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Leashing Problems: Shelter Addresses Concerns

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By KEVIN T. WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 27, 2008

ODESSA - A cloudy, damp day couldn't keep Reno and Buckshot out of their local swimming hole.

The two dogs bounded again and again one recent morning into the man-made pond at the front of Susan Lambert's 5-acre homestead off Altamont Lane. While two helpers threw sticks for the dogs to chase, Reno, Buckshot and a third dog, Sebastian, happily exhausted themselves in the muddy water.

Reno, a crop-tailed Viszla hound, was never tired enough to stop barking, however - a fact that has strained relations between Lambert and some of her neighbors as she tries to expand her small rescue shelter.

Ultimately, Lambert would like to triple the number of dogs she can take in to 25. She has asked county officials to grant her a special exception that will let her run the larger operation on her agriculturally zoned land west of the Suncoast Parkway.

"This is in my blood," Lambert said during a recent visit to her property. "My grandmother had an animal shelter in Indiana for a million years."

Lambert and a group of supporters founded CARES, the Community Animal Rescue and Educational Shelter, after leaving the Suncoast Animal League more than a year ago. In the intervening months, the nonprofit shelter has taken over much of the property where Lambert lives with her husband, Buel, and mother-in-law.

A small fenced enclosure behind Lambert's house serves as a run for a handful of rescued lapdogs. When they're not there, the paddock is used by Lambert's four personal dogs or by the chickens she raises.

From their cages above the paddock, Lambert's array of breeding-age macaws, parrots and cockatoos survey the scene. Lambert raises the long-lived birds to help pay her daughter's tuition at the University of South Florida.

In shorts and Crocs-style shoes, Lambert has the burnished cheeks of someone who spends much of her time in the Florida sun. In recent years, she rescued dozens of stranded animals from the wreckage left by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She also makes frequent trips to Miami to rescue animals.

"We go down there and pull dogs that are on death row," she said while showing off "Smarty Marty," a small dog that came from Miami with a now-healed broken leg. Marty was due to be adopted the next day.

Lambert told planning commissioners this month that her shelter has found homes for nearly 120 dogs in the past 10 months.

Lately, however, Lambert's shelter has run afoul of neighbors, mostly for noise. As Lambert built her shelter, developer Doug Weiland was busy building his suburban-style Greyhawk at Lake Polo subdivision just to the west.

A half-dozen Greyhawk homes, each worth about a half-million dollars, face Lambert's property across Altamont Lane.

Residents of Greyhawk told planning commissioners this month they've grown frustrated with the chatter of a pair of cockatoos Lambert kept in a large cage in front of her house. Other neighbors behind Lambert on Jam Lane complained about the barking of dogs on the property.

Lambert has promised to move a kennel located too close to one neighbor and said she intends to isolate chronic barkers - Reno the Viszla is a major offender - to try to quiet them at night.

Lambert will return to the planning commission next month to continue her quest for the permission she needs to expand her shelter. She has the support of Animals Services officials, who send animals to CARES when they need more room at their Lake Patience Road facility.

"Animal Control has given CARES high marks," said Dan Johnson, the assistant county administrator for public services.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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