Youngest volunteer connects with animals

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

When Katie Miller of Troy told her father she wanted to start volunteering at the Kootenai Pets for Life shelter, he smiled and signed the necessary waiver form, figuring his then-8-year-old daughter would soon tire of the chores.

Two years later, Katie remains the nonprofit group's youngest volunteer and one of the most loyal.

"It turned into a passion for her," dad Brian Miller said.

"I went there at first because I wanted to walk dogs," she explained.

Katie soon began cleaning cats' litter boxes, and holding animals while they were vaccinated. One thing led to another.

"She works hard," said Judy Stuckey, the group's president. "She doesn't medicate animals, but she holds them while they're being medicated, she cleans the poop - every job that has to be done, Katie's done it."

That includes answering the shelter's telephone as well as weighing animals.

What gives animals, particularly dogs and cats, such a hold on Miller's heart?

"I like their attitude," she said, cuddling at home with a cat named China Lee.

The Morrison Elementary School fifth-grader takes care of the family's fish, dog and three cats. Her father feeds and cleans up after 15 chickens, four ducks and three rabbits.

With such an abundance of animals in her life, it's no wonder Katie has already decided she wants to become a veterinarian.

"That's what I wanted all my life, ever since I could decide what I wanted to be," she said.

She comes from a family that has always loved and nurtured animals - their own as well as those abandoned by others.

Katie's mother, Susan, and her oldest brother, Brendan, once saw someone drop a bag with five puppies into a river. They ran to the animals and pulled them from the water, saving four.

Working at the shelter has brought Katie in touch with the death of animals, of course. She's already matured to the point of differentiating between an animal that dies after a long life or those that meet freak accidents.

She said she can understand it if an animal has lived its normal lifespan. "But when they're young and healthy and get killed … "

Katie works at the shelter from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays during the school year. She's there almost every day during summer vacation.

She has even been present during the organization's spay and neuter clinics, willing to comfort an animal when it regains consciousness after being anesthetized.

Stuckey emphasizes that any child who wants to volunteer at the shelter must first have their parents sign a liability waiver. No child is allowed to work without adult supervision, the president added.

Kootenai Pets for Life has a core group of two or three dozen regular volunteers, Stuckey said. But records show that a total of 152 people volunteered during 2004, not counting those who worked at spay and neuter clinics.

Stuckey said they're all valued, a necessary component in the shelter's success. No face is more recognizable than Katie Miller's, though.

"She's just so pleasant to work with," Stuckey said.