Out & About: Action for Animals celebrates canine 'newlyweds'

What better way to assure that Love Is in the Air than to have a wedding?

The 12th annual event hosted Feb. 16 by Action for Animals Humane Society had a wedding reception theme, and the happy couple were Ruby and Flash, two new residents at the Derry Township shelter.

The lovebirds — er, beagles — arrived at Christ Our Shepherd Center in Unity in the arms of shelter staffers LuAnn Hutcheson and Pam Reese. Ruby wore a white lace veil, while Flash sported a top hat.

Apparently they had eloped before the party.

Hutchinson said the pair were West Virginia natives: “They were bred to be hunting dogs, but they just didn’t want to hunt.”

Looks like they’ll be good companions for some lucky owner, though.

The event had all the trappings of a good, old-fashioned wedding reception, from dancing and a photo booth to a champagne toast, wedding cake and a cookie table.

Other shelter pets served as the “wedding party.”

On a serious note, Hutchinson gave a shelter update, noting that the facility serves more than 1,500 animals per year and costs about $2,000 per day to operate. She gave anecdotes to illustrate the lengths to which staffers and volunteers go to rescue, care for and re-home the dogs, cats and rabbits they serve.

Event chairs were Lisa Marie Corcoran, Laura Guskiewicz, Laura McDermit and Terry Zorch.

Seen: AFA board president Rita Whiteman, Love Is in the Air event founder Joanne Bergquist with Dr. Erick Bergquist, Ted and Mary Prettiman, Dr. John Santarlas and Kathy Batsa, Dr. Julie Corcoran, Jim Clayton and Mary Catherine Motchar, Dr. Michael Zorch, David and Johnette DeRose, Regis and Chris Tomsey, Chuck and Cathie Grudowski, David and Nora Kemp, Troy and Patti Prettiman, Stan and Elaine Konowalski, Tom and Terri Uhring and dog blogger Tori Mistick with her labs, Burt and Lucy.