by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
Florida Coastal School of Law professor Ann Shorstein is always prepared to help the dogs and cats she finds wandering by the side of the road. Need proof? She keeps a leash and pet food in the trunk of her car.
Those efforts are nothing new for Shorstein, who first tried to rescue a stray at age eight. But with age and better resources at her disposal, she said, she’s been able to accomplish more in recent years.
”I’ve been bringing home strays all my life,” said Shorstein. “For some strange reason – I don’t know if it’s in my DNA or some type of odor I emit – every stray animal finds me.”
Shorstein estimates she’s found homes for about 40 animals so far, and she trapped, neutered and released a small colony of cats at the old law school location on Beach Boulevard. She uses classified advertisements and a network of friends and students to put the word out about each pet she finds.
Shorstein has also become known as a source for private animal shelters needing legal aid. She does pro bono work for people who operate animal rescue projects and wind up facing problems with zoning laws, health codes, landlord-tenant issues and contracts.
“Technically, it’s not animal rights – it’s just animal people with problems,” said Shorstein.
She said local animal rescue shelters are having a rough time lately. There have been some funding cuts to spay and neuter programs which aim to stop reproduction in an effort to limit the number of stray pets.
“That’s understandable because the mayor has an obligation to bring a balanced budget to the City,” said Shorstein. “But in the case of cutting spay and neuter funds, the animals continue to reproduce and the situation gets worse ... In my estimation, it’s very short-sighted.”
And while the Humane Society’s recent switch to a no-kill status may be good in the long term, Shorstein said the organization is having to turn away a lot of pets. Those animals often wind up on the street, breed and keep the stray pet population growing.
“Almost every rescue place you talk to is full right now,” she said. “My next thing is to find a large tract of land to house dogs, cats or any animal that needs a home.”
Shorstein said she wants to purchase a 30-acre farm to build a shelter for abandoned and stray animals – especially those who have been abused or are not likely to be adopted. She said she’ll start looking for a funding source after she finds the land, so she can pay someone to tend the shelter full-time.
The shelter would be called “Gunny’s Place,” Shorstein said, after her beloved dog who died two years ago.
“She was a mutt,” said Shorstein, but people always asked what breed Gunny was when she went out on walks. So the Shorsteins made up a name, calling her a “Lithuanian water dog.”
“People would say, ‘Oh, I know that breed,’ ” said Shorstein.
Shorstein and her husband, State Attorney Harry Shorstein, own another dog, PigPen, and four cats – kind of a lot for their condominium, she added.
The pet overpopulation problem can be solved “if we throw enough money at it,” said Shorstein.
“Educate people who have animals and develop a comprehensive spay and neuter program. You still have a lot of people who consider animals disposable, like tissue.”
The career
For the first time in her life, Ann Shorstein has stuck with the same career for more than four years.
The Florida Coastal School of Law professor is in her seventh year of teaching, but her resume ranges from campaign manager to speech pathologist to real estate agent. Shorstein typically left her previous jobs when she got bored, usually after a few years. So, what’s giving her sticking power this time?
“I’m perfectly happy,” she said. “I can’t paint, I can’t sculpt, I can’t even cook. This is as close as I get to a finished product ... We (instructors) all harbor this sense that the kids we turn out will be ethical and they will go out and do great things.”
Shorstein said the students and faculty members she works with have kept her content. She’s developed some interesting teaching methods, too. In Shorstein’s real estate transactions course, students get to buy and sell property within a class-created “Coastal Kingdom.” An article on her class practices will be published in an upcoming law journal.