This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
08/01/2018 08:30 AMWhether she’s out tracking bobcats, home rehabilitating foundling gray squirrels, traveling highways and back roads to transport animals of all stripes, or advocating for animal rights with Desmond’s Army, Anna Martino will answer any call to help all animals.
“I help all creatures, great and small,” says Anna. “My heart is with the animals. It always has been.”
The Branford resident will also do whatever she can to help the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter. On Saturday, Aug. 11, Anna invites dog lovers to bring their pups (leashed and vaccinated) out to join her and other volunteers of Desmond’s Army as they head up the Woofwalk on the Branford Green at 11 a.m.
Proceeds from Woofwalk registration ($25 per walker) goes to support homeless animals assisted by the shelter, including a medical fund for surgeries, medicines, and special diets.
The walk also serves as the kickoff to Woofstock on the Branford Green on Aug. 11, a day of peace and live music to benefit the shelter. Admission to Woofstock, which runs from noon to 6 p.m., is free, but a $5 per person donation is encouraged to help Cosgrove Shelter in its mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and re-home animals in need. Guests can also bring items that the shelter needs to operate (see the donation wish list at www.woofstockonthebranfordgreen.org).
Woofstock features live bands on the main stage, but it’s much more than a music concert—it’s a festival featuring arts, food trucks, booths offering pet-friendly goods and services, a kids’ zone, Hippie Dog costume contest, raffle prizes, and more. There will also be a special “survivor’s story” shared at 2:45 p.m. from the main stage. Together, Woofwalk and Woofstock create the shelter’s largest annual fundraising event.
As a fan of Woofstock, Anna says she’s excited and honored to be a part of those in Desmond’s Army who will lead this year’s two-mile Woofwalk. The walk starts and ends on the Branford Town Green. In addition to calling attention to their cause by wearing their signature Desmond’s Army purple T-shirts, the group will have a table at Woofstock at which people can learn more about what they do, says Anna.
“My role is as a concerned citizen who wants to educate and promote awareness for animal abuse,” she says.
Anna remembers first hearing in 2012 about the New Haven Superior Court’s animal cruelty case against the adoptive owner of a boxer/pit bull named Desmond. The man killed the dog by strangulation following his previous starvation and abuse of Desmond.
“When that was broadcast all over the news, my heart just sank, and I had to just do something,” she says.
The conviction led to Desmond’s Law on animal abuse. Members of Desmond’s Army act as advocates for animals who can’t speak for themselves at animal abuse trials by attending court cases.
“My passion has always been protection and advocacy for animals, because they really have no voice. We have to be their voice,” she says.
As part of Desmond’s Army, Anna says, “I carry my peaceful, purple T-shirted passion for animal rights to court.”
She’s also joined protests outside of courtrooms. In addition, Anna’s dedicated to the army’s intent of making people more aware of a cycle of violence that can be linked to those starting out abusing animals from a young age. Such animal abuse can predict later domestic violence and worse.
Anna also helps people who have dealt with substance abuse. She is a certified recovery advisor providing home recovery support.
Soon after Anna moved to Branford from Milford in 1984, she began supporting all-volunteer Branford Compassion Club (BCC). She says she helped BCC by fostering and finding homes for cats and helping to raise money for the cause with “little birthday fundraisers.” As the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter began to form up to become Branford and North Branford’s municipal, no-kill animal shelter, Anna began supporting the shelter and its work to build awareness about the plight of homeless animals.
“And as an offshoot of all of that, I went to the State of Connecticut Wildlife Division and became a Connecticut certified wildlife rehabilitator,” says Anna. “I have a license for small mammals and right now I’m specializing in squirrels. The gray squirrels are very prominent and they’re my passion.”
Anna currently has a couple of squirrels in an outdoor “pre-release” cage (soon to be released into the wild) and one not-quite-ready for pre-release making itself at home in a converted comfort zone in her bedroom.
Anna’s been certified for about two years. To defray costs, rehabbers rely on donations from people who bring them injured or abandoned wild animals to rehabilitate and release in the wild. Anna is also certified as a Connecticut master wildlife conservationist and loves to give talks to schools, libraries, and other groups requesting education programs on wildlife and conservation.
“I go around promoting, advocating and educating for our planet as well as our creatures,” she says.
She’s also signed on to assist the state, with great success, as part of the volunteer group helping out with a current bobcat study.
“They don’t know a lot of about bobcats in the state, so they got a grant, and the state has been tracking and collaring animals,” says Anna. “I was just involved in monitoring the traps to [catch] bobcats to collar them, and I had the great pleasure of being invited when the animal I caught had a baby.”
Wait—the animal she caught? Yep. Not too long ago, Anna helped the state temporarily bag a bobcat.
“It was caught over in East Haven behind the Department of Public Works, and then it was radio-collared up at Wildlife Division, and then from there it was brought back into wild and tracked,” she explains.
“When that bobcat’s radio signal began beaming back to the division from one location, they knew it had formed a nest and was rearing its young,” Anna continues. “From there, I was invited to trek through the woods and see the baby.”
The state experts tagged the kitten’s ear and will continue tracking it through its life cycle as part of the study.
“To see a little bobcat kitten is amazing,” Anna says. “That’s one of the things I try to educate people on, when I get wildlife calls. These animals are not to be feared; they’re to be understood. People will call and say, ‘There’s a raccoon or a skunk in daytime, and we know they’re not supposed to be out.’ I try to educate them that they may be out in day time because they may be hungry. They may be rearing their babies and they have to get a break and eat something. I do try to do a lot of public education on that, because there’s a lot of fear out there, and I want to dispel the fear.”
Anna also gets wildlife calls due to her new wildlife eviction and exclusion business, Safe Home (safehomewildlifeservices@gmail.com), which she recently started with her partner, Eunice Demond, also a certified wildlife rehabber. Both hold Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection licenses as nuisance wildlife operators.
As another way to assist animals in need, Anna is a state-listed transporter for wildlife.
“If somebody calls me, I’ll go anywhere. I really will,” she says. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it for animals.”
For more information on Woofwalk, email branfordwoofwalk@gmail.com or register at woofstockonthebranfordgreen.org/woofwalk.