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Community Corner

Second Chance Wildlife Rescues and Rehabilitates

Compassion and companionship are all abused animals need to survive.

On June 9th, Second Chance Wildlife was called in by the Suffolk County SPCA to save a life or two. Fifty-four dogs, three horses, one goat and two doves lives to be exact, who are now up for adoption.   

For the past 10 years, mother-daughter team Cathy Mulnard and Michelle Curtin, with husbands Doug and Jerry, have rescued, rehabilitated and socialized domestic and wildlife animals through their not-for-profit company, Second Chance Wildlife.  

"We want to keep them out of the hands of people that are abusing them," said Curtin, who explains that helping innocent animals is a passion she has had all her life, even though it is not a lucrative business. The women had to wear facemasks and gloves on the last rescue mission.

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As soon as the animals recently rescued were in Second Chance's care they were given an antibiotic regimen and pre-cautionary 24-hour care. Some dogs were on an IV due to the musky, moldy air and poor conditions they inhabited. The SPCA, which is also not-for-profit, rely on fundraising, grants and programs like Second Chance.

"They investigate and prosecute, we rehabilitate," said Mulnard.

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Second Chance is never short handed with nearly 50 volunteers willing to go to the laundromat, walk and clean the dogs, clean the pens, donate time, money, food, and blankets. The volunteers range in age from 12 to 75. According to Curtin, the volunteers are very dedicated to animals; they always come back and make them selves available 100 percent. Some of them even adopt. The SPCA comes in on their time off to help out where needed.

"My husband and I are volunteer firefighters, when the firehouse hears about a rescue they all come," said Curtin, "we try to socialize the dogs, most of them have never seen the outdoors."

Both Curtin and Mulnard believe they could not have gone this far without the help of their landlord, who donated a 3,000 square foot space to Second Chance to house the rescued animals. However, times are not so easy. They are in need of money to pay for the veterinarians' bills, lumber and padlocks to build a place for the horses and goats to stay and hay.

Curtin and Mulnard have been doing rescue for nearly 15 years and have been state and federally licensed for 10. They hold every possible license in the state of New York they can, leaving them able to care for any animal from an alligator to a zebra.

Adoption can be an issue with such large-scale rescues. Second Change often hosts Adopt-A-Thons in which a lot of older dogs are not taken. However, they are happy to be "home" when they return to their cages at Second Chance. According to Curtin, they run into their cages and wag their tails. They have learned they are not here to get hurt and have stopped barking for attention. Some of the breads available for adoption now are a border-collie mix, herding dogs, aussie mix and a sheltie mix.

The farm animals get taken rather quickly. The women have friends with property or they go to petting zoos. They had nine goats left at one point and now everyone has a goat at home.  Mulnard has also cared for exotic animals including cougars, Siberian lynx, bobcat and leopard that she rehabilitated and used for exhibitions at schools and for Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts. 

"No one is going anywhere," said Mulnard. "No one is going to be put to sleep or farmed out, there is no time limit."

To find out more information on donating goods, money or your time, contact Michelle at 631-484-2923 or Cathy 631- 495-0526.

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