I wrote a story this week on the Central Vermont Humane Society in East Montpelier, VT, for The Bridge newspaper’s Pets & Wildlife issue. I learned so much while writing this. I had no idea that a healthy indoor cat could have up to four litters per year and that a kitten can get pregnant at just four-months-old. It sheds some light on how one family accidentally found themselves with 20 cats in just 18 months. I loved the story of the Executive Director’s ‘heart dog,’ Mr. Bumpus, and how he is to thank for her entire career change. Here’s the opening if you want to keep reading, it continues on the tear sheet below.
Finding Fur-ever Families
by Cat Cutillo
Laurie Garrison knows first-hand the paw-print an animal can leave on one’s life. Hanging above her desk is a framed portrait of her late dog, Mr. Bumpus, whom she rescued in 2005 from a shelter in New Jersey, where she was living and working as an AT&T research scientist.
“I call him my heart dog,” says Garrison. “He was really, really a special dog. Obviously, a special dog because he made me change my career,” she says.
After adopting Mr. Bumpus, she started volunteering out of gratitude at the shelter, joined the board, and eventually fully submerged herself into a new career as executive director. Now, she holds that position with the Central Vermont Humane Society (CVHS) in East Montpelier, a job that regularly makes her cry.
“Its emotional work. Ninety percent of the time it’s good emotion,” says Garrison. (continues below…)
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