Bubba, a Schnauzer mix, is just one of hundreds of animals helped by the Fox Valley Animal Welfare League. The League will soon open the first state-of-the-art low-cost spay/neuter clinic in the Fox Valley Area (photo courtesy FVAWL).

Volunteer Ellen Wullbrandt happened to be there when he arrived.

“One of the animal control staff members was carrying him like a small child,” Wullbrandt said. “[He] looked incredibly happy, considering he was about to embark on a new adventure that was scary for some dogs.”

But Bubba, the excited, friendly 12-year-old Schnauzer mix, made the 2010 holiday season special for Wullbrandt and others at Aurora Animal Control (AAC) and Fox Valley Animal Welfare League (FVAWL).

“[Bubba] was in great condition and [well] groomed,” Wullbrandt said. “None of us could believe he was actually 12 years old. You could tell he was loved very much.”

However, Bubba’s owner lost her home and couldn’t keep him.

For a variety of reasons—one being a poor economy–many dogs and cats find their way into animal control facilities throughout this country.

However, Bubba was unique: He was completely blind.

Fortunately, FVAWL helped Bubba find a no-kill animal rescue group that quickly located him a foster home and later a permanent “forever” home.

The Early Days

FVAWL, founded in 1946, has committed itself to improving the lives of animals. Irene Campbell, a League member since the 1950s, remembers when the group met at an old building on Lake Street in Aurora. The building has since been torn down.

“We didn’t have any money,” said Campbell about those early years. “We cut out coupons that had a cash value of about a penny and a half and sent them in [to raise funds].”

Campbell, born in 1918, says she originally helped out by cleaning cages every Monday and walking the dogs.

The group’s treasurer since 1992, Campbell said she’s “always had a feeling for animals.” Growing up on a farm in small-town Naperville (then population 5,000), she had a pony and, as she put it, her “doggies: an Airedale and a little teeny toy terrier.”

Now 93, Campbell says she continues her involvement “all out of love for animals.”

A Rich 66-Year History

Wullbrandt, active with the organization for the past 10 years, concurs with Campbell. “It’s such a passion of mine,” she said. “It’s one of those things I feel I have to do.”

Now in her fourth year as president, Wullbrandt say the FVAWL is “an organization that has really tried to help the community over the years.”

In spite of that and the group’s approximately 500 members, “people don’t know who we are,” she said. “Until August 2011, we were the non-profit organization for the City of Aurora Animal Control. We could fund things for them that they could not budget for and fund.”

Wullbrandt said the League has provided veterinary care for the animals that came through AAC. “We hired a vet to come in twice a week to AAC and examine all the animals that they were considering being put up for adoption,” she said.

And because of that process, “we realized that not all animals were going to go up for adoption; therefore, euthanasia was going to become higher, which we didn’t want.”

As a result, in 2006 the League began forming partnerships with 84 licensed no-kill rescue groups, saving 2,500 animals’ lives, Wullbrandt said.

Additionally, “we’ve been consistent with our efforts to spay/neuter,” she said. During the past five years, 1,961 dogs and cats have been spayed/neutered. In 2009 FVAWL started having all the animals spayed/neutered, vaccinated and tested prior to them going to the rescue groups.

“We would get the animal as ready as humanly possible,” Wullbrandt said. “If it needed a blood test, we’d get it a blood test; if it needed a dental cleaning, we’d get it a dental cleaning, so that when it [arrived at] the no-kill rescue group, it was ready to [be adopted.”

2012: Beginning of a New Era

The FVAWL president says the time has come to “grow with the community,” to become more progressive and preventative.

“[Consequently,] we are branching out on our own. We need to revamp and branch out into more of the Fox Valley area,” Wullbrandt said. “We’re basically [going to] follow the [Fox] River, from Elgin to Joliet and all the counties in between.

“We’re seeing that the community needs things, like spay/neuter efforts and a pet food pantry,” she said. “A lot of people are struggling with giving up their pets [because they cannot afford to feed them]. “So, really what we’re doing is [once again] responding to the community’s [needs].”

NEXT: The Fox Valley Animal Welfare League opens the area’s first state-of-the art low-cost spay/neuter clinic February 2012.

The Fox Valley Animal Welfare League
WHO WE ARE

We are a non-profit organization committed to…

• Caring for & promoting the adoption of lost, unwanted & abused companion animals.

• Advocating for the compassionate and humane treatment of these animals.

• Promoting the reduction of pet overpopulation.

• Forming partnerships to eliminate the euthanasia of healthy, adoptable pets.