Town of Wallkill — The pigs enjoy a new overhead misting system.

The cats now have a house of their own, featuring scratching posts, tunnels, baby blankets and more than enough shelves to curl up on.

The dogs have a new walking trail through the woods, and they lounge on beds of gravel inside shaded outdoor playpens.

The cows have room to graze, the goats get bathed and groomed and the parrots have fresh fruit and veggies and cages for the outdoors.

Everybody seems to be taken care of now at Pets Alive, a no-kill animal shelter outside Middletown founded by Sara Whalen, who died of cancer on March 19.

Conditions had deteriorated at the sanctuary during the past few years as Whalen's health worsened. Only three caretakers looked after more than 500 animals.

The 150 dogs, for example, lived in metal cages in a concrete corridor and hardly ever got petted and handled, said Kerry Clair, Pets Alive's new manager. The passage had a single flickering light bulb and no heat during the winter.

But Best Friends Animal Society, a Utah charity that runs the nation's largest animal sanctuary, has redesigned and rebuilt the sanctuary during the past 90 days.

The group will remain in charge of the sanctuary through the end of the year and continue improvements, according to a joint decision with Pets Alive's board of directors this week.

Best Friends took over the sanctuary after Pets Alive's board contacted the organization in the last days of Whalen's life.

Best Friends brought in its rapid response team, the same group that rescued animals in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The group has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and drawn on its thousands of members and extensive network of animal caretakers to remake the site, Clair said.

Best Friends staff also has adopted out 50 dogs, 20 cats, 100 chickens, an emu, a steer, a rooster and several parrots. The animal count is now down to a more manageable 229.

Linda Brink holds Olivia, a yellow-naped Amazon parrot, on Monday at the newly renovated Pets Alive animal shelter in the Town of Wallkill.

"They've turned this place around," Clair said. "It's come full-circle. There's no way I could have done any of this without Best Friends' guidance, their financial help and their experts."

Next race is for the animals
Indy Pro Series driver Andrew Prendeville, who has been working to raise money for Best Friends this season, announced that he will dedicate all donations from his next race to the Pets Alive sanctuary.

The race, the Corning 100, is scheduled for July 7 and 8 at Watkins Glen.

Fans can make donations at the racinglapsforbestfriends.com Web site or at the Racing Laps for Best Friends tent on the grounds of the Finger Lakes road course.

recordonline.com - Town of Wallkill's Pets Alive shelter reborn