Maine animal shelter raises $95,000

By Ted Cohen/Patch.com

When it comes to saving pets en masse, the mere overwhelming nature of the challenge requires imagination.

So the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland came up with a novel competition.

They call it the “Shelter Sleep In,” during which fund-raising teams don PJs and, well, spend a night bunking with the shelter's animals.”

“The Shelter Sleep In is our favorite fundraiser of the year,” Patsy Murphy, the league's executive director, told The Maine Wire.

As a result of this month’s event “we’re approaching about $95,000 as match gifts and additional gifts continue to roll in,” Murphy said.

In this year's Sleep In, held Nov. 7, fifteen teams and individuals competed to see who could raise the most money before having the ultimate sleepover - curled up in one of the league's animal enclosures with a dog or cat (or whatever bears fur).

As part of the event, to help ratchet up interest, contestants decorated their respective kennels with a “Hollywood Tails” theme.

The top individual fundraiser was Samantha Ramsdell, who raised $5,496, said Matt Blanchard, the league's marketing and communications coordinator.

The top team fundraiser was Murphy and Lauri Haller, the league's operations director, who together raised $20,815.

The league provides temporary care and shelter for stray, abandoned, confiscated and relinquished animals, and places as many pets as possible into responsible and caring homes, according to its website.

“We create awareness and support for the humane treatment of all animals,” the league says. “We strive to end animal overpopulation through education and the promotion of spaying and neutering; we make end-of-life decisions based on safety and animal welfare considerations.”

Animal welfare organizations are often classified as “kill” or “no-kill” shelters, but as the animal welfare sector changes and grows, these labels can be very misleading and confusing, according to league officials.

The shelter, located in Westbrook, says it discourages the use of the terms “kill” and “no-kill.”

“We are a life-saving organization committed to the preservation of life. This means we do not euthanize due to space constraints or based on a time limit for adoptable animals, we do not euthanize for color, breed, or age.”

The shelter, which focuses on adoption, has no time limit on an animal’s stay. “We do everything we can to ensure each animal has the opportunity for a new beginning, and provide them with the care, treatment, and time they require, before they find their new family,” the agency said.

Euthanasia is only used as a last resort and takes into account the most important thing: the welfare of the animal involved and the quality of its life.

Peacefully ending an animal’s life is done to prevent its suffering due to terminal illness, severe injury, mental deterioration or when it poses a safety concern for other animals or humans.

“Indefinite confinement of living in a shelter environment is also not an acceptable alternative,” the shelter says in its mission statement. “Hospice and foster homes allow us to continue our life-saving efforts and maintain our live release rate over 95 percent.”

The league was founded by a former Maine governor, Percival Baxter, who was a strong advocate for animal welfare.

The shelter has contracts with more than a dozen municipalities in southern Maine to provide animal-welfare services.

Baxter, the benefactor of land that became Baxter State Park, was the son of James Phinney Baxter, a long-term Portland mayor.

Gov. Baxter was known for his passionate devotion to animals, and for his commitment to the humane treatment of animals.

When his dog, Garry, died while Baxter was governor, he ordered the flag at the statehouse lowered to half staff.

Baxter belonged to several humane societies across the country, one of which, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, called him "America's greatest humane governor.”