EVENTS SET FOR BE KIND TO ANIMALS WEEK

Melanie Clubb met Benny on a blind date.

Clubb was attending a fund raiser for the Humane Society at Flickerwood Arena in Fruitland and needed someone to go with. Normally, she would have taken Bubba, but Bubba was, she thought, a little too old for the event, so she turned to Ben.

Bubba is her dog. Benny is also a dog, a Great Pyrenees that had been brought to the animal shelter.

Sherry Holstein knew she had found the right pet when she met Meesha, her Siamese cat, at the animal shelter. She had gone into the shelter every week for months looking for the right cat before she found Meesha.

Both Benny and Meesha will be a part of the All Alumni Pet Show being held during the open house at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri on Sunday.

The open house, part of the kickoff events for Be Kind to Animals Week May 3 to 9, will showcase the improvements that have been at the Humane Society's facility at 2536 Boutin Dr.

When Clubb first saw Benny, she wasn't very impressed. He was lethargic, dirty and grossly underweight -- 80 pounds to be exact. So much, in fact, that his hip bones protruded two and a half inches.

He had been rescued from a home in Mounds, Ill., by members of the Humane Society, who were accompanied by members of the Mounds Police Department.

He had not been brushed or groomed, a necessity with Great Pyrenees, and had a log chain padlocked around his neck. The only sign that he had been eating were a few chicken bones that lay near by. There were no signs that he had been watered or had ever received veterinarian care.

After the Humane Society gave him a bath, Clubb took him home and cleaned him up a little more, including giving him his first real grooming.

"Through it all, he stood there like a perfect angel," Clubb said.

When she took him to the fund raiser, he acted so wonderfully around the other people and the animals that she decided to keep him.

"I couldn't put him back in the cage. It wouldn't have killed him, but it would probably have killed me," she said.

Since March, he has gained weight. He weighs over 80 pounds with 40 pounds left to go. He has been treated for whipworms and is presently being treated for heartworms. But best yet, he has become a member of the family.

"He's a charmer," Clubb said.

Holstein said of the cat: "When I picked her up, she put her paws around my neck, and I said, 'Oh, you're after my heart.'"

Meesha had been brought in by a family that no longer wanted her. She was so malnourished by the time she was brought in that her whiskers were breaking off.

Under the love and care of Holstein, Meesha, who is now 9 months old, has blossomed. Holstein has taught her to do tricks like sitting on command, lying down and rolling over. She'll even let Holstein take her on walks on a leash.

Sunday's activities at the Humane Society shelter will begin with a blessing of the animals by two local pastors. The Rev. Brendan Dempsey of First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau and the Rev. Sam Roethemeyer of Emanuel United Church of Christ in Jackson will share in a prayer of St. Francis Assisi, blessing area pets. The Humane Society invites people to bring their pets for the blessing, though they ask that all pets be put on a leash or other proper restraint.

Then, as a part of the open house, an alumni pet show will be held featuring animals that have been adopted from the animal shelter.

"Some of the animals were rescued from puppy mills, others were taken from negligent situations," said Cynthia Kothe, program coordinator for the Humane Society.

Brian Alworth from KFVS-TV will host the pet show, reading a vignette about each pet and telling where those graduates are today.

On Monday, Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling will be at the shelter at 11 a.m. to sign an official proclamation designating the week as "Be Kind to Animals Week" in Cape Girardeau.

Activities sponsored by the Humane Society will continue throughout the week culminating May 9 with Kothe's reading of "Bless the Beast and the Children" at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

For more information about "Be Kind to Animals Week" call the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri at 334-5837.