Rose Terry, 55, a resident of the Shade Tree women and children's shelter in Las Vegas, visiter with her six-year-old Norwegian Forest cat Byron at the shelter's "Noah's Animal House."  GUIDANCE FOR SHELTERS American Humane's 40-page guide for planning and launching on-site pet boarding at shelters can be downloaded at the organization's website, americanhumane.org.

But she anguished over Byron, the cat who had seen her through the awful times. None of her friends could take the female feline (the family was first told she was male, hence the name), and she couldn't bear the thought of placing her in an animal shelter until she got back on her feet. "I was desperate, weeping," Terry says. "She's my family."

When Terry learned one Las Vegas domestic violence safe haven, Shade Tree Shelter, had just built a pet-boarding facility on its grounds for residents' animals, "I was in such relief." Terry packed up her suitcase and her cat just before Christmas and checked in. "It's just so good to get to visit with Byron every day," says Terry, 55, who has a new job and nearly enough savings to lease an apartment and start over. "It helped so much that I didn't have to worry about her."

Domestic abuse shelters have long recognized that abused families, often kept so isolated that pets are their only friends, won't leave the abuser because they know animals left behind may be harmed as a power play or retaliation. So shelters have worked with animal-welfare groups that provide temporary pet care to ensure that everyone gets out of the situation.

Today, the emerging alternative is for domestic abuse shelters to provide on-site pet boarding. So far, fewer than a half-dozen such shelters exist, says Allie Phillips, director of public policy for the non-profit American Humane Association. But the numbers are certain to increase, as efforts are afoot on two fronts.

American Humane has just compiled and distributed a how-to guide, and Phillips' goal is that by year's end, at least 15 shelters will offer or will soon offer on-site pet boarding. Doorways for Women and Families Safehouse in Arlington, Va., will be the first to use American Humane's Pets and Women's Shelters (PAWS) Program start-up guide — officials there are in final planning to provide pet housing later this year — but Phillips has been contacted by others seeking advice.

"Shelters are overworked and underfunded, and the last thing they feel they can do is add more to their plates, even though they might be inclined toward having on-site pet care. My goal was to simplify everything, answer all the questions, debunk all the myths and walk them through the process, from how to raise money to fund it … to how to keep the people and animals safe," says Phillips, a former prosecuting attorney who was presented with hundreds of domestic violence cases and spent nearly a year putting together the guide.

Having a blueprint that reduces to minutes or hours the animal-care planning discussions that heretofore would probably have taken weeks "removes a lot of the obstacles" that have prevented many shelters from launching such a program, Phillips says.

'Enormous' need for service, comfort

Concurrent efforts are in the offing from Staci Columbo, a Las Vegas marketing executive who launched Noah's Animal House, the pet facility at Shade Tree. She's developing her own guide "to take to other communities" this year. Her goal: "at least six across the country in five years." The need, she says, "is enormous."

Noah's, which accommodates up to 15 cats and 18 dogs, has drawn so many pet-owning families since its opening in October that it is full most of the time. Expansion plans already are being discussed.

Some abuse victims are satisfied with placing their pets temporarily in an animal shelter. But there are downsides: Sometimes the shelter is full, and some animals don't adapt well to that environment. And often, the already-stressed families are further troubled by their pets' absence, and they're not allowed to visit the animal for fear the abuser might track them there, putting people and animals at risk.

"When a person is in the midst of nothing familiar, the comfort a pet can provide is enormous," Phillips says.

"We had the experience with several women who would arrive with a garbage bag full of possessions and a pet in tow and refuse to check in when they learned that we would find a safe place for the animal, but it couldn't stay here with them," Columbo says. "We've known of women who lived in their cars so they could keep their pets with them and women who stayed in a shelter but kept their pet in the car parked on the street, and, of course, women who wouldn't leave their abuser because of concern for the safety of their animals. Each situation like this tore your heart out."

Benefits vs. concerns

Still, many say there are good reasons for not housing pets in domestic violence shelters — concerns about allergies, noise and bites; debates about whether pets on the grounds may put everyone at risk by attracting the spurned partner; and worries that a pet's presence may prevent a victim from focusing on addressing her own issues.

Marci Sanders, director of the Shelter for Abused Women & Children in Naples, Fla., says her staff had to consider all those questions when contemplating providing on-site care for residents' pets. But they moved ahead five years ago, "and the benefits so outweigh the negatives," she says. It costs less than $1,000 a year to care for about 100 pets annually in crates in an out-of-the-way room. And although "we've had a dog that dug holes in the yard, and one that barked for a while," she says, "in the big picture that is nothing."

Phillips hopes that within 10 years, "these kinds of arrangements will be commonplace." She placed a petition seeking support of on-site pet facilities at domestic abuse shelters online Feb. 23 at thepetitionsite.com; it has attracted more than 18,000 comments.

Blizzard makes WoW wish virtual reality

Make-A-Wish and a willing company help a grade schooler become the first outsider to create a new character in World of Warcraft.

At the helm of the strangeness sat 10-year-old Ezra Chatterton, who directed Warcraft's lead game designer Jeff Kaplan to blast ferocious-looking monsters, or "bosses," with a single death ray. Chatterton cleared the Black Temple for a European clan to fight the volcano-summoning Supremus.

All that power. Heh, heh.

"I'm impressed with Blizzard," said Chatterton from his wheelchair. "Bravo!"

The Riverside fifth-grader has a brain tumor. The diagnosis isn't good; metastatic cancer. Splitting headaches started in March, which led to an emergency room visit in April. Doctors had to sedate him for the pain and he didn't wake up for a week. Groggy and weak in the hospital, Chatterton only wanted to play the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft.

When the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, an organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening cases, came calling two weeks ago, Chatterton knew exactly what he wanted.

"I wished for a trip to Blizzard because I'd like to see if they could make a character and do some things for us."

Chatterton didn't think his wish would come true. He's starting treatment today. And, at most, he thought it could just be a video conference call. But when he found out Blizzard was nearby, and willing, Chatterton became the envy of the 8.5 million World of Warcraft players worldwide. He not only got the chance to tour the company, but to create something new for the game.

Dubbed WoW, Blizzard's game debuted in 2004 and has inspired hundreds of fan sites, a Warcraft Wiki, global game tournaments and even a "South Park" episode.

Chatterton had his father, Micah, sketch characters and write down questions so he wouldn't forget.

Blizzard pulled the daylong funfest together in days. On Friday, father and son arrived at Blizzard's Irvine headquarters in a black limo to tour one of the world's most successful game companies.

Chatterton was whisked immediately to Kaplan's office to create weapons and characters for the game. Later he would head to the recording studio to do a voice for the new character and meet with an artist to get the character's look just right. Throughout the day, he got to design a new weapon, add his dog Kyle to the game, create a quest and record his voice for the new character, Ahab Wheathoof, the Old Rancher.

"We definitely want a crossbow," Chatterton instructed Kaplan. He offered a detailed description of what he wanted: dangerous flames, curved frame and an ability to wreak havoc.

"I want it to shoot a fiery arrow at 300 damage over 10 seconds," he said.

With a few clicks of his mouse, Kaplan constructed a prototype.

"Wow. Weird. Progress is going quicker than I expected," Chatterton said.

"This crossbow will be the only one in the game and it's very difficult to get," Kaplan explained. "You're going to get a lot of questions (from other players)."

Chatterton shied away at Kaplan's suggestion to add "Finely crafted to Ezra's specifications." Father Micah explained, "He doesn't want to appear boastful." They settled on attributing it to ePhoenix, his character in the game.

Chatterton's parents divorced about five years ago and he spends time with both. But only when he's with his dad does he get to play WoW. Micah Chatterton, a writer, wanted to play from the game's beginning, but couldn't afford it. In the U.S., WoW costs about $20 plus another $15 a month in subscription fees. Also, to play online, it's best to have a high-speed Internet connection, which is another $20 to $50 a month.

Then, last fall, Micah Chatterton's house burned down, taking away all his son's toys. He used some insurance money for a computer and Internet access. The father-and-son team entered the world of Warcraft. By Friday, they had made it to level 63. Blizzard bumped ePhoenix up to level 70, the highest level, and stocked the character with gold, weapons and new armor.

"There were a lot of things that are unconventional with our relationship, and the way we choose to bond and spend time together," said Micah Chatterton. "For instance, WoW was something we had researched and talked about. We would talk about what kind of character do we want to create. This costume as opposed to that costume. We would make decisions together. Neither of us would feel comfortable about making a big decision without consulting the other."

In the few days the two had to prepare for the trip to Blizzard, they did their homework.

"He asked me draw (a character) and we settled on this Phoenix motif because that's his middle name. It's certainly apt because we'd like to have some rebirth," Micah Chatterton said.

"I asked him to think about why he likes to play WoW and one thing he said was he likes interacting with people he doesn't know. No matter how crappy things are going on the outside, in the real world, he can be strong and successful and really turn heads in WoW."

Ezra Chatterton's enthusiasm kept him going all day, even getting out of his wheelchair to lob some bombs. By the end of the visit, he'd probably spent nearly seven hours with the Blizzard team.

"From my end, it was a lot about really maintaining the momentum of the day, just the happiness," Micah Chatterton said. "By the end of the day, when we sat down with the artist, Ezra was exhausted and said, 'I'm just happy with what I've got.' "

WoW players should keep an eye out for Chatterton's creations: the rare, flame-shooting crossbow, a quest from a graying Tauren named Ahab Wheathoof and his frenzied dog, Kyle. Blizzard will add Ezra's changes to the game in the next four weeks.

"If Blizzard is listening, I'd like to say thank you for everything you've done for my character to make him so good. I want to thank them for making the quest of the lost dog and the Old Rancher and all the stuff they gave us," said a grateful but drained Ezra Chatterton, who by Sunday got in about five hours of game play.

The visit has given him more to think about than playing games. He's starting to think about his future.

"I'd like to be paid to test and play the game and test weapons, but I don't think I meet the age requirements," he said. "I'm only 10."

"[I]f we today craft a new fundamental right by which to invalidate the law, we would be bound to give that right full force and effect in all future cases -- including, for example, those involving adult incest, prostitution, obscenity, and the like." 

“I don’t get it,” reader Jim Shook of Decatur wrote in an e-mail. “They want to ban sex toys, but sell guns on every street corner. When was the last time anyone was murdered with a vibrating banana?”