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Darcie Luster with a furry friend.

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Finding pets a good home.

by Wanda Combs
Editor

The door leading to Darcie Luster’s Floyd apartment is filled with pictures of pets up for adoption. The local resident has made it her mission to find good homes for animals.
Luster says she has always had a love for cats that goes back to childhood. The first kitten, actually found by then town manager Rick Lewis, was two days old. “I raised it on a bottle. I was eight. I’ve always been dragging critters home.”
Now president of the Floyd County Humane Society and the group’s main cat foster, she is continuing her interest in an official role.
During days, she manages her parents’ – Bill and Joanne Bell’s – gallery in Floyd. She has also been known to have kittens in the shop, too, occasionally having one occupy a birdcage on the counter.
Luster, also a jewelry maker, and husband Chris, who is a musician, personally rescued 115 cats last year. Most of the animals were brought to them as friendly strays or as kittens from litters, she comments. “One was found right in the middle of town. It fell out from under the carriage of a car.”
A Floyd native, Luster lived away from home while attending college. She got her Bachelor’s degree from Berea College in Kentucky and her Master’s in biology from Eastern Kentucky University. She also has her teaching certificate.
Growing up in the county, she says she and her siblings were raised by their parents to value education for its own sake, not for a good job, but for what they could learn.
After college, she says, she missed Floyd and had to move back here. Shortly after returning she met local musician Chris Luster, who plays bass, and the two married. With his passion for music and her’s for animals, they had to make one concession in their marriage: he could have as many instruments as he wanted and she could have as many cats.
With the Humane Society, she also serves as the spay/neuter coordinator and the coordinator of the feral cat program. The feral cat program, now at its one-year anniversary, has taken care of 200 feral cats. That free program provides spay/neuter services, vaccinations, de-worming, and flea treatments. Covered by a grant, it is not technically operated by the local Humane Society, but rather by Alley Cat Allies, based in Roanoke and serving Roanoke, Floyd and Montgomery Counties. As coordinator, Luster transports the cats to Roanoke.
The Humane Society works with people who have cat colonies (more than 10 pets), Luster remarks. It is a joint effort between the Society and local residents, with the Society providing the traps. The Humane Society also provides spay/neuter services for local residents’ pets, working with St. Francis of Assisi.
An agreement with an area pet store is also helping to find homes for more pets. The Floyd County Humane Society is featuring pets at the Christiansburg Pet Smart, located adjacent to the New River Valley Mall. The Humane Society gets assistance with that project from Virginia Tech. VT Engaged provides the volunteers who help to clean the cages and care for and feed the animals while they are placed at the store. The Humane Society features puppies one or two Saturdays a month. As a result of that program, the Society has placed approximately 40 cats.
Luster points out that those interested in adopting animals must sign up and supply references on the adoption form. The potential pet owners must sign a contract that they will not declaw the cats or put them in a pound and that they will keep up shot. Those owners must not have been convicted of any animal cruelty charges. If they do not own their home, they must submit a copy of their lease indicating that pets are allowed on the premises. There is a 65-dollar adoption fee (or two, if siblings, for $100). The Humane Society, Luster notes, actually spends $85-90 on each cat. “We do rely on donations to make ends meet. A lot of money we spend is on the community spay/neuter program.”
Pet owners who have a missing dog should contact the Floyd County Dog Pound or the Humane Society. If you have a missing cat (since the Pound does not accept cats), call the Humane Society. The phone number is 745-3070. Luster says the Society takes in two to three strays a week.