Pet Adoptions on the Outer Banks

They’ll Love You Furever!

By Steve Hanf

They frolic on the beach and in the sound. They exude pure joy on boat rides and car rides. They strut up and down neighborhood streets like they own the place, sniffing every blade of grass and yelping when the occasional sandspur finds a soft spot in the paw.

Dogs and the OBX go, well, hand in paw.

Not to be outdone, our feline friends chase sunbeams for catnaps on the screened-in porch, watch excitedly as the squirrels and birds scurry outside the window, and eagerly grab laptime when you get home from a long day at work.

Simply put, we love our pets. A 2023 study by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of Americans own a pet, and 35% own more than one. Other studies have actually put those numbers higher, such as Forbes reporting a figure of 66% – nearly 87 million households – having at least one pet.

Northeastern North Carolina might not be a huge population center when it comes to counting those statistics, but even the most casual observer can see that we shower lots of love on our dogs and cats (and other pets) in this region. But it takes an army of passionate workers and volunteers all over Dare and Currituck counties helping pets find a forever home and assisting animals in need.

“The instant gratification of finding homes for these animals that have been let down one way or another, that’s the best part of the job,” says Rachael Stone, Director of Currituck County Animal Services and Control.

There are plenty of places to find a new pet, from word of mouth to social media sites to pet stores. One of the first places many people look, however, are their community shelters, and this area includes two beautiful new facilities.

The current Currituck shelter opened in 2016 and Stone considers it to be the “Taj Mahal” of animal shelters. The Outer Banks SPCA, meanwhile, moved into its sparkling new digs across from the aquarium in Manteo in 2021. Executive Director Bill Coleman proudly points out large spaces for dogs and cats to roam, play and meet potential pet-parents; a dog-washing station anyone can come use; even a new surgery suite for a vet who does procedures on-site for the shelter animals two days a week.

The Outer Banks SPCA takes in about 1,200 animals a year and adopts out a thousand of them. Currituck, Stone says, brought in about 1,400 animals last year, with nearly 90% of those getting adopted.

While phrases like “no-kill shelters” are used by a lot of people, that concept is a bit more nuanced to understand. Both shelters are “open admission,” which means they are required to take in everything: the sick and dying, the injured, the feral and dangerous – even old pets whose owners know they need to be euthanized but either can’t afford the procedure or simply don’t want to do it.

Coleman explains that a “no-kill” designation means a shelter has live outcomes for 90% of its animals, and last year the Outer Banks SPCA was at 93%.

“We do a really good job, and we don’t euthanize for space,” Coleman says. “And that’s really the bottom line with us. We’re gonna try to figure out something else to do with the animal.”

Stone echoes that sentiment when it comes to the Currituck shelter.

“I wish that more people kind of understood that,” she says about the “no-kill” numbers. “I also feel like a lot of people just have an unrealistic expectation that we can rehab all these aggressive animals. If you can’t handle your dog and you’re afraid it’s going to attack your family, what are we supposed to do? We have a responsibility to our community not to put animals out that are going to injure another person or kill another animal.”

Both shelter managers say that making hard decisions about troubled animals is the most challenging part of their job.

Still, there are far more good days than bad in that regard. Shelters get creative when it comes to matching pets to people, especially in the social media era. Good luck resisting those cute photos and videos on Instagram and Facebook! Coleman loves the fact that, when his shelter has room, he can bring in animals from other areas. One day this spring, five dogs who were facing euthanasia in Virginia got a new leash – er, lease – on life in Manteo.

Remarkably, Currituck adopts out a huge number of animals each year to folks in the Northeast, taking 35 or so cats and 10 to 20 dogs each summer to “mega-adoption” events in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

“We know we’ve got to reach out. The market is saturated around here,” Stone says. “We’re getting a bunch of hound dogs in and unfortunately they’re not the first on everybody’s list to adopt. They are living their best lives up there.”

Adoption rates are still going strong following the Covid-19 pandemic, when some 23 million U.S. households added a new pet, according to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. While some feared that a rash of animals would be returned to shelters, the ASPCA found that about 90 percent of those new pets remain in the home.

Stone says if anything, pet surrenders aren’t happening because people changed their mind, but because of challenging economic times: “Things are tight right now,” she explains. “They just don’t have a place to live themselves and a lot of the rental homes don’t allow pets. I see more dogs and cats being surrendered from that.”

Stories like that, or of older folks who can no longer care for an animal, are what galvanize a number of pet heroes in the area. Some work on their own. Others are part of rescue organizations that are “amazing,” Stone says.

Jayce-lyn Eden lives on 10 acres with her husband, Joe, in Coinjock. She has nine dogs and one foster currently in her care. Of those, five used to be fosters who adjusted to life with Eden so well that they never left.

“I mean, you always start with one, you know?” she says with a laugh. “But fostering is a great way to get an animal out of a facility or a rescue, give them a jumpstart on training, because that’s a huge hurdle when adopting an animal from anywhere. You hear people ask, ‘Oh, is it house trained or how is its behavior?’ and when they’re in a foster home, you get a real sense of who the dog is.”

Eden says she’ll have some fosters for a week and others with her through a 12-week heartworm treatment. One dog’s owner was diagnosed with dementia and signed him over to Eden so he’d be taken care of properly.

“I’ve been watching him for five years. He’s an old man now,” Eden says. “A lot of the ones I’ve kept are because once they fit in, is there a better place for them to go? They’re fine at our house because it’s quiet. We don’t have children. We have land. It’s a good fit for them.”
Ultimately, though, Eden strives to find forever homes for her fosters, including getting a friend to make a 10-hour drive to come get a dog she knew would be a perfect fit. She’s a huge proponent of fostering, both to give the animals a break from shelter life and for families to enjoy having a pet with a short-term commitment.

Usually.

“I mean, a couple of my friends have multiple dogs – probably my fault, but they love it,” she says.

Brenda Parrish is another Currituck resident who is all-in for all the animals. At one point earlier this spring, she had 12 dogs and six kittens she was fostering. All the dogs were under 10 pounds and most were seniors. The kittens were part of a “TNR program” – a popular initiative taking place all over, including Dare and Currituck, in which feral cats are trapped, neutered/spayed, and then returned to their home environment. The kittens, though, can be adopted out if socialized early enough.

Parrish got her start helping animals while working with some area rescues before going out on her own. Folks seem to know that if there’s an animal in need, she’s going to help it. She works closely with Eastern Shore Animal Hospital in Grandy – where her daughter, Delainey, works – and even has a special account set up there for her rescues in the name of “Brenda Barks,” so it’s not confused with her own pets’ account.
Parrish has yard sales to raise money for vet care, does raffles, puts all her dog-sitting money into the account. The balance was around $6,000 before Christmas, but then came her 50th birthday on Dec. 26.

“I said, ‘OK, guys, I don’t drink but what I want you to do is buy me a $5 drink: Call Eastern Shore and put $5 on my account,’ ” she says with a laugh. “I was getting $5 bills in the mail, people would spend $50 on the vet bill because of my 50th birthday. On Jan. 1 it was zero. Without the community support, I wouldn’t be able to take on those animals and I wouldn’t be able to take them to the vet like I do.”

Her husband jokes that she works harder now in this volunteer job than she ever did for a paycheck, but Parrish wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It just makes my heart happy and I just wish more people would get involved in animal welfare,” she says.

Steve Hanf lives in Southern Shores with his family and their 11-year-old cats, who were rescued as kittens from a farm in Illinois, plus their more recent Outer Banks SPCA Covid-rescue. That abandoned former hunting dog can be heard tormenting the Chicahauk deer – or is it the other way around? – on daily walks.

Do you need to press “paws” on your busy life and find a purr-fect way to help local animals in need? Here are just a few organizations in Northeastern NC you can learn more about! Volunteers are always needed to walk dogs, play with cats, foster to build socialization skills, and – of course – adopt!

Outer Banks SPCA
378 Airport Rd, Manteo
252-475-5620
obxspca.org

Currituck Animal Shelter
140 Aviation Pkwy, Currituck
252-453-8682
facebook.com/CurrituckAnimalShelter

Grandy Beagle Rescue & Animal Sanctuary
160 Barnard Rd, Grandy
252-305-0555
GrandyBeagleRescue.com
facebook.com/grandybeaglerescue

Sunrise Farm & Animal Sanctuary
Moyock, NC 27958
757 409 2053
SunriseAnimalSanctuaryNC@gmail.com
facebook.com/SunriseFarmAnimalSanctuary

Coastal Paws Rescue
757-715-0307

LDB Farm & Animal Sanctuary
337 Grandy Rd, Grandy
ldbfarmandanimalsanctuary.org

Feline Hope
Kitty Hawk
felinehope.org

Brenda Parrish
Independent rescuer in Grandy

Author: Steve Hanf

Steve Hanf is a former professional sportswriter who teaches the journalism classes at First Flight High School. The dormant Nike Running Club app on his phone offers a reminder of the seven half-marathons and one full marathon he completed … several years ago.