This shelter is filled with unconditional love

By Sarah Hite shite@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Some of them aren’t wanted. Others were given up because their owners can no longer care for them and a few never even had a home to begin with.

Margie Bart, of Blue Chip Rescue in Orange rescued these hound puppies and has placed them for adoption.

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But the animals at Blue Chip Farms Animal Rescue on Lockville Road in Centermoreland are the lucky ones. Blue Chip is a no-kill shelter that keeps animals indefinitely or until they are adopted into good homes.

The shelter was unofficially started about 10 years ago at the home of Margie Bart on Lockville Road after she had retired as assistant plant manager for CertainTeed Corporation in Mountain Top. Bart began to take rescues into her home and recruited her neighbor, Tanya Stankus, to help with the cause.

“I’ve always had a great love of animals and I’ve always cared for them,” Bart said. “When I retired from my job 10 years ago, I decided to do it full blast.”

The name Blue Chip comes from Bart’s horse farm, Blue Chip Farms, which houses horses belonging to her friends. Bart decided to keep that name for the rescue, which became an official, non-profit animal shelter about five years ago. The shelter adopted out 65 cats and 42 dogs in 2007.

“To me, they’re just such unconditional love,” Bart said of animals. “No matter what happens, they’re right there loving you. In Luzerne County, the cat population is out of control. I get calls every day. I could take in 20, 30 cats every day and I just can’t take them.”

Dogs and cats aren’t the only animals who call Blue Chip home. The shelter has six horses, two pot-bellied pigs and rabbits, occasionally. Rocco Rooter, the pig, participates in the Dallas Harvest Festival’s Kiss the Pig Contest each year.

All animals that come into Blue Chip are spayed and neutered at a cost of about $140 each, which Bart believes is necessary to control the animal population. Horses, dogs and pigs live in the main building which has electronic fencing outside so they can roam. The cats stay in an office trailer that has been converted into a cottage. There is room for 20 cats and 15 dogs.

Animals available for adoption are advertised through PetFinder, an organization that places animals into adoptions and other networks. People who adopt an animal must have a referral and sign a contract in which they promise to return the animal to the shelter if they can no longer care for it. Bart also routinely checks in with the person’s veterinarian to ensure the animal is being cared for.

Recently, the shelter developed a Web site, began distributing brochures and held a raffle at the now-closed Starbucks in Shavertown – all of which helped it gain positive publicity. Customers of Starbucks in Shavertown may have seen a Blue Chip donation box, which raised $110, in the coffee shop in November.

Blue Chip relies completely on private donations to survive, although Bart pays for the daily upkeep of the animals. The shelter always owes thousands of dollars in veterinary bills.

Fundraisers are occasionally held to offset some of the shelter’s costs. Bart baked and sold 120 cranberry walnut pies for Thanksgiving and, for Christmas, the shelter sold cookie trays.

The shelter has seen an increase in animals in recent months, which Bart feels is due to people losing their homes and jobs in the poor economy. She would like to see local food pantries carry dog and cat food so people can feed their animals without sacrificing their own food.

Volunteers are desperately needed at Blue Chip since the shelter’s few volunteers must take care of all the animals. Bart even welcomes people who simply want to play with the animals, especially the cats. She encourages high school students to consider fulfilling their senior project at Blue Chip.

Future plans for Blue Chip include animal boarding, a dog park and a dog exercise facility. Bart would also like to have an on-site spaying and neutering facility that would serve animals at the shelter, as well as strays, in an attempt to reduce unwanted pets.

“We just need more funds and more people,” Bart said.

To donate:

Donations may be sent to Blue Chip Farms Rescue Animal Shelter, 974 Lockville Rd., Dallas, PA 18612.