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A spirit that is not afraid

Every dog has its day at Woofstock festival

Aubie the Tiger pets Max, a 1-year-old English bulldog owned by Bobbie Hackett, at Woofstock, a charity event held by the Lee County Humane Society, at Kiesel Park Saturday, Sept. 29. (Rebecca Croomes / PHOTO EDITOR)
Aubie the Tiger pets Max, a 1-year-old English bulldog owned by Bobbie Hackett, at Woofstock, a charity event held by the Lee County Humane Society, at Kiesel Park Saturday, Sept. 29. (Rebecca Croomes / PHOTO EDITOR)

The Lee County Humane Society's Woofstock turned 84 in dog years Saturday, Sept. 29, with 2012 being its 12th year at Kiesel Park promoting the peace, love and spaying or neutering of all K-9 kind.

Crowds of both people and dogs were gathered at the annual event, each with their own form of entertainment; from live music, to bathing areas and all of the information booths, vendors and inflatable playgrounds in between.

As a shelter, the LCHS's main goals are to rescue animals and provide them for adoption while aiding in the elimination of pet overpopulation and raising awareness about the issue.

The LCHS began the Woofstock event in 2000.

"Our main objective is just to celebrate our mission, and to celebrate people and their dogs, and their love of dogs , and especially those who have adopted from our shelter," said Stacee Peer, LCHS's director of public relations.

"It's really special to us for our staff to be able to come out, and our board members to be able to come out, and see all of the animals who have gotten a home because of our shelter, here at the park."

Woofstock serves as a sort of reunion for staff members and those dogs who were previously adopted from the LCHS, but it also provides an opportunity for dogs currently being housed at the shelter.

According to Peer, seven dogs were brought to the event, which began at 9 a.m. By 2 p.m., five had been adopted.

"We're doing more adoptions out here than we normally do," said Bobbie Yeo, executive director of LCHS. "We do adoption events out at Petco pretty regularly on Saturdays and we'll adopt two to four on a good weekend."

As a main supplier of animals to the LCHS, the city of Auburn's Animal Control Division, had a tent set up at Woofstock in an effort to raise awareness about the services they provide, city ordinances and preventative measures that can be taken toward greater pet safety.

"If people's dogs that are running at large, or what have you, would have tags on, we could get them home to you," said Conan DeVine, lead animal control officer.

"And that's our choice, we would rather bring them home than take them to the Humane Society and stress the animal out or overwhelm the shelter."

The animal control division picks up nearly 1,000 dogs each year. The amount it deals with varies seasonally.

The beginning and end of semesters bring higher numbers as new students come to Auburn with their pets and previous students leave, often leaving them behind, Devine said.

The "Fixit Waggin'" was also parked at Woofstock this year. The Fixit Waggin' is a service provided by the Alabama Animal Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic.

Once a month, the "waggin," a large moving-truck, is driven to Auburn from the clinic's location in Montgomery. At 7 a.m., the truck is parked at Surfside Waterpark to pick up the animals that have been scheduled to be spayed or neutered. They are then driven to the clinic and brought back to Auburn at 5 p.m.

"We usually get back to our clinic about 8, 8:15 a.m., finish surgery around 1 p.m., so that they can have about three, or three-and-a-half hours to recover from the surgery," said Dewey Phillips, a veterinary technician at the clinic. "Then we load them up and bring them back."

Information on how to adopt a pet, foster a pet, donate or volunteer at the LCHS can be found at its website, leecountyhumane.org.

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