Community Corner

Gladwyne Organization Finds Foster Homes for Soldiers' Pets

What do military personell do with their pets when they're deployed?

It's a little-known conundrum faced by many of the servicemen and women who comprise America's armed forces: when you enlist, what do you do with your pets?

For soldiers without friends or family willing to pet-sit, the only option is taking the animal in question to a shelter that will, hopefully, find it a loving adoptive family. But if a family can't be found—which happens to approximately half the animals that enter shelters each year—the pet is usually euthanized.

For military personnel who love their pets as well as their country, it's an extra, and unnecessary, emotional burden to carry. A Gladwyne-based organization is doing something about it.

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The PACT Military Foster Pet Program was founded in 2010 by Buzz Miller, a retired Philadelphia attorney who'd heard about a husband and wife in the National Guard who had no one to care for their dogs when they were deployed to Afghanistan. Miller arranged for Andrew and Kathleen Barton's two pets to be taken care of by a Valley Forge family, and when the Barton's returned from deployment in 2012, returned their two pets to them.

To date, Miller has placed more than 60 such pets in foster care—free of charge to the owners.

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“This is a win-win situation for both the foster parents who open their hearts to these pets and the solider, who does not have to surrender his or her best friend,” said Miller.

“PACT helps strengthen the human-animal bond and ensure that there’s a happy ending.”

To lean more about PACT, visit the organization's website at http://www.pactforanimals.org/


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