“Dawg” Lovers Unite

Lauren Miller, 21, did not necessarily have lofty goals in mind when she founded Forgotten Friends, an animal rights and protection organization at UGA. “It was just an idea I had and was curious to see how far I could take it.”

And yet, from this simple enough concept evolved a campus organization offering continuous aid to abused and abandoned animals in Athens.

Miller, a public relations major, founded Forgotten Friends last fall after she realized no campus organization dedicated to companion animal rescue existed. “We are the dawgs, so I was dumbfounded there was not a group active on campus devoted to companion animal issues,” said Miller.

Kelly Cummings, 19, joined Miller shortly thereafter. Together they started Forgotten Friends’ campaign for animal protection awareness. “We started out with just the two of us, and we’re still a small group, but we’ve attracted some loyal and passionate members,” said Cummings.

Miller and Cummings, as the sole executive members of Forgotten Friends until very recently, started by taking an active role in personally protecting animals in Athens, and then later, by sharing their knowledge with other students.

Their first major project took place last Thanksgiving, when they conducted a pet food and supplies drive around campus. Everything they collected went to the animal control centers in both Athens-Clarke County and Oconee County.

“We ending up having more than 100 cans of dog food to donate, not to mention lots of blankets and other random pet supplies,” said Cummings.

This semester, they organized a free transportation system to Athens Regional Low-Cost Spay and Neuter Center in Watkinsville. “Several animals were fixed that might not have been without our service. This lowers the amount of animals that would have probably ended up in animal shelters without homes,” said Cummings.

Is animal overpopulation truly an issue in Athens? Crystal Evans, the executive director of the center, said, “Yes. People don’t bother to spay and neuter their animals. Someone saying they can’t afford it is a really lame excuse; they just don’t want to take the time to do it.”

Animal overpopulation as a result of pet owners failing to spay and neuter their pets is a big problem, but it’s not the only contributing factor to overpopulation, particularly in Athens. “We do have some students take a kitten and bring it back [once they’ve] made it an adult, and now it’s going to have a hard time being adopted,” said Evans.

“Shelters in Athens are full of animals that students get when they’re in college, but leave behind when they graduate,” said Cummings. The next step for Forgotten Friends was to educate people on animal rights and protection in an effort to curb overpopulation.

Educating people about animal abandonment and about spaying and neutering their pets “could drastically improve the overpopulation of animals if everyone knew why these two issues were so very important,” said Miller.

Forgotten Friends received the attention of students on April 9 when the organization held the Love-a-Bull event, which educated students on the pit bull breed and had a number of pit bulls up for adoption.

Arleta Cobb, a sophomore and attendee of the Love-a-Bull event, said, “I was really surprised to see how people-friendly pit bulls are. I used to think they were really aggressive, but that’s not the case at all.”

Miller said, “I see how people react when I say that [I have a pit bull] and it really upsets me. The breed is truly one of the sweetest and most loving towards humans, and we wanted people to see that.”

The guest of honor at the Love-a-Bull event was Chuckie, a rehabilitated pit bull whose previous owner was Michael Vick, the suspended NFL quarterback currently in prison for pleading guilty in August 2007 to a federal felony involving illegal interstate dog fighting.

These projects are just the beginning for the young organization, which now has an executive board beyond Miller and Cummings, 12 active members, and a listserv with more than 50 people.“Forgotten Friends has a lot [of room] to grow, and I hope in my senior year it can really expand,” said Miller.

Miller and Cummings said that their main goal in expanding Forgotten Friends is to continue to generate animal issues awareness. “We want people to think more seriously about their pets. An animal is not just a toy, but a responsibility, and we want our peers to realize this fact,” said Cummings.

Miller added, “I want to get the word out to as many people as possible how they can help animals. I think people really do care, but have a blind eye when it comes to animal cruelty.”

Both Miller and Cummings said that they hope to continue working with animals upon graduating. “I personally want to work for the Humane Society of the United States in their campaigns department,” said Miller.

Cummings, a biological sciences major, “want[s] to go to vet school here in Athens and maybe go on to work with Vets Without Borders or start a vet clinic for low-income pet owners.”