The Humane Society of St. Thomas has received a $5,000 donation raised by a nationally know Massachussetts tavern with a long history of supporting canines in need.
The funds were raised by The Black Dog Tavern Co. Inc. in a March Doggie Appreciation Month campaign and given to Angels Helping Animals, which in turn used the money for the St. Thomas shelter dogs.
Passing through St. Thomas Saturday morning, Dan Pucillo took a few minutes to discuss something dear to his heart – black dogs, or, truth be told, any dog.
Pucillo, of Martha’s Vineyard, is the chief financial officer of Black Dog Tavern Co. Inc. Working with other agencies, his company has been instrumental in finding homes for many of St. Thomas’s homeless canines.
Before discussing his company’s local connection, Pucillo gave a thumbnail description of how the company, whose Black Dog T-shirts are ubiquitous nationally, got started in 1967.
With a black dog, it turns out. Pucillo said the namesake black dog was herself a rescue dog, belonging to the Black Dog Inn’s original owner, Capt. Robert Douglas. The dog would greet customers at the original restaurant, and her legacy endured.
Saturday Pucillo, with his family, was in the check-in process at Cyril King airport. He had arrived from Tortola early in the morning and braved traffic and taxis to make his flight back to Boston. However, he didn’t appear to be fazed by all the action; he was eager to talk about the Black Dog program’s recent success.
"The Black Dog held its first Doggie Adoption Month campaign last month on Martha’s Vineyard," Pucillo said. "By teaming up with local animal shelters, we were able to help find homes for adoptable dogs. Black Dog General stores served as a meeting place for dogs and people to meet & greet, the first step towards finding each dog a loving family."
He said was elated at the campaign’s success.
"Twenty percent of all monthly dog product sales and ten percent of the daily sales made during the event day was donated to partnering shelters."
The high point of that campaign for Rhea Vasconcellos, manager of the Humane Society of St. Thomas shelter, was the $5,000 it raised for the St. Thomas facility.
Pucillo, too, was delighted with the contribution. He works with Leslie Hurd of Martha’s Vineyard, founder of Angels Helping Animals Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that places dogs in adopted homes.
"We are going to keep it going to help Leslie find homes for the dogs," Pucillo said. "We’re overwhelmed by the response we had. We are a dogcentric company, you know."
Indeed.
Personally, Pucillo helps out at home fostering rescue dogs.
"We have a Lab of our own who is real friendly, and two kids, so it works out well, but, we can’t keep the dogs," he said.
"When we get one, we put the picture on our Facebook page," he said. "The first day, we had two puppies, and they were adopted right away. We almost never have a dog for more than one night. The last one we decided to keep, but he was spoken for before we’d been able to make plans."
Hurd and Vasconcellos have worked closely together for years in the local Pets with Wings program, placing more than 200 dogs in the last 18 months in the Boston area.
Hurd said the donation will help with the myriad details required to get a dog from the islands to a loving home.
"The money will go to the costs of picking up the dogs at the airport, for one thing. Every time we have a traveler bringing us a dog, it has to be picked up, there is the airline fee, then there’s the quarantine fee – each animal has a 24-hour quarantine period, then they have to be brought to one of five no-kill shelters we work with.
"Rhea and I are in touch almost every day," Hurd said in a phone interview Saturday. "I come to the island often."
Hurd and Vasconcellos are working on a new doggie airlift campaign, which they say they will announce soon.
