As we become more global, exotic diseases and pests are popping up, making the connection with the university extension more important. This year, her approach helped quell an outbreak in a crop of poinsettias imported from Guatemala. The plants had a fungus that could have spread throughout the nation had not a grower connected with Dutky's program spotted the problem before it got out of hand. And the supplier was very good about making restitutions. The Humane Society cannot keep pregnant cats, or kittens less than eight weeks old.
Injured animals are another problem, because they are considered unadoptable.
So for the past four years, Dutky has helped by taking pregnant, sick and baby cats into her home, placing more than 50 cats in new homes once they were ready. Not all of her foster charges have gone to new homes, however. You get attached. That's the downside. Or the upside, depending on how you look at it.