When Jerry Rineck and his wife, Diane, got in their truck and drove to Sam’s Club to buy toilet paper last November, they didn’t know their lives were about to change.As they headed toward Funk Road, the Rinecks saw a sheriff’s patrol car at 34780 Funk Road. They soon learned that neighbors had called the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office about suspected animal abuse at the Funk Road property.As reported in The New Falcon Herald last January, about 40 living but malnourished animals were found on the property, including five llamas, five goats, two geese, several chickens, four horses, more than 20 dogs and several cats. The property also was littered with the carcasses of dead dogs, a llama and the bones of at least two horses.”At the time, we didn’t know our neighbors very well, but this brought us together,” Rineck said.Soon after, the Rinecks decided to form a nonprofit organization with a goal of providing animal welfare services to eastern El Paso County. Today, the organization, SAINT (Saving Animals In Need Together), has 41 members; many of whom are the Rinecks’ neighbors.”Right now, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department is responsible for handling animal problems in eastern El Paso County,” Rineck said. “If it’s something big, like the Funk Road incident, the sheriff calls in the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. But the county’s contract with the Humane Society isn’t big enough to cover the problems we have out here.”The Rinecks hope that SAINT can become the go-to organization for animal welfare in eastern El Paso County. With the help of Rep. Marsha Looper (Calhan), the group is working to formalize SAINT’s relationship with the sheriff’s office, Rineck said. He is working on becoming an agent for the Colorado Bureau of Animal Protection.SAINT members paid $1,000 for a used ambulance truck, and they’ve applied to Farmers State Bank in Falcon for a grant that, if approved, will fund the construction of a 40′ x 60′ barn for animals. The group also applied for grants at Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart.Local businesses are helping, too. “Jimmie Capshaw at Peyton Feed & Vet Supply has donated bales of hay and broken bags of grain,” Rineck said. “Frank Klipfel at Barn-Tec is going to help us build the barn, and the veterinarian at For Paws Veterinary Clinic treated a dog with an infected wound and only charged us the cost of an x-ray.” AVID, a manufacturer of microchip I.D. equipment, donated the tool for inserting microchips.People relinquish their pets to SAINT for all sorts of reason – they might be moving, a new baby could be allergic or someone is deploying to Iraq, he said. “People know we will find good homes for every animal,” Rineck said. “It’s easier to find homes for dogs than cats. Before we adopt out any dog or cat, the animal is neutered or spayed and micro-chipped.”They also network with other animal rescue groups like Ruby Ranch Horse Rescue and Dreampower, he said.”We’re doing an alliance with all of the rescue groups in southern Colorado,” said Aubrey Eastman, assistant executive director for Dreampower. “We’re hoping to do joint fund raising events. We also have a big “adopt-athon,” where we all come together and do a giant adoption festival. We’ve already done one, and it was an amazing success, and we’re going to do another one in September.”Eastman said the calls they receive from people in eastern El Paso County will now be referred to SAINT. “They are great, energetic people,” she said. “We’re really excited that SAINT is helping out in eastern El Paso County.”There’s plenty to do. According to a February news release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, animal cruelty cases are a growing concern in the county. In 2005, deputies intercepted 24 calls related to animal cruelty; in 2006, there were 42 calls – a 75-percent increase.In January, The New Falcon Herald reported that Dr. Wes Metzler, executive director of the HSPPR, said the Funk Road case was the fifth one of that magnitude in eastern El Paso County in 2006.SAINT currently receives about 10 calls per week. One volunteer recently picked up a dog that had been hit by a car. SAINT also is trying to find the owner of a dog that was found on Meridian Road, near County Line Road.Rineck said he spends a lot of time trying to educate people. He said there are many puppy mills in the area. And he also intercepted a situation where a man was trying to raise Arabians for profit, feeding them nothing but day-old bread.Some people who horde animals think they are doing the right thing, Rineck said. He was called to a property where 20 dogs had been confined in one trailer. One of the dogs was on a leash and jumped out the window and hung himself, he said.”Some people think we just want their animals to make money,” Diane Rineck said. “We’re not looking to make money. With the cost of food, transportation, housing and medical care, there is no money in this. All we are trying to do is help.”To donate, volunteer or become a sponsor, visit www.saintanimalrescue.org. For more information, visit www.dreampower.org and www.ag.state.co.us/animals/BAP.html. SAINT’s phone number is 719-541-3099.
