Close Up
Animal welfare is Tutzauer’s second job
Carol Tutzauer, surrounded by some of her animals at her farmhouse in Wilson, volunteers about 30 hours a week with Buffalo Humane. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI
Each evening after finishing work in Capen Hall, Carol Tutzauer returns home to Wilson, to her 1837 Greek revival farmhouse and her seven dogs and eight cats, including a colony of three feral felines that slip into her barn at night to enjoy the food and water she lays out for them.
“I’m obviously taking care of a lot of animals. It’s the first thing I do in the morning before I go to work, the first thing when I come home, the last thing before I go to bed,” says Tutzauer, the founding president of Buffalo Humane, a nonprofit organization devoted to animal welfare.
For Tutzauer, UB’s director for assessment and assistant vice provost of undergraduate education, the work with the charity group could qualify as a second full-time job. She volunteers about 30 hours a week with Buffalo Humane, returning phone calls, advising volunteers and meeting with other local advocates helping animals. All of Tutzauer’s cats—and all but two of her dogs—came to her through her nonprofit, whose volunteers provide foster homes for animals waiting to be adopted. Many of the creatures are living with her temporarily until they find a permanent home.
Buffalo Humane got its start several years ago when local activists organized to fight a cost-cutting plan that would have eliminated the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter’s pet-adoption program. Their campaign was successful. Afterwards, hoping to do even more to improve the plight of animals in the area, a core group of the activists collaborated to form Buffalo Humane, which was incorporated in 2006.
The organization is “virtual,” Tutzauer says: “We have no brick-and-mortar presence.” Instead, the group consists of a network of volunteers who provide foster homes for cats and dogs, conduct community outreach and education regarding animal welfare, and advise pet owners or foster care providers on how to resolve animal behavior problems. Even without a physical headquarters, Buffalo Humane has grown quickly since its inception, sheltering between 20 and 25 animals at any given time and preparing those pets for adoption. The group is one of several in the area participating in a project, funded by the pet rescue foundation Maddie’s Fund, to end euthanasia of all healthy and treatable animals in Erie County by 2014.
Overseeing the nonprofit’s work keeps Tutzauer busy. But she does not micromanage, says Pamela Rose, a Buffalo Humane feline behavior specialist who is also a Web services and library promotions coordinator for UB. When a cat is ill or exhibits behavior problems, Rose says, she is able to take care of problems without having to consult Tutzauer about every decision. That means animals in need of medical treatment can get it quickly.
In running Buffalo Humane, Tutzauer combines a flexible management style with a deep knowledge about nonprofits, Rose says. Those qualities, along with Tutzauer’s connection to animals, are “a very unusual combination,” Rose says.
In some ways, Tutzauer’s work with Buffalo Humane is just an extension of what she has been doing her whole life. When she was growing up in Kansas and Louisiana, her family raised German shepherds and dachshunds, and took in stray animals in need of a home. When Tutzauer discovered them, the three feral cats that visit her farmhouse were living in a neighborhood in Tonawanda where residents had threatened to shoot them. Buffalo Humane volunteers trapped the felines, who have all been spayed or neutered and vaccinated, and transported them to Wilson. The animals don’t socialize with humans and are not suitable house pets, but they have found a new job keeping rodents at bay at Tutzauer’s farm.
“I believe that these creatures ought to have some respect,” says Tutzauer, who points out that many challenges animals face, including homelessness and behavioral problems, stem from human actions, such as abuse and neglect. “I don’t think it’s for the human species to annihilate all other animal groups at their convenience. …I think we have to share our planet with other living creatures.”
For more information on Buffalo Humane, click here.
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