It’s been a hard month for Loretta Emmons, who owns a for-profit pet clinic and also operates a separate non-profit animal rescue.
Her home burned down and she has lost a brother within the past week, but she is still striving to keep her pet clinic and non-profit efforts going.
She has sold the property for her for-profit Heartsong Spay and Neuter Clinic, is staying there until July 31, and is actively looking at four different properties – one of which to lease and to which to relocate the clinic. Emmons is also going to have one last big wellness day at the current location of the clinic, which offers so much more than spaying and neutering, at reasonable prices on Saturday, July 23 from 8 a.m.-2 p.m at 421 S. Belair Rd.
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Vaccines, well checks, heartworm tests, nail trims and microchipping are among the services that will be offered.
Emmons said, “It is a walk-in basis, and it’s all wellness.”
Emergency work will not be available, however.
“The only veterinarian I have right now is a wellness vet, not a surgical vet,” Emmons said.
Dr. Lisa James, the veterinarian, does relief work for the clinic, and the clinic has had some struggles finding vets at times.
Emmons said, in fact, there is a shortage of vets because of the pandemic.
Also, the clinic is not a free clinic. Their Facebook page mentions specials on heartworm and flea and tick prevention.
Emmons said, in fact, “Heartsong Spay and Neuter Clinic is not a 501c3 (non-profit), but we have a rescue that is.”
Her nonprofit is Heartsong Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, Inc.
At the start of the pandemic, Emmons stopped taking in new rescue animals and still is not taking in new ones.
“All the animals I have there right now (at the farm) are sanctuary animals. They are life-time care. That is part of not being just a rescue,” Emmons said.
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Emmons said that thankfully neither her dogs nor her birds were in her recent house fire.
“I rescued some birds who were in a bad situation elsewhere. They were not in the fire. My dogs (and rescue cats) were not in the house either,” she said.
Her rescued birds include parrots, two cockatiels, a lovebird, a ring-neck white dove, a sun-crested cockatoo, two African grays, a yellow-naped Amazon, an eclectus, and a bare-eyed cockatoo.
Emmons said, “They were abused by the previous owner. I rescued them.”
The cat rescue part of the non-profit is being temporarily housed at 421 S. Belair Rd.
“We will move the building the cats have right now, a 20 by 10, out to the farm (her personal property) and build their outdoor runs from that,” she said.
This will be what she calls a cat haven.
“I am also going to be building aviaries (for the rescued birds)… on my farm,” she said. “We are building big enough aviaries so that certain groups of birds can be together.”
She said that she wants them to be able to fly in fairly open yet large caged, professional spaces.
“I do not cut their wings, but the vet trims back their beaks,” Emmons said.
Her rescue organization has cleared out a space for all of the aforementioned on the farm property and has straightened everything out to build fencing at the aviaries.
To offset the costs of the aviaries and the additions to the cat rescue area on the farm, Emmons is having a two day estate sale at, again, the property on 421 S. Belair Rd. Henry Brothers Auctions & Estates Sales is handling this for her.
The Estate Sale will be held on Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16 from 10 a.m. until…
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Emmons said that the “until…” really means whenever people stop coming and buying.
She has put her own art in as part of the estate sale.
“They are colorful pieces of dogs and kitties,” Emmons said.
She emphasized this is her fun art and not her fine art.
“I was ready to do an art show, but most of my art burned in the house fire,” she said. Her art that is being sold in the Estate Sale hung at the clinic itself.
Not only will art be sold in the Estate Sale, but what some may deem as more practical items will be as well. Household items, grooming items, cages, crates, dishes, A/C units, doors, scales and more are going to be sold.
Emmons said, “We basically are selling everything you can take out of that building. Doors, fire retardant walls, counters…”
However, purchasers cannot take out large built-in items the days of the Estate Sale. For example, they cannot take out the doors but can purchase them and get an invoice to come back and pick them up before the end of the month of July.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
