Susie, an operations employee, holds up a kitten who is ready to be fostered who acts as their "cubicle cat".
"They need us just as much as we need them."-
Lina Strassburger
Text, images, videos and interview by: Natasha Kaiser
It is a chilly 17-degree February day in Fairport, New York as Lollypop Farms Humane Society volunteers and employees get to work to work with the animals who are in their care.
Lina Strassburger, a kennel employee of almost two years at the humane society, does her daily tasks around the kennels including feedings, walks, and meeting appointments with the dogs. Strassburger's love of animals brought her to the farm after knowing about it since she was a young girl. At 5 years old she came in with her family to adopt a cat from Lollypop and has had a passion for animals since.
Hoping to join the law enforcement side of the operation with animal control, Strassburger works to learn the ins and outs of the kennel operation inside the Farm to help her understand how best to work with these animals when they are received by law enforcement.
"It's hard you know? Seeing some of these dogs come in so malnourished and just not taken care of, it definitely takes an emotional toll but you do what you can to help them. We're very fortunate at Lollypop with our donors compared to other shelters but sometimes, no matter what you do, it's just not enough."
Lina Strassburger during enrichment time with Uno.
A collage of foster-ready pets at Lollypop.
Lina, with dogs who have been adopted by another employee, Vicky, Boone (left) and Wyatt (right).
The hard work is a non-stop job for Lollypop's employees, "Kennel craze can set in as early as one week" Strassburger says. "Kennel craze" is a phrase used to describe a form of mental illness dogs can take on after being left in a kennel for too long, symptoms include excessive barking, spinning in circles, and pacing among other symptoms. To prevent this, kennel employees walk each dog multiple times a day if their temperament allows it, playing calming music within the kennels, and ensuring a comfortable temperature within the kennel environment.
With the large number of animals in their care, Lollypop places an important emphasis on fostering animals out to ensure they have enough room to bring in new animals when necessary. "We had a case of 150 dogs in a hoarding situation come to us, it was awful. 148 of the dogs have been adopted or fostered out and we only have two left now. It was hard but so rewarding to give them homes after what they had been through." Strassburger recalls.
Lollypop Farm is currently undergoing a 1 million dollar renovation to expand its buildings and give them the ability to house more animals when the time calls for it. "It's a constant influx, sometimes we see cases like the hoarding situation that are especially bad, but we have new animals coming in all the time, you could say sometimes it feels non-stop."
Photos of all 150 dogs from a hoarding situation that were surrendered to Lollypop.
Crates and carriers for animals within the humane society.
With those renovations comes change, many aspects of the humane society have had to be moved around to accommodate the construction going on on-site. "The physical toll is hard too, and with everything moving around it can make it stressful to make sure everything runs smoothly, but we make it work the best we can," says Strassburger.
Faculty meeting for discussion of the renovations of Lollypop.
A hallway in Lollypop that has bags of food piled with no where to be placed due to the renovations.
Laundry piled up outside of the laundry room due to renovations on the building.
One of the greatest benefits of the generous donors to Lollypop is the ability to have their own in-house veterinary services. One of the biggest hurdles for humane societies is access to veterinary services for the animals they house, fortunately for Lollypop and other humane societies in the surrounding areas, Lollypop can take on the financial responsibility of having a veterinary team and office in-house and outsource these resources to surrounding humane societies like Verona Street Animal Shelter.
A veterinarian doing a routine spay/neuter at Lollypop's veterinary clinic.
Lina Strassburger pets the "clinic cat" of Lollypop.
Alongside day-to-day operations is a unique aspect of the Lollypop Farm, working with BOCES students of New York schools. Leslie and Dylan, two of the BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) instructors, bring students from surrounding schools to Lollypop to interact with the selected BOCES dog, Sammy. Sammy is hypothesized to be a rottweiler who was taken from an abusive home by animal control and brought to the farm. He was 150 pounds but now weights 120 pounds from the help of employees and volunteers at Lollypop. A wound on his leg has him fit with a cone to ensure he heals properly.
A slow introduction to Sammy is necessary as this is the student's first time meeting him after the former BOCES dog, Brownie, was adopted.
Sammy's gentle giant nature pairs well with the BOCES students, these students are a part of a work-based learning program, this program, in particular, revolving around veterinary, humane society, and animal control work. This BOCES program helps students gain real-world experience in career fields they might be interested in and allows them to ask questions to employees like Lina about her job and what it is like.
Strassburger introduces Sammy to the BOCES students.
The BOCES students sit with Sammy while asking Lina (off camera) about being employed at Lollypop.
Brownie, the former BOCES dog.
While Lina Strassburger is one of the many employees who takes care of the kennel side of Lollypop, the farm side of Lollypop runs in tandem with their own day-to-day operations.
Bill and Cindy, who have been volunteers for almost three years after retiring say the time they spend with the animals is one of their favorite parts of their day. "I don't know how he convinced me to do this, I thought he was crazy when he first told me," Cindy says about her husband Bill, "but after we started I just loved it."
The birth of Riley, a Norwegian dwarf goat, was celebrated across the farm, and now a year later and days after her first birthday, Bill and Cindy know the time they spend volunteering at Lollypop has been the right choice to make.
Cindy helps put on Riley's harness for her to be walked to the indoor barn for the winter.
Bill and Cindy walk Joy (back) and Riley (front) to the indoor barn for the winter.
Michael, a farm employee of a little over a year, is another key factor in helping keep the farm operation of Lollypop running. "I volunteered here for around two years before I left to go work in tech, when that didn't work I came back here to work here full time. I really missed my time here while I was gone and when I moved back I knew what I wanted to do." Michael says about coming back to Lollypop.
Michael pets the baby of the herd of Kunekune pigs that he helps take care of.
Michael play fights with billy goat Percy. "He's so gentle even when playing." Michael says.
Michael walks with two of the four potbelly pigs that reside in this area of the farm after feeding.
"A lot of these guys are surrendered after their families move or realize they just can't take care of them. Most of the time they'll be here for a few years and then a family will come knowing they want like four pigs or a couple of goats and the cycle continues." Says Michael about the process of acquiring and adopting out the farm animals.
Despite some of the destitute circumstances these animals come from, most all of them are remarkably friendly- telling to the care they receive from the workers and volunteers at Lollypop.
One of the most impactful stories of the care the Lollypop team gives to these animals is the story of Remus, an American LaMancha goat that came to Lollypop, along with his mother Athena who he is bonded to, after he was paralyzed in his back legs from a tick bite. The Lollypop farms team is working towards helping Remus gain more mobility with physical therapy in his modified wheelchair.
"It can be hard to watch, you want him to get better but you really just don't know. It hurts my heart to see him go through this." says Bill. But through the difficulties and emotional toll of this job, Mary Miller, the Farm manager at Lollypop, says that they've been making progress with Remus and hope that as the weather warms they will be able to bring him outside to enjoy spring to help revitalize his spirits.
Farm employees help Remus into his wheelchair for physical therapy.
Remus walks in his wheelchair with the help of Michael during physical therapy.
Remus walks in his wheelchair with the assistance of Lollypop Farm employees during his physical therapy sessions.
"I think they realize that after everything they've been through, that we are here to help them. When they start to open up and let you pet them or just be near them it's just so nice." says Michael about the rehabilitation of the animals at Lollypop Farm Humane Society.
Michael holds Riley in his arms.