on May 18^th, 2018 to celebrate the ‘Top 20’ Awardees and present them with a Pure Hearts Awards certificate. Please visit https://homewardboundnj.org/pure-hearts-awards/  to view the full list of nominations.