IndexBusiness 9ACalendar 6CClassified 1FCommunity 1CDear Abby 6DEditorials 6AHoroscope 7F

Jumble 2DLife 1DLocal 3ANation 11AObituaries 2CPuzzle 2DSports 1B

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Marshall on a rollHerd tops N. Texas,80-73, at the CamSports /1B

A taste of spring

5540Weather / 4A

Tackett’s ShootoutFairland girls fall toSouth Webster, 58-46Sports / 1B

Huntington, West Virginia www.herald-dispatch.com Home Edition $1.50

HD Media Company LLCwww.herald-dispatch.comHuntington, West VirginiaVol. 115 No. 39

The languageof love inan operaWith Valentine’sDay less than aweek away, theseare not days to treadlightly into love.Thus, the MarshallArtists Series hassounded the alarmand will host aperformance ofGiacomo Puccini’sopera “La Boheme”at the Keith-Albeeon Tuesday.Life / 1D

Looking fora ‘pour-fect’cup of coffee?Pour-over coffeeis about the details.Bittersweet Coffee-house on the cornerof 20th Street and7th Avenue in Hun-tington is offeringmuch more thanjust a plain cupof joe.Business / 9A

SERVING THE TRI-STATE FOR

Y E A R S

SERVI E FOR

Y E A R S

061New strategies could

help local shelter

Photos by Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

Volunteer Brandi Ashley pets Raja, a cat available for adoption at the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association onThursday on Greenbrier Street in Charleston.

By CURTIS JOHNSONThe Herald-Dispatchcujohnson@herald-dispatch.com

HUNTINGTON — Newly appointed direc-tor Scott Iseli believes the Huntington-Ca-bell-Wayne Animal Control Shelter stands onthe brink of a new day, as animal advocates

across the region watchwith hope that local lead-ers can turn around a shel-ter broadly criticized forpoor management and higheuthanasia rates.

Many of Iseli’s ideashave produced results else-where, but those findingsuch success warn the blue-print could take time, anda recent analysis by TheHerald-Dispatch shows it

would begin with a shelter already lacking inresources for the number of animals it takes in.

The newspaper’s analysis found the Hun-tington-Cabell-Wayne Animal Control Shelteroperates with fewer dollars per animal and farfewer volunteers than similarly sized shelters inCharleston and Parkersburg.

By TAYLOR STUCKThe Herald-Dispatchtstuck@heralddispatch.com

HUNTINGTON — For mostchildren and adults, playtime isa way to pass the time and useyour imagination. For KatrinaJefferson and the children andfamilies she serves at TLC Ser-vices in Huntington, play is away to heal.

Play therapy, as Jeffersondescribes it, is a way to get intothe child’s world.

“Play is essential to humangrowth, development, relation-ship development and learning,”said Jefferson, the play therapistand play therapy supervisorat TLC. “Play therapy allowsyou to get into that world withthe child and create a safe rela-

tionship with them in the playtherapy room. You are sharingan experience with them.”

A good example is a sand box.“It’s therapeutic for kids,”

Jefferson said. “You are in themoment when the sand fallsthrough your fingers, instead ofbeing on a cell phone.”

In celebration of NationalPlay Therapy Week, TLC Ser-vices hosted a Play Date Sat-urday at its office on MahoodDrive in Huntington. Crafts,games and activities were avail-able for all to play.

Jefferson said it’s all about

promoting the value of play,especially in today’s world withconstant technology use.

Play therapy is an effectivetool in helping with behavioralissues and mental health dis-orders such as trauma, ADHD,autism and depression. In steadof using words, the toy becomesthe tool used to express howthey feel.

“Hands down, this is the besttherapy I have ever seen,” Jeffer-son said. “I’ve been doing thisfor 20-25 years and play therapyworks for children and adults.It’s a whole brain activity thathelps you heal those internalconflicts and move on. It’s reallybeautiful.”

SUNDAYFebruary 8, 2015

The Associated PressCHARLESTON — The West Vir-

ginia State Police is crediting tar-geted patrols with helping to reducetraffic fatalities during 2014.

Officials said Friday that therewere 271 fatalities in 240 car crashesduring 2014, down from 332 fatalitiesin 305 crashes in 2013.

The numbers are down even fur-ther from 2012when the stater e c o r d e d 3 3 9fatalities in 318crashes . W hi lethere are manyfactors involved,there seems to bea direct relation-ship between anincreased police

presence and a reduction in fatalities,officials said.

Law enforcement officials reliedheavily on grants from the Gover-nor’s Highway Safety Program tofund special patrols.

It allowed troopers to work thepatrols of between two and six hourson their days off, during vacationtime and before or after their regu-lar shifts. Those patrols focused ondistracted driving, work zone safety,DUIs and seatbelt and child restraintenforcement.

For the past couple of years, policetargeted patrols in areas with highDUI and fatality rates and conductedpatrols during peak travel times andseasons.

In addition to reducing the numberof traffic fatalities, 90 fugitives fromjustice were apprehended and 542felony arrests were achieved duringspecial patrols in 2014.

Officials said improvement in high-way safety and significantly fallingtraffic fatalities is important to lawenforcement officers both profession-ally and personally.

“The horrors associated with afatal crash scene do not end imme-diately following impact of a vehicle,nor does it end following the subse-quent clean-up of the roadway. Infact, it just begins for many, includingthose in law enforcement,” West Vir-ginia State Police Lt. Michael Bayloussaid in a statement.

“Law enforcement officers havethe task of notifying family membersof the deceased. Can you imaginehaving to inform someone that theirloved one has been killed and won’tbe returning home? This is absolute-ly one of the most difficult tasks thattroopers perform.”

Targetedpatrolsreduced’14 deaths

Play becomes a healing therapy for kids at TLC Services

COMMUNITY: Animals

Neighboring sheltersimproving withcommunity support

A dog peers out from a kennel at the Kanawha-Charleston HumaneAssociation on Thursday.

Bishop Nash/The Herald-Dispatch

One-year-old Maveryck Newlon plays in the sand as TLC Services inHuntington celebrates National Play Therapy Week on Saturday inEast Pea Ridge.

“We have to put ourdifferences aside, let thepast be the past and let’s

move forward.”Scott Iseli

Director of Huntington-Cabell-WayneAnimal Control Shelter

MORE INSIDE:n Love Is A FourLegged Wordadoption event, 3An Area sheltersby the numberschart, 14An New approacheshelp reduceeuthanasia, 15A

W.VA. TRAFFIC FATALITIES

Baylous

Focus was on areas withhigh DUI, fatality rates

Please see SHELTER/14A

Please see PLAY/15A

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C M Y K 50 inch

Its comparative data moreclosely resembles shelters thatreceive approximately half asmany animals in Winfield, WestVirginia, Ashland and Ironton.

Specifically, Huntington’sreported volunteer base of just20 people falls beneath the ros-ter of Lawrence County, Ohio,a shelter which cares for lessthan half as many animals withapproximately 29 percent asmuch revenue secured largelythrough the sale of dog tags.

Those realities are not helpedby the shelter’s battered image,drying up donor funds andavailable volunteers, leavingthe Huntington shelter with stillmore animals, limited space andmore euthanasia.

But Iseli said the falling dom-inoes must stop.

“It’s going to take a lot ofwork,” Iseli said Thursday.“We have to put our differenc-es aside, let the past be the pastand let’s move forward … Todayis a new day.”

Iseli, promoted from inter-im director last month, com-mitted himself to change inacknowledging the shelter’shigher-than-desired euthanasiarate. That begins with revisingsterilization policies to benefitrescue groups, implementinga catch-and-release programfor cats, and better volunteercoordination.

Such changes have revo-lutionized animal shelters inCharleston and Ironton, wherethe percentage of animals euth-anized fell from 70 to 90 percentas late as five years ago to lessthan 12 percent in 2014.

The Kanawha-CharlestonHumane Association experi-enced change with Chelsea Sta-ley’s hiring as executive directorin September 2013. She instilleda philosophy that eliminatedeuthanasia as a remedy for over-population.

Such a mandate forced theself-described marketing per-son to get creative increasingthe shelter’s dependence uponrescue groups, waiving adoptionfees in times of near capacityand more recently scrappingits volunteer roster for one withmore coordination and training.

Those moves and other initia-tives won community support,increasing contributions to theCharleston organization by ahalf million dollars. Staley looksupon that success as a combi-nation of small victories, all ofwhich started with one govern-ment official congratulating herinheriting of a hornet’s nest.

“Right now all eyes are onCabell (County),” she said ofIseli and the Huntington shel-ter. “I’m dead serious … Cabellhas a significant opportunity tochange and be a better shelterright now, and I just hope theytake it.”

Staley went further, pledgingher help and guidance if calledupon, saying everyone is fight-ing for the same goal — to saveanimals.

“Nothing we have done isproprietary,” she said. “Everyprogram we have rolled out, wehave copied from someone elsewho did it first.”

Prospect of privatizationTheHuntington-Cabell-Wayne

Animal Control Shelter operateson approximately $144 for everyanimal it received in 2014, accord-ing to its total volume of animalsand its annual budget of $594,000,as provided by Iseli and shelterboard liaison Chris Tatum.

That falls well short ofCharleston’s donor-inducedfigure of $243 per animal, butahead of government-run shel-ters in Winfield at $124, Ashland

at $122 and Ironton at $103. Bud-get information was not provid-ed for the Humane Society ofParkersburg.

Oversight stands as a majordifference setting apart Hun-tington from nonprofit oper-ations in Charleston andParkersburg, both of whichoperate off private donationsand grants with limited govern-ment aid.

Instead, Huntington operatesas a government entity withnearly three-quarters of its bud-get, or $425,000, provided by theCabell and Wayne County com-missions as well as the city ofHuntington. It receives anoth-er $20,000 from neighboringLincoln County and $105,000through fees collected and mis-cellaneous revenue, Tatum said.

Huntington Mayor SteveWilliams expressed a desirefor some level of privatizationlast month. Such public-privatepartnership seemed to haveyielded success in Charlestonand Parkersburg.

Those operations contractwith county and city govern-ments to provide sheltering.

They have similar agreementsfor animal control with theirrespective counties, whileincorporated cities decide forthemselves whether to hire theirown humane officers or con-tract with the shelter.

F o r i n s t a n c e , t h eKanawha-Charleston HumaneAssociation operates with anestimated $1.3 million budget,which includes $280,500 incounty and municipal contracts.

It’s a relationship dating backmany years for Staley’s organi-zation, and it’s one she wouldn’tchange, even though it strips hershelter of turning away animalsfound in the “absolute worst ofthe worst” situations.

“We wouldn’t have it any oth-er way,” she said. “I love beingover animal control becausethose animals need us the most.Those animals can be the worstof the worst, they can be in thegreatest need, and that is whereI want to spend my time.”

Many share Staley’s passionfor such animals, and she saidthat love can support the shel-ter’s broader fundraising effortto ensure euthanasia touches as

few animals as possible.The Charleston shelter oper-

ates with an estimated $1.3million budget built heavilyupon private contributions andgrants. Staley credited suchsuccess to a donor base datingback decades as well as severalfundraising events throughoutthe year.

Charleston’s biggest fundrais-er has been a gala, referred to asTuxes and Tails. It built uponthe success of an event, former-ly called Furball, which raised$20,000 to $30,000 annually.

With a new title, a more ele-gant setting and the promise ofa large buffet at Embassy Suites,Staley said she now believes itwill bring in $75,000. That oneevent stands in sharp contrastto the $44,000 in private dona-tions Huntington’s shelter willreceive in a given year, a figurewhich Tatum said includes onedonor’s $20,000 trust.

The donation-based approachalso has worked for Little Vic-tories Animal Rescue in Ona.The private, no-kill shelteroperates with no governmentassistance on an annual budgetof $400,000 — an amount equalto two-thirds the budget of theHuntington-Cabell-Wayne facil-ity just 20 miles to the west.

Little Victories executivedirector Rebecca Crowder andStaley believe proximity of theHuntington and Ona sheltersshould not impact the govern-ment-run facility should its lead-ers seek privatization or a push

for more donations.Crowder said the two groups

have different missions eachwith passionate supporters. Sta-ley agreed, even speculating ashelter that euthanizes couldhave more success.

“In my opinion, the animalshelter needs it more,” she said.“An animal shelter can only savewhat they have the means tosave. So I think the public wouldwelcome donating to Cabell-Wayne because the stakes aremuch higher.”

Iseli supports looking forways to boost private donationsand grants never pursued by hispredecessors, though he said thenonprofit status of humane soci-eties such as Charleston’s givethose groups wider latitude.

Despite that roadblock, Iseliseemed hesitant when askedabout switching Huntington’sshelter to a nonprofit. He saidthat decision rests with Wil-liams and two other boardmembers, though he believedimproving the shelter’s imageand its relationship with areanonprofits can reach many ofthe same goals.

“It’s just there’s all kinds ofavenues out there that were nev-er looked into or tried before,”Iseli said.

Putnam County Animal Shel-ter director John Davis alsoexpressed skepticism aboutpublic-private partnerships. Itstemmed from a private group’sdesire to run his shelter andmake personnel decisions with

full funding by the county.Davis said a nonprofit model

resembling those in Charlestonand Parkersburg could work,though he did not have experi-ence with their operations.

A volunteer armyCharleston and Parkersburg

shelters manage the individu-ality of their volunteers with astructured orientation program.Both credit such organizationwith helping boost their rostersinto triple digits.

The Kanawha-CharlestonHumane Association started itsprogram just last year. They didso with help from the HumaneNetwork, which provided guid-ance through a grant from anonprofit geared toward con-trolling the cat population.

Those efforts led to the found-ing of a class dubbed Volunteer101. It meets twice a month withthe association’s volunteer coor-dinator. The mandatory train-ing is required before anyonehelps at the shelter.

The protocol includes theclass presentation, a person-al tour and mentoring by paidstaff, Staley said.

Those lessons are importantto prepare prospective volun-teers for what they may encoun-ter and ensure they align withthe shelter’s mission, whichincludes the potential for eutha-nasia if the dog is aggressive ordiseased.

14A The Herald-Dispatch — Huntington, WV, Sunday, February 8, 2015 Local / Region Questions? Call the newsroom at 304-526-2798 www.herald-dispatch.com

COMMUNITY: Animals

2014: Area animal shelters by the numbers

4,126 2,465 5,347 3,731 2,037 1,691Dogs 2,144 997 2,967 NA 988 1,337Cats 1,982 1,468 2,331 NA 1,040 354Other 0 N/A 49 NA 9 ---

2,597 1,740 495 848 913 203% overall 63% 71% 9% 23% 45% 12%Dogs 1,087 408 136 NA 93 112% of volume 51% 41% 5% 9% 8%Cats 1,510 1,332 357 NA 820 91% of volume 76% 91% 15% 79% 26%

1,529 620 4,138 1,807 1,144 1,358% of overall 37% 25% 77% 48% 56% 80%

Government Government Nonprofit Nonprofit Government Government594,000$ 306,551$ 1,300,000$ --- 249,000$ 175,000$

787 345 901 366 159 453138,570 56,650 191,275 86,569 48,886 61,917

20 15 185 440 3 to 4 25-3013 8 33 19 5 4

5,264 sq. ft. 10,000 sq. ft. 8,500 sq. ft. NA 2,607 sq. ft. NA170 130 239 NA 82 851971 2013 1996 1958 1961 1991

Source: Compiled by The Herald-Dispatch from interviews with individual shelters* Note: Statistics for 2013/2014 fiscal year. Exact breakdown by type of animal was not available.

Kanawha-CharlestonHumane Assoc.

Humane Society ofParkersburg*

Boyd County AnimalShelter

Lawrence CountyDog Pound

Type of organization

Total volume (annual)

Total euthanized

Total adopted/other

Putnam Co. AnimalShelter

Facility built - Year

Population served

Htn-Cabell-WayneAnimal Control Shelter

Total volunteersTotal employmentFacility sizeFacility capacity

Annual fundingArea served (sq miles)

Sheltern Continued from 1A

Photos by Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

Exterior of the Huntington-Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter on Friday in Huntington.

The interior of the Putnam County Animal Shelter.

The interior of the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association on Thursday in Charleston.

“Right now all eyes are on Cabell (County).Cabell has a significant opportunity to

change and be a better shelter right now,and I just hope they take it.”

Chelsea StaleyExecutive director of the Kanawha-Charleston

Humane Association

Please see SHELTER/15A

C M Y K 50 inch

Questions? Call the newsroom at 304-526-2798 www.herald-dispatch.com Local / Region The Herald-Dispatch — Huntington, WV, Sunday, February 8, 2015 15A

COMMUNITY: Animals

“We tell them the truth about theshelter — good, bad and ugly,” shesaid. “Pretty often if you know twofacts and not the middle ground,you’re assumptions fill the middle.Our volunteers don’t have thoseassumptions because they understandhow we operate.”

Staley believed in the program somuch she scrapped the Charlestonshelter’s entire roster in October2014. It already has been replenishedwith 185 volunteers. They walk dogs,clean cages and work adoption eventsamong many other tasks, such as serv-ing as greeters and driving dogs mul-tiple states away for rescue.

Parkersburg shelter managerMichelle Earl said her facility uses asimilar program. Experienced volun-teers coordinate orientation and thenschedule its roster of approximately440 volunteers for various tasks.

Crowder’s group also uses an appli-cation process and orientation at LittleVictories. She and a board memberadminister the program, which sheestimates has more than 50 regularvolunteers.

That’s more than double Hunting-ton-Cabell-Wayne’s roster of 20 volun-teers, according to numbers providedby Iseli. That ranked second to last interms of volunteers per animal servedin 2014, followed by Boyd County’sroster of three to four volunteers,according to The Herald-Dispatch’sanalysis.

Iseli has submitted new volunteerprotocols for board approval. It willinclude better advertising of the needfor volunteers, scheduling of orien-

tation classes and education as todifferent areas of potential service.

His proposed protocols are basedupon standards set by the NationalAnimal Control Association and ashelter in Washington County, Mary-land. He most recently visited theMaryland facility a year ago and spoketo them within the past month.

Rehabbing public imageThe Huntington shelter’s public

image may be its largest obstacle.

That includes recent complaintsof distemper, its high-than-desiredeuthanasia rate and prior reports theshelter provided a diseased dog to anarea rescue.

Iseli said he has combated that rep-utation by reaching out to the rescuegroup affected, proclaiming his shel-ter distemper-free before board mem-bers last month, and releasing eutha-nasia statistics showing the number ofanimals killed down from 6,109 dogsand cats in 2011 to 2,597 last year.

“I want to be transparent,” he said.“I don’t want us to stay where we usedto be. I was here through all of thatother and I want to move forward. Iwant the shelter to be the best one inthe state.”

Lawrence County pound keeperMelissa Nicely and Staley said run-ning a healthy shelter is fundamental.Both have heard previous reports ofdisease and said such issues will keepvolunteers away and dissuade poten-tial adoptions and rescues.

Staley said the only way to regainthe public’s trust is action.

“I think a lot of people in our countywanted to see better things,” she saidof the Charleston shelter. “They sincehave and now open their hearts, homesand wallets to our cause … Nobodywants to volunteer at a shelter whenyou know your favorite dog is going tobe euthanized the next morning.”

The Putnam County Animal Shel-ter rehabbed its image with a newbuilding. Its construction replaced arundown, 30-year-old facility locatedin a wooded area out of the view fromthe main roadway.

The new facility sits across theKanawha River from Winfield alongW.Va. 34/62. Animals no longer sitbehind caged fences, but insteadbehind clear windows. Davis said itslarger capacity also allows the shelterto hold more animals, some for six toseven months at time, thus reducingits euthanasia rate.

“We have a lot of good feedback onjust how inviting the place is,” he said.“We have it more set up like a pet-shopfeel as to an animal shelter. A lot ofpeople feel better about coming in.”

Putnam County’s new facility costs$2.5 million in taxpayer funds. Pri-vate donations chipped in another$300,000 for furnishings, Davis said.

Iseli admits a new animal shelterwould be a huge benefit for Hun-tington, but he cited money issues insaying any such project is not feasible.

A cheaper option involves the useof volunteers. Staley and Nicely credittheir knowledgeable volunteers withproviding a voice to respond to anycriticism.

Follow reporter Curtis Johnsonat Facebook.com/curtisjohnsonHDand via Twitter @curtisjohnsonHD.

Sheltern Continued from 14A

By CURTIS JOHNSONThe Herald-Dispatchcujohnson@herald-dispatch.com

HUNTINGTON — Surrenderingyour dog to an animal shelter inCharleston, Huntington or Irontonmay be the first step in getting thecanine a one-way ticket to a familyas far away as Minnesota, Michiganor New York.

Reliance upon such out-of-staterescue organizations represents justone way animal shelters in Charles-ton and Ironton drastically reduceddog euthanizations, and the Charles-ton facility now uses a catch-and-release program for similar successwith cats. Expanded use of both ini-tiatives is high on the priority listof Scott Iseli, the newly appoint-ed director of the Huntington-Ca-bell-Wayne Animal Control Shelter.

Its euthanasia percentage ranksamong the highest of seven sheltersreviewed by The Herald-Dispatch,though Iseli points to a dramaticdecline since 2011. Other solutionsyielding success in the region includea retention program in Charleston,the opening of a low-cost spay andneuter clinic in Parkersburg andexpanded use of the Internet every-where.

Charleston, Ironton and, to a muchlesser extent, Huntington rely uponout-of-state animal rescues. Each facil-ity, as well as the Boyd County AnimalShelter in Ashland, also works withlocal rescue organizations to removedogs from the risk of euthanasia.

Lawrence County pound keeperMelissa Nicely said without the helpof some 40 rescue organizations hershelter’s canine kill rate would returnto 90 percent, a measure which madethe Ironton pound Ohio’s deadliestin 2011.

The Ironton pound moved 1,095dogs through adoption or rescue2014. That contrasts with just 112euthanizations, approximately 8 per-cent of the 1,337 canines that arrivedand many of those killed were olddogs whose families benefited fromthe pound’s low-income euthanasiaprogram.

Nicely further illustrated thepound’s dependence upon rescuessaying a good week routinely yieldsfive to six adoptions in comparisonto 30 rescues.

“Every time I turn around we’readding a new group,” she said. “It’s

because we’re willing to work withthem and we have the interaction.”

The Ironton shelter’s commit-ment to a Michigan rescue this pastweek necessitated its switch to amore expensive vaccine, while theKanawha-Charleston Humane Asso-ciation routinely needs shelter vol-unteers to drive its canines twice amonth to a groups in Maryland, Penn-sylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Iseli said similar changes are nec-essary for Huntington to maximize itsuse of rescue groups. The chief issueis adopting a sterilization programthat results in every animal beingspade or neutered before it leaves asopposed to the shelter awarding eachadopted owner or rescuer a voucherfor the operation.

For instance, Iseli a Pittsburgh

group already takes six dogs a month.He believes the sterilization changewould mean other groups start taking20 to 40 dogs a month — 240 to 480a year.

Iseli also supports the use of acatch and release program for feralcats. A similar initiative in Charles-ton, known as trap, neuter and return,spared the lives of 392 cats in 2014,according to the shelter’s executivedirector Chelsea Staley. That enabledit to euthanize just 357 cats, equal to15 percent of those taken in by theshelter in 2014 and far less than othershelters in the newspaper’s analysis.

Such a program drew criticismfrom Putnam County Animal Shel-ter director John Davis. He believedit creates a disservice to taxpayerswho view feral cats to be a nuisance,

to which Staley said sterilizationfavorably changes the cats’ behavior.

“We have been catching and killingcats for 50 years at least and they stillexist,” she said.

Staley also touts her shelter’s reten-tion program in reducing the numberof animals surrendered to its care. Itinvolves a help desk manager inquir-ing as to the reason every ownerwishes to surrender their pet. Hisgoal is to answer every reason with asolution, whether it is obedience tipsor opening of the shelter’s pet foodbank to alleviate a financial burden.

Michelle Earl, shelter manager forthe Humane Society of Parkersburg,said her organization hopes its low-cost spay and neuter clinic willreduce intakes. It opened withoutresidency or income restrictions in

October 2013 and led to the steriliza-tion of 6,176 dogs and cats last year.

The Putnam County shelter hopesto use donated funds to start a simi-lar sterilization program, albeit withincome restrictions, later this year.Davis said officials remain in negoti-ation, but hope it results in fewer pup-pies and kittens being surrendered.

Iseli, unaware of retention programand Parkersburg clinic, said bothinitiatives were worth looking into.The Huntington director also saidhis shelter looks to increase its usageof Facebook and revamp its formerwebsite to provided additional oppor-tunities for adoption.

Follow reporter Curtis Johnsonat Facebook.com/curtisjohnsonHDand via Twitter @curtisjohnsonHD.

New approaches could help reduce euthanasia

Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

Ricky Hawkins, right, receives his new dog “Jasper” after filling out adoption papers at the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association on Thursday in Charleston.

Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

An interior photo of the Friends of the Shelter barn project at the Huntington-Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter on Fridayin Huntington.

Luci Shuler, of Barboursville, has a9-year-old daughter and a 7-year-oldson in play therapy. She said, withouta doubt, it is the best therapy for them.

“My daughter is relatively shy and Idon’t think she would be able to expressher emotions with a regular therapist,”Shuler said. “My son was diagnosedwith selective mutism. He can talk per-fectly normal, but he doesn’t like toin school and other places. So regulartherapy wouldn’t do them any good.This has allowed them to express theiremotions.”

“It’s the perfect type of therapy forthem.”

Jefferson works closely with familiesas well. She said the family is a system,and she will be starting a parentinggroup in March to work with familiesmore.

“I thought in the beginning, ‘Oh, theyare just playing. What are they gettingout of it?’” Shuler said. “But I talked with(Jefferson), and she explained what washappening. I’ve learned a lot from her.”

There are only five play therapists inthe state. Jefferson is currently lookingfor mental health therapists who wouldlike to train in play therapy.

Anyone interested in learning moreabout play therapy or TLC Servicescan contact Jefferson at 304-634-0274or tlc4change@gmail.com.

Follow reporter Taylor Stuck onTwitter @TaylorStuckHD.

Playn Continued from 1A Jason Courts, 6,

Emma Fluharty,6, and GabrielleCourts, 9, fill incoloring pages asTLC Services inHuntington cele-brates NationalPlay Therapy weekSaturday in EastPea Ridge.

Bishop Nash/TheHerald-Dispatch