Faith Connolly founded Pet Partners of the Tri-State Berkshires in 2009 when the economy plummeted. She watched people surrendering their animals because they no longer had the means to care for them. Pet Partners is not a shelter or rescue but a support organization that provides resources when people can’t feed their pets or provide the medical care the animals need. Connolly grew up on a farm in Columbia County, where she still lives. Besides running Pet Partners, she also works full time and nurtures a menagerie of needy animals at home. In fact, she was dealing with some animal emergencies so was unable to supply a photo of herself, but she is intensively involved in turtle rescue, hence this photo. I grew up on this farm, so I’ve been around animals my whole life. We had horses, but I used to ride the cows. My father was a great animal advocate. When we went someplace, we always had a box of hay in the trunk. If we’d see an animal on the side of the road or tied out, we’d pick it up. We had owls, ravens and rabbits. I thought everyone carried boxes of hay in their cars. When the economy crashed, it was devastating for people and animals. I started Pet Partners to help people keep their animals at home. We’ve intervened for people in nursing homes, getting their animals rabies shots so they don’t get taken away. The vets work with us so our prices are discounted, but the food is donated from boxes that we put in grocery stores. Our volunteers distribute the donations to various food pantries and markets, where people can pick it up. We don’t have time to fundraise, so we put out donation canisters. The whole organization is run on volunteers. Aside from Pet Partners, my own house has been used as a hospice home for years. I’m a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for the State of New York, specializing in turtles. People bring them to us, we rehab them, then set them free wherever they came from. When we don’t know where that is, they stay here. I’m part of the Turtle Survival Alliance, which was created in response to the Asian turtle crisis. I have over 30 turtles, including some Indian Star tortoises. They’re often caught in the crossfires in the airport while they’re being poached, and some of them come here until they’re sent back to Madagascar or Senegal or wherever they are from. Right now I have 3 dogs, 5 cats and 30-something turtles. It’s pretty light right now. I took in one dog whose teeth were so bad, the vets around here didn’t want to have anything to do with her. I took her to a place that just does dog dentistry and wrote home equity checks against the house to pay for the care. When she got healthy, I had to get her a friend, so I adopted another sick animal. I take the ones that nobody wants because they need medical care. I have a feral cat house for a cat colony from Great Barrington that was going to be euthanized. The work is never ending. I’m up at 1 a.m. and everyone gets cleaned and fed. I leave at 5:30 a.m. for my other job, where I run an office — going to work is like a vacation — coming home to feed at lunchtime. When I get home at around 6 p.m., it starts again. I just couldn’t do it any other way. It’s what I’ve wrapped my life around. I can’t say no.
