LAND O’ LAKES — This camp was for the cats and dogs.
Pasco County Animal Services hosted its first summer camp this month, with 25 children — some as young as 5 — spending a week learning what it takes to work, or volunteer, at an animal shelter.
This camp wasn’t about playing with the animals, though. The campers went to work: cleaning kennels, feeding animals, shadowing staff in the medical clinic, learning how strays are picked up and even helping out in the community partnership department.
The week was hands-on, said Veronica Alfaro Sanchez, the shelter’s education and outreach coordinator. The camp was the idea of Gina Botticello, the pet services supervisor, who along with Gary Herrero, the shelter’s new director, handed out “diplomas” at a graduation ceremony to close the week.
Alfaro Sanchez said she went looking for a similar program and came up empty.
“I actually tried to find another county shelter in Florida, or even nationwide, that had posted a summer camp for children, and I’ve been unable to find one,” she said. “Private shelters and some rescues that will do summer camps, but as far as a government shelter, like (ours), it’s a very unique program.”
During the camp, children made hand-drawn kennel cards for some of their favorite dogs — and at least one made a difference.
One camper drew Gweta, a white German shepherd mix who had been confiscated from a home that wasn’t caring for her properly. Days later, at a Summer Bash adoption event, Gweta found her “fur-ever” home and went home with a happy, newly minted dog parent.
“Touched by the beautiful picture & innocent heartfelt message, she (the adopter) knew that she had found the one,” Animal Services wrote on social media. “Gweta’s days of waiting in a kennel ended that very day, and she went home with a wonderful adopter.”
Alfaro Sanchez said she had expected a moment like that.
“We honestly didn’t really have any moments where a child was too scared to participate in something,” she said. “Many of these kids, their parents are already volunteers here, but also they want to be around animals, help animals, maybe be a vet one day — who knows, but it was really beautiful to see how resilient these kids were.”
The camp cost $50 per camper. Alfaro Sanchez called it a success, though she said she didn’t know whether the shelter would hold another this summer. Either way, talks are already underway to bring it back next year.
“We really want to cultivate the next generation of animal advocates,” she said. “They kind of learned an overall view of what sheltering is. We’ve really been trying to make our shelter more family friendly. We really want the community to know that an animal shelter is not a scary place, that it’s a good place — not only to bring pets, like pets are safe here, but also, we want families to feel welcomed here.
“So that’s why we decided to have a kids’ camp helping the animals.”