It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when Sue Schafer and Janine Choplick looked through a notebook with pictures of kittens and puppies on the cover.
Behind the cute cover, however, were complaints of suspected animal cruelty or neglect culled from numerous sources, including law enforcement.
Neither was being paid that weekend as they followed up on a backlog of complaints by visiting the properties in question, but that's nothing new for the pair who call themselves the "dynamic duo."
Often, they find themselves working an entire weekend to handle complaints they couldn't get to during the week, along with emergency calls that could happen at any moment.
Schafer of Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue said not all the complaints will turn into an animal seizure or even an animal neglect case, but it's the women's mission to investigate and find out for sure.
They give up their personal time to ensure that pets are well taken care of.
Schafer is a volunteer humane officer, sponsored by the Hillside Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Pottsville, and covers eastern Schuylkill County. She never receives a paycheck for her work.
Choplick is a paid Hillside SPCA employee, but she also volunteers her time on weekends to cut down on the call backlog.
On April 13, they started their day at 8:30 a.m. in Pottsville and worked their way north toward McAdoo. Shiny badges were tucked inside their pants pockets, ready to be flashed if needed.
Each call can take anywhere from 15 minutes to hours, depending on what is found.
Working closely with police, the women visit homes routinely.
Together, they strategized how they would investigate three complaints in McAdoo before taking off to visit the homes.
Their first call had them checking on the welfare of a dog. Someone contacted the pair to report the dog being left outside for hours at a time, but when the women arrived they found it didn't initially appear to be a cruelty case.
The women were able to pass along some helpful information to the pet owners about services offered at Hillside for those living in Schuylkill County before they moved onto the other two complaints in the borough.
Calls come in at all hours of the day and night, weekdays and weekends, said Schafer, who owns her own business. The women prioritize calls, giving immediate attention to those that need it. Depending on the severity of the call, Schafer said, it could mean the women drop whatever they are doing at the time to answer the complaint or issue.
Choplick and Schafer became good friends through working together on calls for the past two years.
"We even finish each other's sentences," Choplick said.
Choplick became a humane officer about nine or 10 years ago, once she retired from her full-time job. Shafer, who had been assisting in animal complaint investigations for years, became a humane officer this year. This enables them both to cite people for animal cruelty violations.
Both women said they felt compelled to became humane officers and so embarked on an intensive two-week training for certification after being sponsored by an SPCA.
Schafer said just like humans have social workers to protect them, animals have humane officers.
"They trust us to do the right thing for them," Choplick said of the animals they come in contact with.
Schafer said the true reward from being a humane officer is knowing that "you made a difference in that animal's life."
Filing charges, Schafer said, is a last resort.
Animal cruelty laws also state pet owners have to be given a chance to correct their past practices that led to the complaint, and that humane officers must pass along information for proper care of pets and then check up on them again to make sure the owners follow through, Schafer said.
Of course, she said, there are extreme neglect cases where an animal is immediately taken away from the owner.
The women have rescued a Noah's ark variety of animals both domestic and wild, including horses, chinchillas, bearded dragons, snakes, skunks, foxes and raccoons.
Wild animals aren't sheltered at Hillside, but Schafer said they are turned over to a licensed wildlife rehabilitation.
"We just get them out of harm's way," she said.
Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue is a nonprofit rescue group that works closely with Hillside, which actually shelters animals.
Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue can be contacted on Facebook and at 570-527-6808. Hillside SPCA can be contacted at 570-622-7769.