Students from St. Saviour High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Park Slope, spent the afternoon of Dec. 3 volunteering at Sean Casey Animal Rescue, and became animal lovers in the process.
“All of us who walked the dogs wanted to take one of them home,” said 17-year-old Gabriela Carrasco, a senior at the Eighth Avenue instution. “These dogs want so much love and attention!”
Carrasco and her schoolmates, who got the chance to walk some of the dogs housed at the shelter, are part of the school’s Roots and Shoots class, part of nationwide program sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute to increase awareness about the environment and animals — a perfect match for the Kensington shelter.
Still, the animals had to adjust to the young volunteers.
“It’s a little hard only because they haven’t had a steady owner yet,” said Carrasco, of the dogs she walked. “It’s usually a different person and often they’ll see someone they don’t know and think they do know them. You have walk them on a close and tight leash.”
Casey, who runs the shelter, believes in giving animals a second chance. After an outbreak of pit bull attacks close to the Long Island Rail Road tracks near Brooklyn College in Midwood last winter, Casey worked hard to find the dogs himself, and even gave one shelter at his E. Third Street facility.
Reach reporter Eli Rosenberg at erosenberg@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2531. And follow him at twitter.com/emrosenberg.
