What was once a unified group that joined efforts to raise money to benefit the Surry Animal Rescue and to save area animals, is now two separate organizations claiming the other has no rights to an event organized last year that raised close to $4,000.

Last October more than 400 people and 180 of their four-legged friends showed up for the first ever Bark in Park, with the proceeds going directly to the Surry Animal Rescue.

The event was organized by the Bark in the Park committee which included members of the Surry Animal Rescue (SAR) and several other non-members including Jane Taylor and Debra Holt.

But in January, Holt and Taylor and others branched off from the committee and formed a separate organization to aid pets called Mayberry 4 Paws, which is planning to organize the Bark in the Park event again in October on its own. Holt said all the benefits of this year’s Bark in the Park will go to Mayberry 4 Paws to help cats and dogs be adopted from the Surry County Animal Shelter.

Holt, who served as a chairperson of the event, said she initiated Bark in the Park because she thought Surry County needed more pet events locally. She said Surry Animal Rescue was the only animal organization she was aware of, and thought it could benefit by receiving the proceeds from Bark in the Park.

“It was our idea, mine and Jane, I wanted people to come together with dogs and pets, we didn’t know what to do with the money, we only knew of Surry Animal Rescue,” she said.

She explained that the monies given to the SAR last year was a “one-time deal,” and that future events and proceeds were not specifically slated to benefit the animal rescue each year afterward.

According to a letter to The News by SAR , “The original forming of the Bark in the Park committee was under the premise that funds raised would be donated to Animal Rescue under the direction of Linda Mooney.” Mooney is the founder of Surry Animal Rescue.

The letter continued, “We were blindsided and disappointed that the founders of Bark in the Park Committee, now Mayberry 4 Paws, (led) us to believe that the committee would maintain this is an annual fundraiser for the Surry Animal Rescue. We are saddened that our years of expertise and community connections are being used under false pretenses.”

“It is unfortunate that Mayberry 4 Paws plans to use the Bark in the Park name that was marketed as benefiting Surry Animal Rescue for the purpose of their new group...We want the public to be aware that the change is not merely in the name, and that Bark in the Park is no longer supporting its original mission of raising funds to help with the cost of caring for abused and abandoned animals for Surry Animal Rescue,” it read.

Mooney said the creation of the Bark in the Park event was a collaborative effort which included Surry Animal Rescue and those now involved with Mayberry 4 Paws.

“Debra and Jane called us wanting to help the rescue. They wanted to do a fundraiser or to help in some way, we all decided they have done these bark in the parks all over the place— it wasn’t one person’s idea,” she said. “They were outside of our group but wanted to join in and do something to help us, it wasn’t a new idea, they do them all over.”

“It was created for Surry Animal Rescue to continue on year after year that’s why it was called the First Annual Bark in the Park for Surry Animal Rescue,” she added. “The committee was made up of both people from Surry Animal Rescue and volunteers who wanted to participate in raising money for Surry Animal Rescue.”

Taylor, one of the founders of Mayberry 4 Paws, said Holt, who is a groomer, approached her about the idea of starting the event, and the pair planned it for a while.

“It was definitely Debra’s idea, most assuredly,” she said. “We talked about it a long time. We didn’t want to raise money and keep the money. We needed a non-profit to give it to, (and) at that point the only non-profit doing anything for pets at that time was Surry Animal Rescue. So Debra contacted them and asked them if they would like to receive the proceeds.

Taylor said she strongly disagreed that the event was a collaborative creation including SAR.

“In actuality, we raised a little over $4,000 and gave every penny to them, if they had the expectation that was going to continue to happen that was just their expectation,” she said. “We had no commitment long term, we’ve never been members of the Surry Animal Rescue.”

“We offered them the money, they were grateful for the money and we thought it left as it was,” she added.

Mooney said she believed those who helped with Bark in the Park, who are now a part of Mayberry 4 Paws, did so because their “ultimate motive was to find out how things go and start their own group.”

“Mayberry 4 Paws is a new group that is paying for animals to be placed in homes, I don’t believe in letting someone have a dog if they can’t afford it. If the animal gets sick how can they pay for it? Those animals are going to be the ones left behind. It’s upsetting,” she said. “Why start up more groups? People say ‘I’m tapped out. Why give out more? I’ve already given to one place.’ You can’t hit people several times with several groups because you want to say you have your own group, it’s ludicrous.”

Holt and Taylor said Mayberry 4 Paws is in no way affiliated with SAR or in competition with the organization’s efforts. They said the services they offer differ from SAR.

According to the Mayberry 4 Paws mission statement, the non-profit organization works to raise funds to supplement spay and neuter costs for dogs and cats that are adopted from the Surry Animal Shelter.

“I want people to understand that Mayberry 4 Paws is a small group of people who love and respect animals, companion animals, we want to do a little something to make their lives better and the quality of lives for the people who adopt them,” Taylor said.

Holt said she wanted to start an organization to help the animals in the shelter that could face euthanasia.

“I wanted to start my own organization to help more animals because I want to grow,” she said. “I want to have a lot more events and educate people about spay/neuter.”

Taylor said the short term goal of the organization is to reduce the cost of adoption, and its long term goal is to reduce the amount of animals euthanized because overpopulation at the shelter.

In 2007, the Surry County Animals shelter euthanized 1,511 cats and 2,051 dogs.

“There is a core committee in our group, the consensus was that if an animal goes into a shelter it has a limited life expectancy, a lot more people can adopt if the adoption is more affordable,” Taylor said. “Based upon need and the quality of the home, we may pay for the entire cost or part of the spay/neuter cost.”

SAR is a state certified non-profit volunteer organization that operates solely on donations, and rescue animals from abuse, neglect, and euthanasia. Its rescued animals are kept in private foster homes.

Mooney said Mayberry 4 Paws is designed to give low-income families a pet it may not be able to continue to support once in its possession, and that is unfair to the animals.

“What happens when they can’t afford it? If the dog gets hurt by a car or anything that happens to an animal that could happen to us as well,” she said. “(Mayberry 4 Paws) is out for the people, we’re out for animals number one, then the people. Don’t make it more work on us because people abandon animals because they can’t afford it. We’re not trying to hurt anybody by any means, we’re are just trying to put out who we are and what we are doing. There’s no sense in going against one another, the whole point is to help. We try to do the best we can for everybody. This was pretty underhanded.”

Taylor said it is a valid question whether or not a person can afford to care for animal, but economic status doesn’t determine the quality of life a pet will have.

“I know people who have plenty of money who would never spend on a pet, I know poorer people who spend their last bit of money on a pet,” she said. “If you go over to the animal shelter and you want a cat, and it has not been spayed or neuter, it cost approximately $100, you may not have that $100 that month, but you may have already set aside a little money every month for food and vet bills and you are willing to provide a wonderful home for the cat. We’ll help you get started, if you got everything else started. Face it, the alternative to that, is that cat is going to die in the shelter when it can have a reasonably good life.”

Taylor said that the SAR is welcomed to participate as vendors in the Bark in the Park in October, but it will not be receiving the proceeds from the event.

“I don’t want any trouble for anyone, it’s not about anything other than trying to help out animals, (and) inform and enlighten the community,” she said.

Contact Erin C. Perkins at eperkins@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.