Taryn Blonder, of New Town, left, Jean Grimes, of Reisterstown, center, and Tim Gibson, of New Town, hold cats that are now residents of their new nonprofit animal shelter, Fur the Love of Paws, Inc. (Photo by Brendan Cavanaugh )
Fur the Love of Paws: A no-kill sanctuary
Trio establishes new refuge for stray, unwanted animals
By Bryna Zumer
bzumer@patuxent.com
Posted 7/23/08
Jean Grimes, Taryn Blonder and Tim Gibson met while working at the Association for Animal Rights in Reisterstown and now plan to raise money for a shelter and no-kill sanctuary of their own.
"We have all been long-time animal lovers and there is a huge overpopulation of homeless pets," said Blonder, who lives with Gibson in New Town. "At the Association, we would just get dozens and dozens of calls every day with, 'Oh, we tried this other shelter and they were full.'"
The main shelters in the northwest area, besides the Association, are the Humane Society of Baltimore County and the Feline Rescue Association, which holds cats at the Petco in Owings Mills. A couple of groups in Reisterstown and Randallstown also take in pit bulls and bulldogs.
Grimes, Blonder and Gibson began organizing their nonprofit, titled Fur the Love of Paws, Inc., in March and are starting to raise money to build a shelter in the area.
"Our goal is just to get at least a couple of acres," said Grimes, a Reisterstown resident. When the trio met, "we just clicked and we had a lot of the same ideas."
In addition to the shelter, the group would like to have a pet therapy program where animals visit patients in nursing homes or hospitals.
Grimes, who worked for years at Rosewood Center and group homes, said she would also like to get developmentally-disabled residents to serve as volunteers at the shelter.
Right now, Grimes and the Blonder-Gibson household are each caring for about eight cats and have some cats in foster homes, but they eventually hope to bring in dogs as well.
Grimes said she has been waiting her whole life to do something like this.
"A lot of people think we are being grandiose, but we are very motivated to do this," she said.
More information on Fur the Love of Paws, Inc., is available at www.furtheloveofpaws.com and donations can be sent online or to Fur the Love of Paws, P.O. Box 1826, Owings Mills, Md., 21117.
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