By Ella Bronaugh

Intern

When emaciated pit bull Eve was abandoned at the doorstep of Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care, she had nowhere else to turn.

Too many animals in Suffolk have been in Eve’s position: extremely ill or dying with no one to care for them.

Brandon Wichman, president and co-owner of Eve’s Orphans, said the staff at Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care were inspired by Eve’s situation and used the opportunity to start a rehabilitation fund, Eve’s Orphans, as a way to finance the care of orphaned animals around Suffolk. Since its start in 2001, Eve’s Orphans has rehabilitated and rehomed hundreds of animals.

“We do it for the orphans — ones who don’t have a family to take care of them,” Wichman said.

Eve was the first of many animals to receive veterinary treatment through this fund and was successfully adopted into a new family shortly afterwards. The staff at Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care takes on the responsibility of searching for an adoptive family for the animals after they receive treatment and will house them at the veterinary office until they do.

“We try to adopt them straight out, but sometimes it takes some time,” Wichman said. “The primary goal is to find them a forever home, but sometimes you have to hold them for a little while.”

Occasionally, the fund will take in abandoned animals that are not necessarily sick but need somewhere to stay until they can be placed in a new home.

“Sometimes that’s what we do: we take an animal in — they don’t need much except to be cared for until we can find them a home,” Wichman said.

The staff at Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care have gone to great lengths to save sick and dying orphans.

“We just had a dog whose leg was broken and had no one to fix it,” Wichman said. “It was bad enough that we had to do an amputation. We gave him a couple months to heal and then found him a foster home. He just got adopted a couple weeks ago.”

Though Eve’s Orphans is not tax-exempt, all donations that are made for the cause go towards funding the treatment and care of the orphaned animals that the vet clinic is sponsoring. The clinic discounts the treatment the animals receive: the business absorbs one-third and the fund covers the rest.

The generosity of the Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care staff, as well as their supporters around the area, have allowed hundreds of orphaned animals to receive care that they would otherwise not have access to, and — more importantly — has led them to arms of loving families.

“We just like to take care of people and their animals,” Wichman said. “We’re a place that looks after people — Eve’s Orphans is an extension of that. We look after animals that don’t have anyone to care for them. That’s why we started this fund.”

To make a donation towards the Eve’s Orphans fund, contact the Bennett’s Creek Veterinary Care office at 483-5990.