360 Magazine Culture Editor,Tom Wilmer, reports from Wisconsin where he discovers a last hope option for unadoptable dogs and cats.
There are two standard options for dogs and cats that arrive at shelters and pounds: adoption or euthanasia.
Lisa LaVerdia decided to create another option that she dubbed The Third Door, providing a home for unadoptable dogs and cats.
Dr. Jane Goodall visits with Home For Life’s Raha
In a recent visit to Home For Life in rural Wisconsin Tom learns that LaVerdia was a successful lawyer with a specialization in asbestos issues and juvenile lead poisoning.
But mid-career, she took down her shingle, purchased 40 acres skirting the Apple River in Star Prairie, Wisconsin, and opened the Home For Life sanctuary for dogs and cats.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO Lisa LaVerdia on NPR.ORG digital media podcast
Lisa LaVerdia at Home For Life Photo Credit: Tom Wilmer
Central to Laverdia’s mission is to provide care for life for dogs and cats that are unadoptable—either due to severe health issues or traumatic injuries, often intentionally inflicted by sadistic tormenters.
Through a network of animal rescuers around the world, the dogs arrive from various countries including India, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
The facility includes temperature-controlled buildings and three catteries, including a building specifically for cats with communicable feline leukemia.
Journalist Heide Brandes visits with kitties at Home For Life Photo Credit:Tom Wilmer
In addition to being home to an average of 100 cats, about 100 dogs reside at the facility in doggie accommodations that include suites and townhouses designed for dogs who need to live in pairs or small groups— complete with piped-in music.
Dog and cat runs are attached to each residential unit, along with four off-leash, expansive meadows.
Heide Brandes with paralyzed doggie at Home For Life Photo Credit: Tom Wilmer
Staffer Barbara Swenson at Home For Life’s Cattery Photo Credit: Tom Wilmer
Latest News– Ashely Judd is scheduled to participate in Home For Life’s gala 2019 fundraiser!
You are invited to subscribe to the Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel show podcast, Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer, featured on the NPR Podcast Directory, Apple Podcast, the NPR One App & Stitcher.com. Twitter: TomCWilmer. Instagram: Thomas.Wilmer. Member of the National Press Club in Washington D.C
