Charley and Dori Koop of Koop Wildlife Rehabilitation. The couple was chosen by the New Berlin Veterinary Clinic to receive their Angel Fund this year. (Submitted photo)

CHENANGO COUNTY — The Leatherstocking Veterinary Group used their Angel Fund to give back to four animal-related nonprofits and charities this year.

The Group is made up of four clinics in the Chenango County area: the New Berlin Veterinary Clinic in New Berlin, the Heritage Veterinary Clinic in Cooperstown, the Marcy Veterinary Clinic in Marcy, and the Leatherstocking Equine Center in New Berlin.

Each clinic chose a local, animal-related nonprofit or charity to donate to, using their Angel Fund, which consists of 25 percent of the net profit from online pharmacy sales.

The Heritage Clinic chose Rover's Do Over, a Frankfort, NY-based nonprofit and no-kill organization that finds foster and forever homes for dogs. The Leatherstocking Equine Center chose to support a therapeutic horseback riding facility in Guilford that provides riding lessons to individuals with special needs.

The Marcy Veterinary Clinic chose the Humane Society of Rome, which the clinic works closely with.

"That was a really heartfelt donation," said Leatherstocking Veterinary Group Marketing Coordinator Jessica Gualtieri. "There’s a great relationship there. It was a big shocker to her, so there were a lot of happy tears. It was a large surprise."

Lastly, the New Berlin Veterinary Clinic selected Dori and Charley Koop of Koop Wildlife Rehabilitation to donate their Angel Fund to.

The Koops have been caring for and rehabilitating local wildlife for the past 20 years, and in that time they have cared for fawns, rabbits, squirrels, songbirds, owls, crows, eagles, hawks, kestrels, bobcats, and more.

"Dori herself actually does a little bit of work with us in our equine center in the large animal clinic. We have partnered with them as well where, if we get in certain animals that need a little extra rehab, we call them, and they will take them to do some work and rehab," said Gualtieri. "They do this on their own with a lot of volunteering. They don't get any state funding, but they will bend over backwards for any animal."

She said the Koops have developed a close connection with the staff at the New Berlin Clinic, and they couldn't think of anyone more deserving for this donation.

"The clinic, they wrote to me that they just offer so much care, they volunteer with the DEC," Gualtieri explained. "It was an easy choice for the donation because of two people who help animals in the area as much as our clinic does, and they just want to show appreciation for their time and dedication."

The New Berlin Veterinary Clinic is also finishing up their brand new 8,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility right next door to their current clinic. Gualtieri said work began on the new location in 2023, and they hope for the project to be completed in March. The old clinic will also be remodeled and used as their business offices.

"We’re going to have everything that we could possibly need in there," said Gualtieri. "We’ll have dental care and x-rays, we can do all of our surgeries in there with emergency care. Just a lot more space for all of our small animals down to doing all of our in-house x-rays, whether it’s, again, dental versus any just typical daily, routine things."

"It’s just giving us a larger space to work, which offers obviously a better clientele interaction, and there’s going to be more room for waiting rooms for animals to come in and out for our care," she continued. "Our new clinics are kind of designed where there’s dogs on one side and cats on the other, so it’s a less stressful experience for the owners and the animals themselves when they come in for our clinics to kind of keep them separated."

"We’re just giving the building itself a nice facelift to make the experience better for everybody, down to our workers who are there that put in all of their time and dedication, and now they have state-of-the-art equipment to give the best care possible to everybody’s pets that come in."

For more information on the Leatherstocking Veterinary Group, visit LeatherstockingVeterinaryGroup.com.