The Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is establishing a fund in honor of Black Dog, an endearing stray dog that roamed Richmond’s West End neighborhoods for nearly two decades. Black Dog was found last week near Cary Street and Maxwell Road, apparently fatally struck by a car, and was buried on private property in Buckingham County.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.“—Arthur Schopenhauer, 19th-century German philosopher. No healthy homeless animal has died for the lack of a home in the City of Richmond since 2005. It is an accomplishment of which few cities in the United States can boast.

The Richmond SPCA’s Progressive Dinner provided a feast moving through homes on Monument Avenue on April 25. The homes of John-Lawrence Smith and Tully Welborn, Frances Lewis, Marsha and Ronald Merrell, and Mary and Dick Fowlkes were opened to 100 guests for “A Progressive Dinner for a Progressive Organization.“ The fundraiser was the third annual event and is estimated to have raised $20,000 for the Richmond SPCA.

A soaring adoption rate for healthy dogs and cats has secured a $230,200 Lifesaving Award for the Richmond SPCA and the city’s Animal Care and Control Division from Maddie’s Fund, a national pet-rescue foundation in California founded by software executive Dave Duffield. Richmond is the fourth community nationwide to receive the Lifesaving Award.

Run raises $103,000 for Richmond SPCA More than 575 four-legged and 389 two-legged runners took part in yesterday’s seventh annual Dog Jog and 5K Run, raising about $103,000 for the Richmond SPCA. The 5K race for people and the 1-mile course for dogs and their two-legged companions started at the Robins-Starr Humane Center on Hermitage Road. Event proceeds, which fell $3,000 short of the $106,000 fundraising goal, will benefit homeless animals and the nonprofit organization’s programs and services. Online donations may be made at http://www.richmondspca.org.

Animal-rescue groups are caring for scores of dogs and horses seized from an Isle of Wight County farm. The Virginia Beach SPCA is working with rescue groups to medically assess more than 70 dogs that were seized from the Zuni horse farm Jan. 19. In the Richmond area, the United States Equine Rescue League is caring for 10 horses seized from the property. Fourteen others are being cared for in the Tidewater area.

The Walker Hound is now named “Numbers,“ a sardonic reference to the callous way he was identified in his early years. He is the beloved pet of a minister who adopted him from the Richmond SPCA. When Numbers first arrived at our humane center, he was emaciated and suffering from worms and other ailments indicative of lack of veterinary care and poor diet.

A black cat named Lyza became an unwitting milestone in the Richmond SPCA’s drive to reduce the area’s number of homeless animals. It took less than five minutes on an operating-room table at the SPCA’s Robins-Starr Humane Center for Lyza to become the organization’s 13,000th spay/neuter patient of 2008. “I feel like we should have some champagne to celebrate,“ Robin Starr, the Richmond SPCA’s chief executive officer, joked as she and several other staff members and visitors stood outside the surgical suite and watched the procedure through a large glass window.

The white cat mewed her holiday wishes. Caroline Umphlet listened. Ms. Claus the cat—no relation to the big guy—dictated a letter, which Caroline, 7, translated from muffled meows to modern English. “Ms. Claus wants a family and a home. Can she have a little toy, too? Can she have a great friend? Can she have a loving family?“

Roo, the California Chihuahua who was mysteriously abandoned here, has found a new home in Midlothian. More than 200 people called about Roo after seeing her photo with a Nov. 19 Richmond Times-Dispatch story about pets affected by the economy.

Veteran lawyers get accustomed to dealing with metaphorical pit bulls in the courtroom. Yesterday, Attorney General Bob McDonnell received a surprise visit from the real thing. Nemo, a pit bull who is the Richmond SPCA’s mascot, got to visit McDonnell’s 6th floor office in downtown Richmond. Richmond SPCA Chief Executive Officer Robin Robertson Starr, another visitor dressed as Richmond SPCA “spokesdog” Waggles and a volunteer costumed as a chicken showed up to congratulate McDonnell and his office for being awarded the 2008 Humane Law Enforcement Award, presented by The Humane Society of the United States.