AR-News: (IL - US) State treasurer finds homes for treasured pets

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State treasurer finds homes for treasured pets

ILLINOIS: Topinka has been using government Web site to help find homes for abandoned, unwanted pets.

BY JENNIFER WIG
Lee News Service



SPRINGFIELD -- State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka has never owned a cat. But that didn't stop her from pulling over to rescue an injured cat from the side of the road. Or from later paying the pound $20 for the same cat and giving it to a co-worker.

"I'm a sucker for animals," Topinka said. "I wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid."

Although the state treasurer didn't become an animal doctor, she has been using her government Web site to help find homes for abandoned and unwanted pets.

Her Treasured Pets program links Web surfers to four no-kill shelters throughout Illinois and includes photographs of available dogs and cats.

Topinka says the idea sprouted as she stood in the Sangamon County pound in 2001 and helped a co-worker pick a new dog. Topinka not only ended up choosing one for herself, but she decided to launch the program.

"Part of it is just being an animal lover," Topinka says. "At the end of the day, we feel pretty good about it."

Since last August, Treasured Pets has helped find homes for 36 dogs and 27 cats. People who adopt the pets marked as "Treasured Pets" receive a certificate from the state treasurer's office.

The program links to four shelters, the Quad City Animal Welfare in Milan, the Animal Protective League in Springfield, Chicago's Pets Are Worth Saving and the Asissi Animal Foundation in Crystal Lake. Topinka said she would like to expand the program, but she refuses to affiliate the office with shelters that do not follow a "no-kill" policy, which reduces the number of possibilities.

"She feels very strongly that they must be no-kill shelters," said Sharon Brown, Topinka's director of communications. "It was just one of those ways we felt we could reach out in a different way."

Jill Boardman, adoption counselor at Quad City Animal Welfare, said the program needs more exposure to work properly.

"I don't know that people know it's out there," Boardman said. "We have adoptions that are so quick, by the time they get here, they're out the door. Everybody in the Quad City area follows our Web site pretty routinely."

Topinka would like to expand the program to other areas of state government, such as the Department of Corrections. The DOC has a program that uses inmates to train dogs as companions. She also plans to suggest the program to state treasurers nationwide.

Topinka has two dogs, Molly McDoo, 10, and "an elderly gentleman" named Andrew, whose adoption provided the inspiration for the Treasured Pets program.

"At the end of the day, they are my family," she said. "It's nice to have dogs who say you can still come home and be our friend. The dogs are so sloppily loving."

Pictures of her dogs decorate the desk behind her in the treasurer's office. Soon, she may add a photo of her with President Bush's dogs, Spot and Barney, taken during a recent trip to Washington, D.C.

Lee Linklater, founder and director of Assisi Animal Foundation in Crystal Lake, said the program is going very well.

"Even if we don't make an immediate adoption, the word is out there," Linklater said. "It's a very positive thing."

She estimates that more than a dozen of their animals have been featured on the treasurer's Web site, and she believes all those featured were adopted.

"We were delighted. Every opportunity to feature animals that are ready for adoption is a plus," she said.

Linklater said it costs about $70 a month to take care of a cat, and much more for dogs, which vary because of different food consumption rates.

On the Web: http://www.state.il.us/treas/

Jennifer Wig can be reached at jennifer.wig at lee.net or at 217-789-0865.