Saving animal lives, and helping humans

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JEFFERSON AWARD: Presented to Sarah Cohen

Saving animal lives, and helping humans, as well

Heather Maddan, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Sunday, April 9, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sarah Cohen watched the harrowing rescue

of a young boy, an emotional situation made even more wrenching as he was forced

to leave his beloved dog behind to face an uncertain fate.

 

The scene so tugged at her heartstrings that she immediately called the San

Francisco SPCA and Second Chance Rescue in Marin County to solicit vehicles and

volunteers to help rescue pets being left behind.

 

As executive director of the nonprofit Hopalong Animal Rescue in Oakland, she

knew exactly what needed to be done, and that time was of the essence.

 

After a week's planning, she led a team of 10 Bay Area vet techs and animal

specialists in two borrowed vans down to the Gulf Coast region, which was

" drowning in pets " when they arrived 2 1/2 weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit.

They pulled frightened cats from trees and went house to house in a boat

rescuing abandoned pets and bringing them to Gonzales Fairgrounds outside New

Orleans, where they were being kept in horse stables.

 

The team returned to the Bay Area with 25 pets that they planned to take care of

until they could reunite them with their owners. Cohen made a second trip in

February and brought back another 25 cats and dogs to find adoptive homes for.

 

" It was the right thing to do, " said Cohen, 42, who plans to make another trip

if she can raise the money. " What we can do for our partners in animal welfare

across the country, they may one day need to do for us. "

 

Cohen has been with Hopalong Animal Rescue, which seeks to reduce euthanasia of

Bay Area animals through spay/neuter programs and adoption, since its inception

in 1993.

 

" Our organization specializes in matching people with animals that match their

lifestyle, which means we have very happy families and very few returns, " Cohen

said. She has personally adopted four special needs pets -- Sealie, a cat

rescued from a woman who collected them in Oakland; Callie, a cat dying of

dehydration and flea anemia; Freisia, a feral cat; and Melody, a dog with a

broken leg that she rescued from a freeway on-ramp.

 

A Connecticut native, Cohen spent her teenage years helping run a stable and

cleaning up at a veterinarian's. She decided to check out the pre-veterinary

program at Tufts University in Boston, but on her way there she found a kitten

on the freeway, pulled over to rescue it and never made it to the school.

 

Instead, Cohen combined her love for animals with her instincts to help others

by studying social work and doing animal therapy with emotionally disturbed

children until 1996.

 

Hopalong is funded entirely by donations, and has five full-time staffers,

including Cohen, and 475 volunteers that do everything from fostering dogs and

cats to running mobile adoptions to administrative work and fundraising.

Volunteer Leigh Zander is awed by Cohen's dedication to pets. " Her tireless

dedication to save the animals is an inspiration to us all, " she said.

 

For more information, visit www.hopalong.org, or call (510) 267-1915, Ext. 5000.

 

 

 

--

Each week, The Chronicle features a Bay Area resident who has won a Jefferson

Award for making a difference in his or her community. The awards are

administered by the American Institute for Public Service, a national foundation

that honors community service. Bay Area residents profiled in The Chronicle are

also featured on CBS 5-TV and KCBS-AM, which are Jefferson Award media partners,

along with The Chronicle.

E-mail Heather Maddan at hmaddan.

 

 

You can bomb the world to pieces

You can't bomb it into peace