Recently in Hannah Declerk Category

    Sandra comes eagerly to the front of the cage, sniffing around out of pure curiosity. She looks up sweetly as the people come and go, begging to be taken to a home. Her entire life has been dedicated to one task, being a mother to many litters. She has arrived recently to the shelter from the Kansas Animal Health Department, and has suffered her one-in-a-half year life sick and poorly kempt. The only home she has known being ruled by a breeder unable to keep her and other 30 relatives healthy. Still, she is ready to have a home, and please anyone who loves her.
    

Sandra, now up for adoption at the local Lawrence Humane Society, is suffering the same fate as many puppies in the state of Kansas. Unfortunately, it is only getting worse. Many breeders, unable to sell dogs, are turning them in to the Kansas Animal Health Department. The Health Department then has the responsibility of distributing the dogs throughout to different Kansas Shelters.
    
"The department is already facing many cases of puppy mill busts throughout Kansas, add breeders not able to sell dogs and we have an overcrowded shelter," Robin-Haller Evans, Office Manager of the Lawrence Humane Society said.
    
In fact, the number of dogs turned into the shelters is alarming. The Lawrence Humane Society is at maximum capacity with 241 dogs, sometimes three to a cage. Out of the 241 dogs 55 are purebreds, the number increasing 40 percent since last July. The amount of dogs taken in the state of Kansas alone has increased over 50 percent, or going from the normal average of 500 dogs per year to 1,223 dogs taken since January. Debra Duncan, Director of Animal Facilities Inspection Program, has been working harder than ever to get these dogs good homes.
    
"Many of the breeders agree to just give up animals to the state. It is not uncommon anymore for state-wide breeders to give up the dogs. We are seeing all different types of animals- Labs, Labrodoodles, Poodles, and it is only getting worse."

    
And it really is getting worse. Out of 2,000 licensed Kansas breeders, about half are creating problems. Only 28 breeders have ever been reported turning over animals to the state, and out of that number eight have been reported this licensing year. Of the eight, four, or over half, has happened since this past January. Although there are only two known licensed breeders in Lawrence, five altogether in Douglas County, one of them has already given the Animal Health Department problems. Just last month, a Lawrence breeder turned over 30 of his dogs to the state.
    
"Breeding animals is often seen as another type of business. With the recent economic plunge, this business is suffering just like all the rest. I went to an auction once to see what it was all about. The breeders were literally trying to just give the dogs away for free. I mean we are talking purebred animals here," Duncan said.
    
The current economic crisis is creating problems for more breeders to sell purebred dogs. Along with the upkeep of the animals, it is also hard to find people who are willing to buy for 500 dollars or more. Besides simply giving the dogs to the state, some breeders may take a chance on a dog auction. The dog auctions are a place where other breeders bring in dogs that cannot sell and auction them off to other breeders. When the dogs are sold, they are sent right back into breeding territory, where many of them will spend the rest of their lives locked up in cages making other puppies. If that is not bad enough, given the current economy, many of the dogs are being auctioned off for as low as 50 cents. As the breeders add more dogs, and the economy continues to plunge, the harder it is for the dogs to sell. This often leads to situations such as puppy mills.


    
"We just got about 21 dogs from the State a few Saturdays ago. In my opinion, everyone should be licensed and good breeders will have people to buy the puppies ahead of time," Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, said.

And, some breeders believe to be just that. Small licensed breeding businesses that thrive off of reliable clients have seen no such change in selling their animals. Larry-Louise Fowler, local Lawrence breeder and owner of Cuddlesomefarm, has had no problems selling her Toy Poodles.
    
"I have been doing this for almost 30 years now. The breeders who are the problems are the ones creating animals with bad judgment. I have a strong networking base, and make good marketing decisions," Fowler said.
    
Regardless, dogs like Sandra are entering the shelters more and more everyday. Like the others, this helpless victim waits for somebody to come and adopt her.

  She paints her nails in a swift back and forth motion, her hand resting on the kitchen table.  She looks up as a door slams open, followed by the sound of little feet and the thud of backpacks. "Kaysia, Kaysia!"  Her little brother Martin runs over to the table and hands her a blade of green grass he picked on the way home. "See Kaysia, I tolllldddd you!  Spring is almost here!" Martin said as he shoved the blade of grass in her face. Kaysia puts her polish down, bright purple today, and looks up at her younger sibling.  She laughs, shrugs and begins to blow on her nails. Her other siblings begin to walk over to the table curious to see what is going on. Kaysia smiles lovingly, and kisses her sister Jessica on the forehead.   Everything seems as it should be; the normal life of an 18-year-old big sister.  But just 9 months ago Kaysia Gerardy was unknown to her siblings.  

Kaysia's mother gave birth to her when she was only 17.  She was in highschool, both parents young and immature.  Her father refused to pay child support and never showed up when it was his time for custody.  He even went so far as to say the child was not his.  Kaysia's mother took it upon herself to gain full custody, and swore to it that she would never know about her father.  Three years later, her mother became pregnant again this time giving Kaysia a younger sister named Hannah.  The couple did not stay together and Kaysia continued living her life without a father figure.

"When I was growing up, I just thought you had a mom.  That's it.  I mean I grew up not having a dad so just a mom was natural to me," Kaysia said.

When she was seven, her mom was finally married.  Kaysia then had a father figure and changed her last name to his- Gerardy.  Still, that did not stop her from being curious about her biological father.

In fourth grade, she came across an old scrap book with a man she did not know.  He had dark hair and blue eyes, and portrayed an eerie resemblance.  Under the picture there was a single name, Shannon Merritt.  

 "He looked a lot like me, and I was like who is this man? 
My mom quickly told me that it was my father, and did not allow me to ask anything else."

Still, Kaysia curiousity of her father still loomed in the presence of her childhood friend Logann.  Logann's mother and Kaysia's mother had been best friends since high school.  They spent a lot of time together, and the time spent allowed Kaysia and Logann to create a natural friendship.  

"We were attached at the hip, it was strange we had this natural bond," Kaysia said, "little did I know how close this bond actually was."

As Kaysia approached middle school, she developed serious questions about the bond they shared.  She had never met Logann's dad, but understood that his last name was Merritt.  It was interesting in the fact that their biological fathers shared last names.  She never approached Logann on the subject, but decided to go straight to her mom to figure everything out.   Her mom explained that yes, Logann was her brother.  In fact, Kaysia's mother and Logann's mother did not talk for a few years because of the situation.  It just all made sense.  Logann's mom, Kaysia's mom, and their father went to high school together.  The reason why her mom and dad did not work out was because he cheated on her with Logann's mom.  A year later they were married, Logann was born, and then they got divorced soon after.

"Yeah, my mom said that she tried to warn Logann's mom about marrying him, but he was just a smooth talker.  At the time it was bad, but now they laugh about the situation, considering that they were divorced about a year after Logann was born," Kaysia said.

However, the discovery of her best friend/ brother did not make a difference on their friendship.  Logann was not allowed to speak about Kaysia's dad, and she never really asked.

"I mean of course I was curious.  But my mother made his mother swear he would never mention my dad.  So we just never spoke of it."

She continued living her life, moving constantly and being placed in and out of schools.  She was constantly pulled out of school and homeschooled because her mom thought she had a short attention span.  By the time she was in 9th grade she had three younger siblings, her parents struggling to support all of them.

"Do you know what food I absolutely hate?  Roman noodles.  I remember when my parents were out of jobs for awhile that is all I ate.  Literally, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Roman noodles.  It was a hard time," Kaysia said.


Around this time her mother began to show signs of a mental illness.  Her mom and Logann's mom had a falling out, and her sister decided to move in with her biological father after a physically abusive fight broke out between her mom and step-dad.  Her mom began believing that women should not be in schools, and should never work.  So she pulled Kaysia out of public schools and forced her to be homeschooled until her senior year.  

"I was a sophomore in high school, and finally making friends and finding stability.  Then out of nowhere my mom snapped and pulled me out of school.  I always thought it was from a learning disability."

Finally, when she reached the adult age of 18, she knew it was time to gain independence.  The first thing to do was to get in touch with her biological father.  She was getting ready to graduate from her home school program, and wanted her father to be there.  Knowing that she could not ask her mom for her father's number, she took it upon herself to get in contact with Logann's mom.  

"I remember the first time I heard his voice.  He sounded so young.  I wanted to talk more, but he was so scared that he actually told me to just email him.  So I did, and we set up a time and place to meet."

Recently, she had gotten into the art of photography.  She loved it, and knew that it was her passion in life.  Before meeting her father, she decided that she would google his name and see what she could find.  There it was, right in front of her, a website dedicated to him and his photography business. Shannon Merritt's photography website

"It was so strange.  How two people could be completely connected and never even have met," Kaysia said.

Finally, in February of 2008, Kaysia met her father.  They had lunch, went and saw a movie and then got coffee together.  She remembers her father choking up during lunch, apologizing for never being around.  Still, the conversation flowed naturally, making up for lost time and conversing about their passion for photography.  Shannon Merritt, Kaysia's father, remembers this day well.

"I saw her for the first time, and I was like she is my daughter.  We clicked right away.  Not gonna lie though, it was tough.  I almost lost my composure during lunch," Shannon Merritt, Kaysia's father, said.

Still, the outing went so well that they hung out two or three times after that, and he even attended her graduation with his new wife Jeanie and their two children Martin and Jessica.

At home, however, tensions began to rise between Kaysia's mother and her.

"She did not like that I was in close contact with my dad.  She tried to keep me away, but I was an adult.  We just kept fighting, it was getting really bad."

At the end of March, Kaysia made a life-altering decision to move in with her father.  They began to secretely converse back and forth about how she was to move out of her house.  It was a tense time for her and her father, and it affected everyone.  Andrew Merritt, Shannon's son from his third marriage, remembers this time well.

"I was only 12, but I remember there was a lot of tension in the house between Jeannie and my dad.  I was concerned, so my dad took me on a walk to explain everything.  It all made sense to me then," Andrew said.

The planning she thought was going well, until about three weeks before the move out her mother discovered her backpack of clothes.

"I had to play it off like it was a dumb irrational decision, and pretended like it was never going to happen," Kaysia said.

However, on a warm May night, Shannon Merritt drove up to Kaysia's home.  Kaysia jumped in the car and they sped off, not bringing a single thing with her.  She left all of her possessions behind: clothes, pictures, everything to start a new life with her father.

When she arrived at her father's home, she was welcomed with open arms from her siblings.  The best surprise was being reunited with Logann, her childhood best friend that she had not seen in years.

"He just stared at me in shock.  He could not believe it. And then he said, now we can be brother and sister for real, I then started crying," Kaysia said.

She did not hear from her mother until a day and a half later, and was surprised to find her extremely calm.  They are still on rough grounds, but it is continuously getting better.

As far as her new life goes, things could not get any better.

"She just fits into our family great, I feel like she has been a part of it forever," said Jeannie Merritt, Kaysia's step-mother, "I know she has been through a lot, but we are just so fortunate she is here."

*****

Kaysia looks around at her family and smiles.  Everyday is a new day.  She gets out of her chair and goes to her room to get dressed for work.  She just completed her GED, and hopes one day to attend a college.  She leaves her room, waves goodbye to her siblings, slaps her dad a high five, and walks out the door.