A coalition of experienced animal welfare volunteers is working to support the animals of Patrick County through adoptions, pet food assistance, and spay/neuter programs.
The Blue Ridge Animal Welfare League (BRAWL), founded last year, aims to provide resources to pet owners while helping reduce overcrowding at the Patrick County Animal Shelter. The organization assists in finding homes for animals, ensuring they are spayed/neutered and healthy, and offering other services as needed.
Dana Jones, BRAWL’s president, has decades of experience in animal welfare, including managing an SPCA in Norfolk for seven years.
“There, I opened a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and transitioned the shelter to no-kill during that time,” Jones said. “I have about 30 years of nonprofit management experience.”
Vice President Lynn Chipkin, a licensed veterinary technician, has volunteered in animal rescue for many years, including 25 years with the Floyd County Humane Society. She also worked at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Virginia Tech.
Jones said meeting Chipkin and working on BRAWL’s mission answered her personal call to volunteer.
“Out of the need to really establish an organization, we created this nonprofit,” she said. “There’s just so many opportunities we feel that we have to offer this community — not just the pet food pantry and the spay/neuter program, but a real partnership with Animal Control and the Patrick County Animal Shelter.”
Jones noted that the Patrick County Animal Shelter’s euthanasia rate is nearly twice the state average.
Addressing Shelter Overcrowding
Noting that the shelter has a euthanasia rate that’s nearly twice the state average, Jones said the group works to promote shelter animals available for adoption, the $10 adoption fee, with spay/neuter services funded by an anonymous donor.
“We still have animals in the shelter that don’t make it out,” she said. “I think there’s a misnomer that the shelter’s no-kill. Unfortunately, they’re the only shelter in town, so they have to take everything that comes in the front door.”
To prevent animals from being surrendered, BRAWL provides resources to help with behavioral issues, food assistance, and spay/neuter services.
“We’re also working to get the animals that are there to maybe another shelter in another part of the state where there’s more demand,” Jones said. “Lynn just recently helped the shelter transfer a puppy that had been there a while to Floyd. They were able to take that puppy in and had some really great opportunities to help get the dog adopted.”
BRAWL also is partnering with the shelter to help showcase the animals it has for adoption, promote the animals through its Facebook, and help get the word out about the animals that are in need of a home.
In December, volunteers prepared a holiday meal of turkey, rice, and pumpkin for the shelter’s animals.
“We felt that would be appropriate because they are at the shelter by themselves and not with a family,” Chipkin said. “We just want to bring attention to that sort of thing.”
Jones said kitten season is a growing concern as spring approaches.
Recently, the shelter saw an influx of more than 30 surrendered puppies from multiple litters in one week — an unusually high number for this time of year.
“It’s really making us nervous about what we have coming once the warmer months arrive,” Jones said. “We’re really, really trying to get our program together and secure significant funding so that we can have a real impact.”
Pet Food Bank Offers Assistance
BRAWL officially launched in October 2023 after volunteers identified a growing need for pet food assistance through the Patrick County Food Bank.
“We had heard from our partners at the Patrick County Animal Shelter, Wanda and Vickie, that there were occasions where people had to surrender their pets because they couldn’t afford to feed them,” Jones said.
In response, volunteers began distributing donated pet food in gallon-sized bags alongside the Food Bank’s monthly food distributions.
“We had such an incredible response to it. People were so thankful that we decided we really wanted to keep it going,” Jones said.
BRAWL is a member of the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, allowing it to partner with Gleaning for the World, a faith-based humanitarian aid organization, to procure large amounts of pet food at low costs.
Each month, BRAWL distributes 750 to 800 pounds of pet food. Volunteers package the food at the Food Bank’s Stuart facility, working alongside other volunteers preparing human food boxes.
“The Food Bank has been so gracious to let us have the pallets dropped off at their Stuart building,” Jones said.
Chipkin said 300 to 350 cars typically receive pet food at each distribution, with 400 cars served during holiday months.
“When we’re doing our dividing up of the bags, we label them in the Ziplock bags with either cat or dog. We also distribute canned food, so it’s always labeled,” Chipkin said
In addition to Stuart, BRAWL distributes pet food at the Food Bank’s satellite locations in Ararat and Meadows of Dan.
Expanding Spay/Neuter Access
Jones said the monthly pet food distributions have also highlighted the need for affordable spay/neuter services.
Patrick County currently lacks a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, requiring pet owners to travel 45 minutes to an hour for services at Mountain View Humane in Christiansburg or Angels of Assisi in Roanoke.
“We’re referring people out, but we know the cost is a barrier,” Jones said.
BRAWL has applied for grants to help subsidize spay/neuter costs.
“An average spay/neuter can cost $400 to $500,” Jones said. “Most of these low-cost clinics can bring it down to $100 to $150, but that’s still out of reach for some families.”
BRAWL is also exploring transportation assistance for pet owners who cannot travel.
“With these clinics being kind of far away, it really can take a person’s day to transport an animal,” Jones said, and added the group is looking into partnering with other groups to share transportation costs or seeking funding to purchase a vehicle to shuttle multiple animals at once.
Addressing Free-Roaming Cat Populations
“We’re hearing people say they have neighbors who are feeding animals but not doing more than that,” Jones said. “It’s good that they have it in their heart to help, but in some ways, they may be exacerbating the problem because they’re just making them healthy enough to breed.”
BRAWL plans to implement a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program, which involves trapping cats, spaying/neutering them, administering rabies vaccinations, and returning them to their colony.
“It’s a process — making sure we have approval to even go on the property, observing what’s going on, and then getting our plans together,” Jones said. “Cats can be savvy when you start trapping. You get a couple, and then the others learn to avoid it. It gets progressively harder.”
BRAWL will increase its presence at community events this spring, providing educational materials and outreach.
“We’re going to start to get more involved with community events coming up, so we’ll be able to distribute information at those events in Patrick County,” Chipkin said.
The group also hopes to host a community rabies clinic later this year.
“There is definitely a need in Patrick County for that,” Chipkin said.
For more information, visit www.blueridgeawl.org or Facebook.com/BlueRidgeAnimalWelfareLeague.
To donate online: Click the “Donate” button on the website. By mail: Send checks to P.O. Box 184, Woolwine, VA 24185. Pet food donations can be dropped off at Pet Provisions in Downtown Stuart.
