I try very hard not to wish my life away, but I have to say, I’m not unhappy to see this year end.

Working in the shelter in any capacity is always challenging, but this year has been a real humdinger! Employee shortages in an extremely labor-intensive business caring for live animals has been a true test of our strength and stamina! We saw a disturbing uptick in the number of pets entering the shelter after losing their homes due to violent events in the lives of their owners.

The number of pet owners in our community that needed help maintaining and retaining their pets grew substantially.  It has been a rough road from beginning to end.

That said, the best thing to do is to look back on the blessings that also came amongst the hardships, and when you work with animals, the blessings are many.

“Garth,” a dog that I had featured earlier this year as one of the unfortunate pets to be surrendered after his owners suffered the tragic death of a child, was finally adopted to an adoring family after spending three months here at the shelter.

“Chooch”, a young Presa Canario, has spent 205 days here with us. He has not been adopted yet. He was only just released to us last week after waiting six months for the case of his owner, who was charged with animal cruelty violations, to be adjudicated. The owner was found guilty, he has been forfeited to our custody and now we can begin the search for his happy ending.

And now, as I sit here at my computer, I see our friends at Pampered Pup Pet Resort pull up in a pickup truck loaded to the hilt with donations. When I look at things through that lens, it doesn’t seem like it was such a bad year after all!

Happy New Year and thank all of you that have supported our mission.

Shelter needs: A safe and healthy new year with another 3,000 or 4,000 homes for the pets we will care for in 2022!

Source: A difficult year for South Jersey Regional Animal Shelter also offered blessings