When the master serves in the military

An organization helps find foster care for the pets of soldiers sent overseas.

By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 25, 2003

TAMPA -- Staff Sgt. James Schmarje shipped out to the Middle East in late January. But he had to leave Peanut, his 6-year-old Alaskan malamute, in Tampa.

Schmarje's girlfriend couldn't take the dog because she lives in a tiny apartment with two cats. So for several weeks, Peanut lived in a fenced-in area at the Marine Corps Reserve off Gandy Boulevard.

No more. Peanut now has a home -- at least until Schmarje returns from the war.

Peanut is the first beneficiary of the Pets of Patriots program, which matches pets of deployed servicemen and women with foster "parents."

Animal advocates from around Hillsborough County have banded together to adopt the idea, conceived by Raquel Aluisy of the St. Francis Society Animal Rescue.

"Whether you are for this war or against this war, please realize there is a need," Aluisy said Monday at a press conference to publicize the program.

A military serviceman contacted Aluisy shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when he was deployed to help fight the war on terrorism, she said.

When area military personnel started deployment earlier this year, she resurrected the idea, and persuaded the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County Veterinary Medical Society and the county itself to help.

Even though Pets of Patriots is a Hillsborough-based organization, it will help enlisted military members from other counties as well. The group needs foster families who will sign a contract promising to feed, house and provide veterinary care for the animal.

There are eight pets -- one dog and seven cats -- awaiting adoption, said Aluisy.

Peanut, whose thick coat was recently shaved because of the hot weather, is adjusting well to his new family -- Matt and Pam Hall, two Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies.

Matt Hall is a K-9 officer, and has three other dogs. Peanut is getting along well with Hall's service dog, a German shepherd named Bo.

During a media conference on Monday in downtown Tampa, Peanut seemed to be loving the attention showered on him.

"James is sacrificing a lot over there," said Hall. "This is one less concern for him."

-- For more information about the Pets of Patriots program, call Holly Felty at (813)880-0430. The group is in need of foster parents who will take in dogs or cats. They also need volunteers, food, bedding, pet supplies and money.

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