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Fostering eases isolation

Frances Weaver, The Trail Blazer

Boston, a three-legged dog, gets to live life outside of a kennel during this time of isolation thanks to a Rowan County teacher.

Frances Weaver, a special education teacher at Rowan County Preschool Center, has been able to foster shelter animals earlier this year than other years because of isolation. Since schools are out and teachers are working from home, she brought another face home with her to ease both her isolation and his.

“Our local shelter [Tri-County Animal Shelter] has shut down adoptions to the public and intake except for emergency situations,“said Jan White-Dacci, the president of Saving the Animals of Rowan. “The rescues across the country that we particularly work with are shut down for intakes and adoptions. Everything is at a standstill. Unfortunately, there’s still dogs and cats in need.”

Animal shelters are among the many organizations that have had to close their doors because of the coronavirus. Adoption rates have decreased, and animals aren’t getting a lot of human contact.

That’s why shelters called upon those in isolation to help improve the lives of their animals by fostering, and Weaver accepted the call.

“He needed a place to go,” said Weaver. “STAR has a kennel where we can keep them, but we can’t keep all of them there. Sometimes it gets full, sometimes the dogs can’t handle the loud noise and stuff like that.”

Weaver has been working with STAR for ten years. However, as a teacher, she is normally only able to foster dogs during the summer.

She believed fostering Boston hasn’t only improved his life, but hers as well.

“To me it gives you a purpose and it makes you feel good about doing something, but also it helps me with stress relief so I think it would with other people too,” said Weaver.

The Trail Blazer is online at: http://www.thetrailblazeronline.net