HI Pet Rescue Center Supporters! We have always wanted to show the process of how we get our rescues. Casey (our Director of Operations), Katie (a PRC volunteer and APCC staff member) and Blythe Wheaton (Founder and Director of Development) went to the OC Shelter on March 25th, 2011.
In order to rescue any number of dogs and cats, we first have to ensure we have room. We had a wonderfully successful week of adoptions the week prior to our shelter trip which freed up some space for some lucky newbies. We speculated we had enough room for 8 animals, dog, cat or both. Eight was the total number.
We loaded up The PRC van w/ kennels and crates of varying sizes, towels, water and leashes. I called Tammy, the Director of the OC Shelter and let her know we were coming. Because The PRC has the ability to provide medical care to our rescues (donations willing), we asked Tammy to take a look at her available population at the shelter and determine who she felt was really in need of our care.
We drove to the OC Shelter apprehensive and excited. Let me just say, Tammy is awesome! She met us right when we got there and walked us directly to the medical hold area. Which is a separated row of kennels which houses any dog that is being reviewed or cared for by their veterinary staff, for a medical or behavioral reason. There are a lot of these dogs, and cats. Really, a lot! These animals are not available to the public and often their only hope of escaping the shelter and finding a happy ending is to be rescued by a rescue.
We started here.... there were so many, but after trying to weigh their cases we made a "Wish List". Then we moved on to the General Population to see who was Available to the public or rescue.
The shelter is not as scary as one might think, if you have never been. The kennels are all outdoors, which conjures images in my head of bad weather and cold doggies, but on this day it was sunny and beautiful. It is definitely sparse in creature comforts, but its clean and does an incredibly valuable service to our communities. There are volunteers everywhere walking and playing with the animals. Please if you are ever looking to adopt anywhere other than The PRC, consider going to a shelter. 7 Million Dogs and Cats are euthanized in shelters across America, ANNUALLY!
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| Tammy takes us through the kennels as we make our wish list. |
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| Rows of Kennels |
The hardest thing for me to stomach about the shelter is the knowledge that these animals are living on borrowed time. The average dog or cat has a few weeks if they are a staff favorite, popular or exceptional in some way, or a minimum of 4 days from the time that they were taken in by animal control. When they lose their spot in the population they are euthanized.
Now, euthanasia happens because the shelters are OVER CROWDED and under funded. A little statistic that is possibly a year outdated, but still compelling is this:
The Orange County Shelter was build to house the stray and homeless animals of 4-6 contracted cities. 4 to 6!!!! At the last time I checked, the OC Shelter had contracts with 26 cities that didn't have their own shelter services. This is why the shelter is overcrowded. There are too many animals competing for space from too many cities, so euthanasia is the only option the shelter seems to have to make space.
Rescues and Rescuers were born out of the need for an alternative to this over crowding solution. And because the strain on the shelters is so great, they are more than happy to work cooperatively with rescues. Of course, there are always exceptions, but this is my general feeling.
I asked Tammy, "How do you do your job? It must be so hard.", she very flatly and firmly stated, "We have to get the animals out." I found a lot of comfort in her sentiment. And I am glad she is there to do her job and to help The PRC find our rescues.
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| A Shelter Volunteer giving the bunnies some love. |
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| Look at that face. We did not take him, but I found he was adopted before we left the shelter. |
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| There are rows and rows of Pit Bulls, and although they have a bad rep, some are very undeserving of the rep and lovely dogs. |
We had a Wish List of some medical cases and some general population, we ended up rescuing 7 Dogs. As we pulled each dog from their kennel, after completing the paperwork and paying the fees to release them, we led them to our van. Each of them knew they'd been sprung, you could feel it. They were lottery winners and so happy.
While we waited for our paperwork to be completed we decided to visit the cat ward. Every cat was adorable and tempting. Cats are not as popular to adopt these days, we find that cats take 3x as long to find a forever home. The shelters feel the pinch too. Immediately we fell in love with 3 cats, one of which was a pregnant mommy cat about to pop. We made a list and told Tammy to add them to our pull. At this point we were at 10 animals and we had only 8 crates in the van. Fortunately, the shelter is generous and they gave us crates for the trip.
All in all, 10 animals rescued! We will be back soon. I hope this blog is informative and helps demystify where our animals come from. I will write next time about the process of receiving our rescues into our facility and evaluating them for their rehabilitation prior to adoption.
There are so many other aspects of Rescue I look forward to sharing, I hope you find this informative and please tell all your friends to support The Pet Rescue Center by donating, volunteering and/or adopting today!
Please support The PRC with your tax deductible donation to help us continue to Rescue. Rehab and Rehome such deserving animals of a happily ever after!
www.thepetrescuecenter.org
-Blythe
