Written by Karel Minor, Humane Pennsylvania President & CEO (and aging Punk!)
A funny thing happened on the way to bringing back Humane PA’s Pints for Pups (PfP) after an 8-year break. It kind of became something else. PfP had always been a big, fun party with lots of drinks, food, and live music. But the pause meant that we didn’t have to be just a repeat of last year’s event, only in a different spot with a different band. It can be what it always wanted to be when it grew up. A tiny Glastonbury of Beer Festivals!
In case you don’t know about the Glastonbury Festival, it’s a big music festival in the English countryside. Music, art, pleasant weirdos, and very cool tents. Think Burning Man but with less pretension and rolling, green fields.
This year’s PfP is being hosted at HPA’s very own Ruiz-Murphy Dog Park in Birdsboro. It has green, rolling fields aplenty. We decided to book two bands from the early days of PfP, the fabulous Americana of The Youngers, who first played in 2008, and the OG Brit rockabilly of Dibbs and the Detonators, who first played in 2009. Wow, did we have not just a band but a mini-festival? HPA events always bring out nice folks who bring their dogs and are generally more humane than the average punter (to steal a Brit term). These days, nice people seem to be the weird exception and not the rule, and we welcome them. Pleasant weirdos? Check!
But it all clicked when we were planning to prepare for rain and sun, and I remembered we had a big bunch of giant multicolored sun umbrellas to go with the big sail cloth and tarps we usually hang to give shade and cover from the sun or rain. I thought, “This is starting to look like Glastonbury more than Pints for Pups.” Eureka! This was exactly the vibe at the very best years of PfP – parklike settings, space to spread out, and being not just a nice way to support Humane PA’s mission but a big fun party with a few hundred of our pleasant friends and a band (or two!) we love.
Photos from past Glastonbury Festivals
In other words, Pints for Pups is the Glastonbury of Beer Festivals! And if it’s Glastonbury, it wouldn’t be complete without Strummerville, Joe Strummer’s village of tents where people hung out around a bonfire after the show. So, we are inviting you to participate in the inaugural Strummerville West. Bring your pop-up tent, some extra chairs, and a blanket to set up around the small bonfire. Hang out during the event and then head to your tent when we light up the fire at 9:00 PM, when PfP wraps up. Everyone loves a fire, and you can enjoy some relaxation and conversation with friends. At least until we kick you out at 11:00. Look, we may all be pleasant weirdos, but we aren’t jobless freaks – we all have stuff to do in the morning, right?
Photos from past Pints for Pups Festivals
If you haven’t yet, buy your tickets now. Everyone gets a complimentary PfP glass, over 75 varieties of beer, wine, and booze to sample, a full cash bar for full pours and mixed drinks, food trucks and vendors to shop, and live music. Buy or upgrade to VIP tickets and get extra stuff like VIP only tented table seating, food truck vouchers, and full beer pours. Did we mention you can bring your friendly, leashed, well-behaved dog?
Better yet, go nuts and become a business or individual sponsor of the event to get recognition benefits, extra VIP tickets, and know you’ve done just a little bit more to help animals than the other pleasant weirdos around you. Hey, we’re not above playing on ego if it saves a life. But if you’re OK with not saving more puppies and kitties and just want to do the bare minimum, that’s between you and the pet you have to look in the eye.
C’mon, all this and you can bring your dog? What else do you need – a limo, and we pay you to come?
Is a week out a little late to decide we’re the Glastonbury of Beer Fests? Sure. But Glastonbury started out in 1970 when 1,500 people saw T. Rex headlining. In 1971, 12,000 tickets saw David Bowie headlining. Last year, 200,000 people saw The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo. Which people had the better story to tell? Get in on the ground floor this year and get the t-shirt to prove you were there and heard of it first. Next year, you might not be able to get as close to the stage! Does anyone have Olivia’s number by any chance? I’d kinda like to have her play.
The slightly less tiny Clash homage shirt designed by Adrienne Trafford for HPA!
My tiny 13 year Clash tee (still worn by my daughter!)
Postscript: OK. What’s the deal with all the Joe Strummer? Well, we really like him. OK, again. Well, I really like him, I have since I was 12. “What would Joe Strummer do?” might be as much a guiding principle as any at HPA. He saw and called out injustice, especially against the most powerless, but was realistic that it took work, not just songs and slogans. Sounds a little like HPA, right? At his core, “He was very humane,” as Steve Diggle of The Buzzcocks said of him after he passed away in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect. The last thing he did before he died suddenly on his couch at home? He had walked his dogs. Am I not going to make homage HPA t-shirts, dedicate our live music events to his memory, or name one of a kind project like the soon to be under construction Joe Strummer Memorial Garden & Turtle Nirvana after him? As if.
I happened to start working at Humane PA in 2002, the year Joe died. It’s not going too far to say that his legacy is not only his music, but what it inspired and resulted in through the work of HPA. They say not many saw The Clash live in England, but they all started a band. I was lucky enough to see The Clash play. I say the same is true in America, except we all started a charity and tried to improve the world.
That’s why I’m always yammering on about Joe. I’m sure you’ll bear with me, as one pleasant weirdo to another.
Twelve years ago, when (what was then known as) the Humane Society of Berks County was asked by the Humane League of Lancaster County to take over management of their organization, I first met Aida May. At the time, she was a non-management kennel technician, and she had already been working there for a few years. I remember the reaction of the Berks management team was basically, “Who is that and why doesn’t hasn’t she been promoted?”
Despite news stories and animal shelter full-tilt freakout press releases to the contrary, the war on pet overpopulation and needless shelter euthanasia has been a wild success. In 1970, up to 26 million cats and dogs entered animal shelters, and up to 20 million of those were euthanized. To put that in context, in 1970 there were only 65 million cats and dogs in the U.S. So, in 1970, as much as 40% of the cats and dogs alive in the U.S. passed through shelters, and as many as 1 in 3.25 pets alive at the time were killed in animal shelters every year.
What the heck does this have to do with dog adoptions in Lancaster? Everything. The animal shelter infrastructure in Lancaster and Berks County, where Humane PA has adoption centers, was created in the 1970s to handle 1970s realities. As recently as 20 years ago, the combined shelter intake for the Humane League of Lancaster County and the Humane Society of Berks County was 21,000 cats and dogs a year. Over 14,000 of those animals were euthanized.
Not surprisingly, the greatest risks to pets are found around the home. Plants, foods, human medications, cleaning supplies, and automotive products are responsible for the vast majority of pet poisoning cases reported to veterinarians and poison control centers.
garlic, onions, yeast dough, and any processed foods containing the sweetener Xylitol.
In Case of a Pet Poisoning Emergency
While the one-million-pound goal was reached this past year, Humane Pennsylvania is also tackling systemic challenges beyond food with initiatives like low-cost veterinary services and community education.
We thought it was great when our communities donated 440,000 pet meals to our pet food donation campaign in 2023. That was so great we took the brazen step of raising our sights – a lot. In 2024 we asked you to help us meet a Million Meal Challenge. You came through. As I type, we are up to 1.47 million meals donated, and counting! That’s nearly triple the previous year!
We also know that time and travel are two major hurdles for those struggling financially. So we have begun installing Spike’s Pet Food Pantry Kiosks in our Adoption Centers. These are SPP “light” with a more limited selection but open seven days a week, making access easier.
donor generosity isn’t being abused. Fortunately, the vast majority of people are good, and our data shows that most people only use this program for a short period. Those who need more help get direct, intensive support. The exceptionally small number who are scammers get booted and banned. I’m glad to know that this program is there for any of us who might need it in a pinch.
Not familiar with that location? It’s new, too! In order to add space needed for all our programs and distribution work, we purchased a warehouse in Lancaster County which gives us the extra space we need to receive and sort large donations arriving by tractor-trailer. It’s one of the ways we have been able to expand capacity without having to add staff or overload existing space.
I hope that chair is comfy because there’s so much more! In 2024 HPA added a new affordable community service: Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort, PA’s first affordable, non-profit pet boarding service! We were hearing from our community that they were getting priced out of swanky boarding facilities, often having a boarding bill that was more expensive than their vacation. Why should someone have to choose between traveling with family or having a pet because of the cost of boarding? With Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort, they don’t need to. Pets of all kinds can stay safely with HPA, affordably and comfortably, with all the bells and whistles of a fancy place if you want them, but without the mandates and restrictions now so common. Not all dogs like playgroups, and some pets need special handling and care. We are literally the experts with over 100 years of experience. With online booking and two locations (Reading and Lancaster), we began booking up and are now expanding to meet the growing need!
As soon as it warms up a little, we will be excited to have the public rededication of the center in honor of two of our very best friends and supporters, Betsy & Ted Lewin. Betsy is a legendary – yep, I’m going with legendary – children’s book illustrator and has been one of the longest-donating artists to our Art for Arf’s Sake Auction. You’ve probably seen her art, and if you have kids you probably have her books in your house right now. I am honored that she is allowing us to recognize her and her late husband, Ted, for their generosity, kindness, and the joy they have given to so many for so long. Stay tuned for the invitation to join us this Spring!
the secret sauce to achieve success. It may come as no surprise but it boils down three big factors we thought we could cover:
Instead, we offered all available surgical slots to a single colony manager, along with assistance and training for mass trapping, to allow us to get as many in at one time as possible. We also went the extra step of ensuring that any that were missed could be funneled into our regular surgery schedule to get any stragglers. We’d also push in any new cats that wandered in the colony in the future. Once we got them all, we’d move on to the next. Did it work? Boy, did it ever. Between March 2023 and November 2024, about 75 colonies ranging in size from just a couple to dozens of cats were fully sterilized. That’s an accomplishment that has never been achieved in our region before and we subsequently found out that this approach is now being taught in advanced trainings as the way to actually overcome the breeding cycles of free-roaming cats. It turns out we figured it out on our own while others were!
Dr. Alicia Simoneau’s 15-year journey with Humane Pennsylvania has been marked by a deep commitment to animal welfare and an unwavering passion for her work. As she celebrates this milestone, it’s clear that Dr. Simoneau’s contributions have been pivotal in shaping the compassionate and dynamic environment that defines Humane Pennsylvania today.
What’s one thing you’re learning now, and why is it important?
After spending over 30 years in the animal welfare world, Humane Pennsylvania (HPA) President & CEO Karel Minor knows a thing or two about helping animals and their caretakers who love them. As the second longest-tenured leader in animal sheltering in Pennsylvania, he is looking back at the progress made and strides taken over his 20 years as CEO of Humane PA.
be done, usually with no real data to back it up, just opinion and gut feeling. Animal welfare felt hopeless and fatalistic and if you suggested we could save animals’ lives and help people try new things, our peers looked at us like we were stupid. If you suggested adopting cats at Halloween, waiving adoption fees, or adopting at Christmas, people thought you were insane. Twenty years ago, when I started at HPA, which was known as Berks Humane Society at that time, I met a core of staff, board, volunteers, and donors who were willing to be open-minded. They saw that what we had been doing wasn’t working- at least not for the 4,000 animals being euthanized each year- and they took the risk with me to try new and even taboo approaches. It worked, we kept it up, and we helped spread that attitude around the country.
My greatest influence in animal welfare is Dr. Michael Moyer, who hired me at my first shelter 32 years ago. Back then, he was the extremely rare executive director who happened to be a veterinarian. He approached animal welfare like a scientist, used data, and encouraged me to do the same. However, my biggest professional influence is my wife, Dr. Kim Minor, who was one of the extremely rare educators who is a genuine genius, uses data and genuinely cares about doing what’s best for kids, even when it’s hard or personally risky. There is a bizarre similarity to how the education system writes off a lot of kids just like many animal shelters do with animals. Her example of doing what is right for each individual child and how that improves the well-being of children as a population has always motivated me to do the same for animals and the families they are attached to.
have been with HPA ranging from just one year to nearly twenty years. One person can’t succeed alone and we have built a group who take their work seriously and know they can make a concrete positive difference for the animals and people in our community.
When a mosquito has a blood meal from a dog that has adult heartworms, the microfilaria is taken in by the mosquito and undergoes transformation to a larval stage, which can now be a source of infection for another dog. This larval stage parasite is injected from the mosquito to another dog with the next blood meal the mosquito takes.
larval stage of the heartworm before it has the chance to mature into an adult worm and cause excessive damage.
Thursday, February 23, 2024, is World Spay Day, and 
pets will prevent future costly issues such as uterine infections, cancers, and behavioral problems. For more information or to make an appointment, please visit our website: 
