by Nella Letizia

Career Services’ recruiting coordinator Lauri Sue Torkelson laughs as a mini-pack of dogs at the former Pullman Animal Shelter leaps on her. Assistant professor of management Ken Butterfield is a little more reticent around the exuberant canines, but they have him pegged as an animal lover and swarm him, too. They’re not wrong. Butterfield, his wife and WSU pharmacy student Stephanie O’Bryan, and their 12-year-old daughter, Alexa Spigelmyer, share their Moscow home with seven cats, three dogs, one horse and one llama.

Torkelson and Butterfield are meeting for the first time, a bit unusual since both are immersed in the same cause—the well-being of animals. The difference is they work for that cause roughly 10 miles apart; Butterfield is president of the Humane Society of the Palouse in Moscow, while Torkelson is a founding board member of the Whitman County Humane Society, which just began in March.

Not far from Torkelson and Butterfield on the Pullman campus is third-year veterinary student Leanne Eggert, who this summer founded Feral Cat Solutions, a program that will offer no-cost clinics to spay, neuter and vaccinate feral cats in the Palouse and Lewiston-Clarkston areas. On a given day, animals of a different sort surround her: cupcakes of raccoons, mice, bears and pigs as well as cats and dogs. Eggert bakes the cupcakes and sells them at local events and Moscow’s Farmers Market to raise funds for the fledgling HSOP program.

Torkelson, Butterfield and Eggert volunteer toward creating a place where all companion animals are wanted and loved. To get there, they teach those they work with to speak another language, one of touch, with more power to bond than words.

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Lauri Sue Torkelson’s suggestion for overcrowding of people and pets on a bed is simple: Get a king-sized bed. It works for her and her husband, Denis, and their three miniature Schnauzers, Sophie, Sadie and Sara. This way, everybody has plenty of room and love.

"I’m a huge animal person. If I see a group of people and one dog, I go see the dog," she says. "I wish people could feel what it’s like to have an animal be a part of your family. There are huge rewards from that.

"My dogs have cried with me, they’ve played with me. I don’t know what I’d do without them."

Torkelson worked for numerous years on boards of human organizations, such as Kiwanis, Pullman Chamber of Commerce, Pullman Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and Pullman Child Welfare. She backed off of involvement when it began to consume a majority of her time.

With the Whitman County Humane Society’s creation in March, Torkelson again committed her time to something needing the community’s immediate attention. The humane society took over Pullman Animal Shelter this summer, contracting with the city to operate it. The shelter closed for part of the spring, a casualty of funding shortages from Initiative 695. Torkelson and other concerned animal advocates came forward to keep the shelter running.

"We’re really excited because we have a lot of goals," she says. "The current shelter is not large enough to meet current needs."

Among the goals is the construction of a bigger facility to bring humane society programs under one roof. Torkelson says the WCHS has secured donated land, and a fund-raising campaign will be kicked off this spring to construct the building.

"What was there was just an animal shelter," she says. "Our goal is to initiate programs to facilitate good adoptions."

These programs include dog and cat socialization, training, pet therapy, foster home location, spaying and neutering, after-adoption facilitation and more. Torkelson also has a personal dream: to have an internship program with the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine so students can have hands-on experience and animals can receive necessary care. Another immediate need is for volunteers to work the concessions at WSU football games. Plans are underway for a Santa Paws tree this Christmas, a chance for the public to remember their animal friends in their shopping lists.

"There is a lot of work to be done, and we need a lot of people," she says.

To find out more or to volunteer, contact the WCHS, 332-3422, or e-mail Torkelson at sophie1@pullman.com .

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Ken Butterfield and Stephanie O’Bryan started volunteering for the Humane Society of the Palouse three years ago, cleaning cages, walking dogs and socializing animals. Roughly 16 months later, both were serving on the board of directors. Finally, last March, Butterfield was named president of the HSOP. It was a case where previous experience and present expertise blended together perfectly. Stephanie was a veterinary assistant for 11 years in rural Pennsylvania clinics, and Butterfield’s work in management was valued at the administrative level.

For Butterfield, working on his management doctorate from Penn State, which he earned in 1997, had meant a long, dry spell from community service of any kind. His work with the HSOP was a welcome change.

"Getting a doctorate is a self-serving pursuit," he says. "By the time I finished, I was ready to give back to the community.

"Doing volunteer work gives you a good idea of the requirements and constraints. Moscow is just an outstanding community for an organization like the humane society. I can’t imagine an organization that I can be more immersed in or enthusiastic about."

A relatively small membership and volunteer base continues to challenge the HSOP, something the organization will address during an upcoming membership drive this March. At the same time, energetic members and staff have initiated new fund-raisers and events to complement the society’s current programs of adoptions, disease and population control, and education.

New endeavors included a Halloween Trail at East City Park last year, Butterfield says, where the entire park became a walk-through mystery for the public. Shelter dogs and human handlers will "trick-or-treat" around homes this Halloween, distributing flyers on chocolate and antifreeze toxicity to residents instead of angling for candy. A "Dog Days of Summer" last July 8-9 educated visitors about hyperthermia and proper hydration during hot weather, along with offering dog training sessions and a dog agility event.

While Butterfield is constantly rewarded by his work for animals, an added benefit is what he teaches his students through volunteering. In his management and leadership class at WSU, Butterfield brings in actual examples of relevant issues he faces at the HSOP.

"I bring a strong social-responsibility component into the classroom that I hope my students are also learning," he says. "The theory they learn is applicable."

To find out more about volunteer work through the HSOP, contact Butterfield at 882-2775, kdb@wsu.edu .

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Leanne Eggert holds Kaci, a beautiful tortoise shell/calico cat, in her lap. Once a partially feral kitten, Kaci still retains a bit of her original wildness in her need for more personal space than Eggert’s other feline companion, Eli.

Eggert also knows about feral cats from two years of work with the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, an organization that offers spaying and neutering clinics from a mobile truck. When she learned that the Palouse has a serious overpopulation of feral cats, Eggert knew she could help address the need.

"I just don’t like to see animals suffering needlessly," she says of founding Feral Cat Solutions. "It’s such a perpetual cycle. Kittens are born, but the majority will die over the winter. A few will survive, and then they’ll breed. I’d like to see the population stabilized. It is a humane method of control, but an effective method, too."

Nov. 12 will be the first clinic offered by the new program, with new clinics to be scheduled once a month on Sundays. Area volunteer caretakers are asked to humanely trap feral cats and bring them in for the clinics. The cats are re-released after being spayed or neutered, tested for the feline leukemia virus, vaccinated for rabies, and treated for abscesses and cuts and internal and external parasites. Those cats that test positive for the feline leukemia virus will be euthanized to prevent their suffering and infection to other cats. Eggert says similar programs at other universities, such as Stanford and University of Washington, are noting declines in feral cat populations around campuses.

The goal is to take care of 20-30 cats per clinic. Adopting out kittens before they too become feral also will be planned. An important aspect of the clinics will be educating the public about the importance of spaying and neutering and careful consideration of the necessities of pet ownership, such as providing basic veterinary care and pet sitters over breaks and vacations, so animals aren’t abandoned to become the next generation of feral cats.

Feral Cat Solutions received a much needed boost from the Humane Society of the Palouse, which adopted the program this summer. But Eggert says volunteers are needed to trap cats, bring them in, assist at clinics and do paperwork. Homes for kittens after they are treated also are sought.

"These cats are very difficult to rehabilitate because they’re so afraid of humans," she says. "So a farm home is the ideal place, but there are not enough of them."