Cindy Munyon
"I'm kind of nutty about dogs," says Cindy Munyon,
who grew up on a small farm in rural Maryland, along with dogs and
horses, two milk cows, a big garden and a small orchard. "At age 20 I
was trying to get out, so I joined the army for two years. It was a
good springboard. It projected me into San Francisco." She got married
and spent two years in Panama with her husband. "He was from Oregon,
and when we returned, we both went to the UO," she continues. "I had
speech therapy as a kid, and I thought, 'I can do that!'" Though her
marriage didn't last, she completed an MA in speech pathology and has
spent 30 years working with special needs students in Eugene's 4J
School District. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Munyon
was watching on TV. "I saw animals left behind," she says. "It made me
start thinking. What can I do locally to help animals, specifically
dogs?" She began by volunteering as a dog walker at Greenhill Humane
Society and at John Archer's Waggin' Inn Kennel. In 2008, she began
promoting dogs for adoption. "I made music videos to advertise dogs on
Craigslist," she explains. "I'd advertise and they'd get adopted."
Then, two years ago, she was asked to help find a lost dog, missing for
52 days. She put up posters so that people could call, set a trap but
he wouldn't go in, then he ran into someone's back yard. "We went over
but couldn't catch him until he got tired, after about an hour," she
recalls. "It was my introduction to pet search and rescue." She has
since joined forces with three other like-minded volunteers as
Pawsitive Hearts Pet Search and Rescue. "We have four dog traps and
seven cat traps," she says. "Sometimes a week goes by with no missing
animals, but sometimes it's a full-time job. We first offer advice on
finding the animal, but if people can't go out, we might jump in and
help." Munyon has cut back her 4J work to two days a week to allow more
time for rescues. In the photo, she hugs her own adopted rescue dog
Josie.
happening people
photograph and story by Paul Neevel
Eugene Weekly / 11 November 2021
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