NEWSSTAR
Mary Kelly, Ally
Solace In The Storm
Left for dead. Just 3-weeks old, Baby Girl and her littermates were destined for euthanasia when Mary intervened. After multiple vet visits, dewormings, and good nutrition, three of the four Elmira, NY pups were seizure-free and rehomed. Baby Girl, who requires anticonvulsant medications, is part of Mary's family now. Baby recently gained a Lab big sister. Bella Rose, sick with congestive heart failure and abandoned by a divorcing couple, was slated to die in Pennsylvania. Now stable on four meds, Bella happily runs around like a puppy.
Mary Kelly is our Outstanding Volunteer. The Goton, NY rescuer is a Kinship Circle hero. “I do it for the animals and their people,“ Mary says.
And what a job she does! When Irene loomed over northeastern states in late August 2011, Kinship Circle had a 24-48 hour window to call Emergency Operating Centers in states/counties along the hurricane's projected path. Atlantic County Office of Emergency Preparedness and Monmouth County EOC, New Jersey, requested our aid with animal sheltering at Red Cross centers. First, a shout out to Red Cross New Jersey Chapter for showing how ALL states should conduct evacuations — people and pets together. Still, how could we find a skilled emergency sheltering volunteer to deploy in under 24 hours? Said person would not only care for distressed animals, manage intake/release, illness/injury and ride out Irene…but also head our team with confidence and wit.
And then came Mary. We called. We asked. She packed. “You cannot imagine how much I appreciate the opportunity to assist an evacuee with their animals, not to mention the love I get from any animal comforted during a disaster,” Mary says.
The love is mutual. Red Cross staff and volunteer vets in New Jersey had nothing but praise for Mary's jump-in work ethic — whether lugging large kennels to transfer animals from a pole barn to the more secure basement of a conservatory at Saint Augustine College Preparatory School (where the Red Cross Co-Shelter was located)…or staying up all night to soothe animals as Irene roared ashore from 4:00-6:00am.
When asked what motivates her devotion to animal disaster victims, Mary says that Hurricane Katrina changed her life. In 2005, Mary was deployed to the Lamar-Dixon shelter in Gonzales, LA for search and rescue in flooded New Orleans. Images of sorrow, despair and hope still resonant from Katrina's wasteland. She recalls entering one gutted home with a ladder poked through an attic hole. Someone had frantically sawed the jagged hole to escape rising waters below. When sent to pick up four abandoned pit bulls in another yard, Mary's team found haggard, starving dogs. With the help of three National Guardsmen, they managed to transport the aggressive dogs to safety…
Mary's career has included a position as Director of Operations at SPCA of Tompkins County in Ithaca, NY (the nation's first no-kill shelter!) Off the clock, she has deployed as an animal first responder for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. She served as a oiled wildlife spotter and documentarian in the Gulf Oil disaster, working under a partnership between World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle.
She has assisted U.S. Humane Coalition and Grand Bahamas Humane Society in development of mobile spay-neuter operations that exist today. Mary served as consultant to Jefferson Parish, LA leadership in efforts to redefine goals and mission of two parish shelters with over 18,000 animals in yearly intake. She helped create and still advises a NOLA No-Kill Task Force. Mary's many years managing a large shelter staff and adoption center are only half the story. The other 50% of Mary is stamina and the clarity of knowing that each life saved is a furry miracle.
Mary Landford, DVM — among 4 local veterinarians leading NJ animal sheltering operations — and Kathy Kelsey, Atlantic County Animal Shelter Manager, expressed gratitude for Kinship Circle volunteers. They were confident in Mary Kelly and Bill Allman's capable oversight. Dr. Landford said our volunteers gave her “freedom to actually go home and take a shower without worrying about the animals.” If this disaster served as a pilot for protocol to come, she added, “it worked!” Despite traumatic circustances, evacuees were all smiles when united with their animals.
Dr. Langford had special kudos for Mary Kelly, stating that she hit the ground running. She praised Mary's people and management skills. “Mary made evacuees smile because of the care she gave their animals.” Kinship Circle thanks all its Hurricane Irene volunteers, including those on standby. Disasters are unpredictable! We look forward to calling upon these skilled individuals the next time animals need us.
