<<< Back to Pawfest Home page

Winchester — Saturday was a good day to be a house pet, as the two major animal shelters offered a chance for pampering and health awareness.

The SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) of Winchester and Frederick and Clarke counties sponsored PawFest at its shelter on Featherbed Lane, while the Esther Boyd Animal Shelter hosted a rabies clinic.

PawFest, sponsored by First Bank, offered games, information, and music by the Martha Tucker Band, for an afternoon dedicated to increasing awareness of the need for animal adoptions.

“Our purpose is to raise funds and awareness, which we hope will lead to more people adopting a pet,” said SPCA Executive Director William Wood. “We want to reach out to the community and let them know who we are and what kind of animals are available.”

Groups represented at the fair included the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center, which provides rehabilitative care for injured and orphaned wildlife. Among those animals under its care was Stanley, an 18-inch opossum found as a baby in the wilderness.

Though Stanley is unable to be returned to the wild, the center nursed him back to health.

“It’s rough to be a possum,” said Peggy Koontz of the center. “Even before cars came along, they have never had a long life span.”

Koontz said opossums are almost blind and rely heavily on their sense of smell to find food.

“They can end up in some very precarious places, such as houses and dog kennels, only because it smelled good to them,” she said.

The phrase “playing possum” is a common term for pretending to be dead or helpless in order to lure an enemy into a false sense of security or avoid a fight.

Opossums do live up to that reputation, remaining absolutely motionless when startled until they have the opportunity to flee the situation.

But despite the opossum’s well-earned reputation for playing dead when danger arises, Koontz said the animals can be very aggressive and even attack humans if they feel they are being attacked and during mating seasons.

Opossums have sharp teeth and powerful jaws that would make any enemy who doesn’t buy into its “playing possum” act wish they’d have left well enough alone.

Helping to draw attention was Winchester Sheriff Lenny Millholland, who volunteered for a charity dunk tank once the water warmed up.

“It was 42 degrees when I got here,” said Millholland, a member of the SPCA Board of Directors. “But I decided that if looking like a fool will help a worthy organization or charity earn money, then I can do it. I guess they figured a lot of people would come out to pay for a chance to dunk the sheriff.”

At the Esther Boyd Shelter, the atmosphere was not as lighthearted, but the purpose was just as important and rabies shots were available for dogs and cats 4 months of age or older.

“This is something we’ve had every since I've been here,” said Kathy Whetzel, shelter manager. “This is something the public wants and there is a great need to protect animals. With reported cases of rabies on the rise, we do what we can to help folks protect their pets.”

Whetzel said the shelter runs the clinic in the spring and fall, but the date of the next clinic has not been scheduled.