Growing up in Indiana, Aurora resident Amber Kay said she was bullied at school and often found comfort in the companionship of animals.
Born deaf, Kay said in addition to having dogs and cats of her own, she also has had a knack for finding strays.
Kay’s parents are deaf and she also has a deaf sister.
“I learned to care for animals from my family, especially my dad who passed away recently,” she said. “He taught me that animals have feelings also.”
With a background in social work, Kay, who now teaches American Sign Language at Joliet Junior College, promised herself that one day she would give back to animals that gave her so much comfort when she was growing up.
Every animal deserves a chance, she said, and sometimes a second or third chance.
In 2004, Kay started Fur Angels Animal Sanctuary with the goal of rescuing deaf animals.
Adopting two deaf pitbull dogs of her own, Chomper and Poncho, Kay said certain myths about deaf dogs exist such as that the dogs are aggressive or untrainable.
However, she said deaf dogs can be trained, they just need to be trained differently.
Educating others on the difference in training deaf dogs was one of the early missions of Fur Angels.
Chomper was one of eight pitbull puppies born from a deaf mother, Kay said.
“Six of the eight puppies also were deaf including Chomper,” she said.
Certain breeds have a higher predisposition to deafness such as pitbulls, great Danes, Dalmatians and boxers, she added.
Kay met Poncho while transporting him to a rescue facility in Iowa. Once placed at the shelter, he was adopted to another family who returned him to the shelter. Kay then adopted Poncho herself.
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“He is the biggest goofball,” she said.
Today, Fur Angels has grown into a large network of more than 50 volunteers and foster families that have saved many different types of animals, she said.
Coral Crumb, an Aurora resident who fosters rabbits and rats and also serves as one of five Fur Angels’ foster volunteer coordinators, said that Fur Angels has grown significantly in the last couple of years.
Beginning in 2007, Fur Angels became one of the few area nonprofit animal rescues dedicated to the rescue and placement of all different types of stray, neglected and abused animals including “caged pets” such as birds, fish, reptiles, turtles, guinea pigs, ferrets, hedgehogs, rabbits, and rodents, she said.
Crumb said surprisingly rats are a great pet for first-time pet owners, because they can be potty-trained.
“They also are very interactive and can learn great tricks,” she added.
Without a physical shelter, Fur Angels uses foster homes for its work. Currently, there is a need for additional foster families as well as financial donations, group officials said.
For information, go to http://furangelsas.com/
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News