The Chester County SPCA was looking to raise $65,000 from a
fund-raiser at Big Bend in Chadds Ford Sunday, and it appears the organization
is on its way to exceed that, according to Linda Kaat, the development director
for the SPCA.

“We exceeded our expectations thanks to so many vendors,
donors, restaurants, and especially to Frolic Weymouth. The setting drew so
many guests. Sixteen horse and carriages came out to celebrate the hard work of
the SPCA and the important work that we do,” Kaat said Monday afternoon.

Kaat was reluctant to specify how much money came in on
Sunday, but said they were close to reaching the goal with more donations still
to come in.

This was the 23rd annual Forget Me Not fund-raiser for the
Chester County SPCA and the first time it was held at Weymouth’s Big Bend in
Chadds Ford. The evening began with a parade of carriages and included
demonstrations by rescue dogs and by an agriculture-sniffing dog from the U.S.
Customs & Border Protection. There was also a brief speech from Victoria
Wyeth.

Money is raised through ticket sales and a silent auction.
Kaat said tickets were $175 per person with 400 tickets sold in advance. She
was hoping the auction would bring in an additional $15,000, Kaat said before
guests arrived.

“We have a good crowd of loyal
animal lovers today,” she said.

Dennis McMichael, director of operations, said the Chester
County facility is capable of housing about 20 dogs and up to 80 cats at a
time. He said the goal, however, is not to build more space, but to focus on
education, neutering and spaying so there will be fewer homeless animals.

While the event was a positive one for the SPCA, there was
also talk about the investigation into the shooting deaths of Emma and Luna,
the two German short-haired pointers found shot to death and laid out on the
railroad tracks along Brinton’s Bridge Road in Pennsbury Township last October.

Kaat said the investigation remains open, with no new
information. Members of Rescue Ink were brought into the case in January. They
remain active, but nothing has come from their involvement yet. A reward of
$50,000 remains for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those
who killed the dogs.

“We’re still working very hard with the Animal Protection
Service to get a break in the case,” she said, adding that Rescue Ink members
think they will be able, in time, to get information leading to the culprit.

Victoria Wyeth, the granddaughter of Andrew Wyeth, was one
of the people who contributed to the reward fund early on in the investigation.
She offered to be a guest speaker at a dinner and give a slide show of her
grandfather’s work. Someone bought the evening and matched her donation. That
added another $10,000 for the reward.

“[The killing] was so sadistic,” Wyeth said Sunday. “This is
something you read about happening in a bigger city like Manhattan or Chicago.
Stuff like this shouldn’t happen in Chadds Ford. It can’t happen in Chadds
Ford. It’s ridiculous.”

She said she’s been calling the SPCA constantly to see if
anything new has been learned.

“We’re just waiting for this person to slip up and nail his
[butt] to the wall,” she said in a private interview Sunday.

Wyeth expressed her outrage over the shooting when speaking
to the crowd at Big Bend, but also told a lighter story about the Wyeth family.

She said the Wyeths were always dog lovers and the famous
piece “Master Bedroom” by Andy Wyeth, the image of a dog asleep on the bed in
the master bedroom.

The painting, she said, was inspired when Andy came home one
day, tired from painting and wanting to take a nap. He walked into the bedroom
and there was the dog asleep on his bed.