Her pet project

Mary A. Castillo

This year for Mother’s Day, Sune Gillian a volunteer with the Orange

County Humane Society since 1999, received a special gift.

“My son spent the day walking the dogs at the shelter,” she said. “He

couldn’t have given me a more perfect gift.”

Gillian, 52, began her volunteer work with the society when a friend

explained how she deliberately adopted an older cat who had been at the

shelter for a long time. So Gillian decided to do the same.

“I called and requested a cat who needed a good home,” she said.

“Instead I ended up with a mama cat and her litter.”

Eventually Gillian fostered many animals who needed a little extra

love or were too young for adoption.

“When I first started it was hard to let them go,” she said. “But then

I realized that once they went to a good home, I could help more

animals.”

On a typical day at the shelter, Gillian dispatches new volunteers to

take the four-legged residents on walks and helps answer the busy phones.

Marking the complicated-looking grid, she keeps track of who has been

taken on a long walk to a nearby park and when. When the volunteer bank

was really low, the dogs only got a long walk every five weeks. Now a dog

typically ventures out once or twice a week.

“Walking is very important for a dog’s physical and mental health,”

she said, as one eager shepherd mix named Cher pulled a volunteer out the

door.

Gillian, who has always been an animal lover, feels quite strongly

about the treatment of these dogs and cats.

“I wish people who turn in their pets could see how much it affects

the animal,” she said, pointing out a gentle pit bull named Monster who

came as a stray, but was not picked up by his owners.

“Here is a loving dog who needs a little boy to play ball with,” she

said. “But because he’s a pit bull, it might be awhile before he finds a

home.”

Gillian and the other volunteers not only take turns walking the dogs,

but also take the animals to pet adoption days at local pet stores and to

Pet Place where they can be filmed for TV adoption segments. One of their

new projects is a matchmaking program for prospective owners. She hopes

it will help people make educated decisions about the type of animal they

bring into their lives and the responsibilities that comes with pets.

Although it is sometimes sad, volunteering at the society is not

without its rewards.

“The most exciting thing is when a long-term resident finally goes to

a good home,” she said.

* MARY A. CASTILLO is a news assistant with Times Community News. She

can be reached at (714) 965-7177 or by e-mail at o7

mary.castillo@latimes.com

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