Got a minute? A couple of handfuls of minutes? A few hours? One day a month, or more? If so, there are a lot of tireless but tired animal rescuers, advocates, feral trappers and care providers who could sure use your help.
Volunteering can be exhausting, particularly when you put your entire being into it. If your passion is animals—pets in particular—and you’re one of the major players in the rescue and advocacy scene, you’re running yourself ragged chasing after stray dogs; waiting after dark, redolent of sardine oil, baiting a trap for that elusive tom who’s been the cause of half the kitten season; writing endless e-mails to legislators about pet issues; pulling cats and dogs from the shelter to rescue them—not an exhaustive list, but as I said, exhausting.
“We have a great group of volunteers—some of them are here—but they’re getting burned out,” said Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS) manager Ted Stevens at the volunteer callout meeting held on May 4. “Every week, we’re asking the same group of 20 to 30 people to go to an adoption event, but if we could get 50, 100, 150 people, everyone can do an event once a month or once every other month instead of once a week.”
The event, organized by Emily Haden of Love Life Animal Rescue, community activist Justin Rudd and ACS was held at the Bay Shore Church in Belmont Shore, and Stevens was aptly preaching to the choir. Most of the attendees were spending every day of their lives, with some respite to clean the house and pay bills, in some aspect of animal welfare, and they so need help.
Besides the adoption events, rescues need dog walkers and kennel cleaners, organizations like Fix Long Beach need help setting up for their monthly free spay/neuter events, and ACS needs volunteers for transporting kittens and puppies to ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention and Cruelty of Animals)-approved shelters around the country that have a need for adoptive pets. They also need volunteers for the dog and cat kennels and the new Bunny Barn, and for anyone stuck on the computer, there’s a Facebook page where you can read about and share adoptive animals and success stories.
And we’re in the midst of kitten season. April showers and May flowers be hanged—drought or El Niño, it still rains kittens annually from around early spring to late fall, and rescues and shelters are flooded with hundreds of furry little guys and the challenge to find homes or fosters for them all. Help is needed with trap-spay/neuter-release (TNR) to fostering kindles of kittens and finding them homes.
“When it comes to volunteering, we all have jobs, we all have careers, things that fill up our lives,” said animal advocate Seth Avergnon at the meeting. “What we’re trying to do with this program is to use as much time available—if it’s just one weekend a month, that’s fine. One day a month, get involved in the social media side of things, posting pix and videos to try to find homes for all of them. Anything we can do to assist them, they’ll appreciate. Whenever you can.”
LRR stands for “live release rate,” which can be return to owner, shelter adoption, rescue pull or transport to another shelter for adoption.
There’s been a call for a long time to make Long Beach a no-kill city, and according to the chart above, we’re well on the way. Stevens said that shelter euthanasia rate is at an all-time low, but May’s euthanasia stats are 779 too many, and that goes for any time in the year.
Anna Wong, who has “one foot in the door of the shelter [in a non-employee status as project manager for the trap-spay/neuter-release program] and the other with rescue [Stray Cat Alliance, an organization dedicated to advocacy for all cats],” nonetheless didn’t pussyfoot around when she laid out the correlation between community support and shelter success.
“We need everybody to be part of the solution,” Wong said. “The shelter is a very small part of this giant mess we’re in, and yet the shelter is the one that is getting attacked over and over again. And I don’t believe the attacks are warranted. I used to—I talked about the shelter only doing kill, kill, kill. But the fact of the matter is, the shelter in Long Beach is working very hard to change things.
Wong elaborated, imagining what it’s like to be a shelter worker. “I’m there, and I have to look at myself and think about what it’s like to get those 10, 20, 30, sometimes 100 phone calls a day from people who have kittens, puppies—what would it be like for me to go to bed at night knowing that I can’t help 99 percent of them?”
As organizer Haden pointed out, success in all its humane forms has to be a community effort. I want not to invite you as animal lovers (if you’re reading this column and the other two in this new category, I’m assuming that you are) but to wheedle, plead and otherwise beg you to walk the talk with the rest of us. Whenever you can. And tell your friends.
Here are several volunteer opportunities:
ACS needs volunteers for kennel work, walking, transport—lots of stuff. Contact Kathy Roddy, their volunteer coordinator, for info at [email protected].
Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA) is Long Beach’s most venerable animal advocacy organization. FOLBA isn’t a rescue, but they do help ACS in its effort to do so and uses its funds for the medical needs of shelter animals and, most importantly, to provide low-cost spay/neuter vouchers to residents served by the shelter. They always could use help with theater events, Walks and other activities. Check their website for events or email [email protected].
Fix Long Beach is up at dawn and out until sunset once a month, providing free spay/neuter procedures for low-income Long Beach-only residents. They need help setting up, donations, people who know dogs, and all kinds of stuff like that. To volunteer, e-mail [email protected], check out the Facebook page, particularly since all kinds of needs show up there, or use the Get Info button on the webpage, check “Other” box, and specify that you want to volunteer.
Spay-Neuter Release (SNR) helps keep the numbers down and your sardine tolerance up. Your help is especially needed now, with kitten season at its peak. From the volunteers I know, this is intense work and the satisfaction is just as intense. Contact [email protected] for info.
Long Beach Spay & Neuter Foundation also traps and fixes cats and puts socialized felines up for adoption, along with the occasional canine. Click the link for volunteer info.
Seal Beach Animal Care Center (SBACC) SBACC is an all-volunteer-run shelter committed to finding homes for every animal in its care. They need dog walkers, kennel cleaners—the usual stuff! Contact [email protected] for information.
West Coast Animal Rescue/Sparky and the Gang (WeCARe) have taken some of the most hopeless canine cases and given them extreme hope and ultimately success in forever homes. Visit their Facebook page here for information. They post volunteer hours Wednesday through Friday to walk and bathe dogs. Volunteers must be over 18 years old, bring photo ID with their current address, and sign a waiver. Needless to say, you need to wear comfy shoes and clothes! (No flip flops allowed.)
Because WeCARe often attends adoption fairs, they ask for volunteers to help bathe the dogs before an event. Also, just cleaning the kennel of a dog you walk is a big help! They have lots of laundry to ensure that their dogs always have fresh blankets—taking just one load off their hands is huge! You can also look at the “Make a Donation” tab at the top of their Long Beach Dog Walker Volunteers Facebook page to see how you can make a one-time or monthly donation to the rescue or order something from their Amazon Wish List. Every little bit helps. And they can always use fosters.
Most Saturdays, WeCARe can be found at PetSmart in Seal Beach and on Sundays at Petco on PCH and Second Street in Long Beach. They’re also at Gelson’s the second Sunday of each month. WeCARe can always use volunteers at these events, too. Please check specs on page and RSVP.
Helen Sanders CatPAWS fosters and adopts kittens. They always need fosters and bottle feeders, so click on the link if you can help. CatPAWS is also looking for a foster program coordinator. Any applicant needs to have solid experience with underage kitten care and basic medical knowledge, be able to give shots and fluids, take cats to vet, assess condition of intakes and make arrangements for care, support and recruiting foster care providers. Person needs to either be not working or have a very flexible job as it is somewhat on call, especially this time of year. The organization will pay $500-750/month to right person. Contact [email protected] for info.
Live Love Animal Rescue Fosters and donations for medical bills are needed here. Contact [email protected].
And you can contact Justin Rudd at his Haute Dogs organization at [email protected]. Rudd has it going with social media, and if you have something nonprofit and animal going on, he’ll post it in his newsletter! Subscribers, expect to be bombarded with kittens.
My goal in life is to be a person as good as my dog already thinks I am.
~ Anonymous
Virtually Pets
Fred
Ethel
Fred and Ethel were bottle-fed as newborns by yet another übervolunteer, Patty Williams, one of the local feline surrogate moms. The siblings are 11 weeks old and fully vetted. Adoption fee info and meet-n-greet can be obtained by e-mailing Patty at [email protected]. Wish her Happy Mother’s Day while you’re at it.
Beauty and her babies
Sylvester
Mustachio
Phil Michelson (prefers golf bags, hence the name)
We call them Mary’s Little Lambs because they’ve been shepherded by a terrific 15-year-old by that name who found them in her backyard. Her first thought was to get mom fixed, so she contacted Fix Long Beach. Well, it wasn’t long before Fix Long Beach volunteers got into rescue mode; now, with Mary’s help, they’re in a foster. Mom, whom Mary named Beauty, is about to be fixed, and we’ve adopted out two of them. There’s three left—you must hurry. Email me at [email protected] and specify “Mary’s Little Lambs.”
This is my favorite mandala. Told you about the rain of kittens, and this is one awfully cute puddle. They’re chowing down with Anna Wong’s people and will ready for adoption at the end of June. If interested, e-mail me at [email protected] and specify “Kitty Mandala.”
Two sweet kids from West Coast Animal Rescue. Minnie is a young Chihuahua/Papillion mix with silky fur. She’s crate trained and likes other dogs. To find out more about Minnie, email [email protected].
Margo, seen here in her natural tutu, is a Yorkie/Norwich terrier mix. She’s current on vaccinations and is ready to dance her way into your life. To find out more about Margo, email [email protected].
Oh, sweet senior Ralph. He is a boxer or mix thereof who was found as a stray. He is trained, knows sit and shake, and is non-reactive—mellow, calm and gentle. He deserves to live out his golden years out of the shelter. He has medical issues—which senior dog, cat or person doesn’t?–so we’re looking for someone who is comfortable taking on a senior. Please share to help save his life, A549010 at Long Beach Animal Care Services.
Kibble
See Reggie Run!
Reggie is a perfect dog: perfectly adorable, perfectly sweet, perfectly amenable, He doesn’t complain, he loves life, and he loves all other animals, including the human ones. Reggie was abandoned at Long Beach Animal Care Services because someone didn’t know that he was perfect. He has special needs—he was born with a deformity that keeps him from being able to run and play. He has no left front leg, and his right leg is too severely deformed to be useful, or to allow a life without pain. Reggie needs a partial amputation of the deformed front leg so that he can be fitted with a prosthetic leg. We hope to raise money for both the amputation and the prosthetic device, which would allow Reggie to run, jump, and play. Between the surgery and the prosthetic devices, we will need approximately $6,000. Besides accepting donations here, you can mail a check payable to the amazing Long Beach nonprofit who rescued him: West Coast Animal Rescue. Your donations are tax deductible. Please specify that your donation is for “Reggie.”
Mail it to:
The Samuel Turner Foundation
PO Box 90993
Long Beach, CA 90809-0993
We will keep you updated about Reggie’s progress and close the request for monetary support after Reggie’s needs have been met. You can also follow Reggie’s journey on his Facebook page.
Pet Projects
Friends of Long Beach Animals Humane Education Program, Free, Ongoing until July
Reserve a date for this necessary program now, as it will go on hiatus in mid-June. Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA) stands by its word when it says it actively supports teaching children kindness to and respect for animals. FOLBA has provided several copies of humane books to all of the libraries in the Long Beach Unified School District, all the Public Libraries in Long Beach and Signal Hill, as well as to Raising-a-Reader and to Mary Bethune Transitional Center (assisting homeless children who need reading improvement so they can attend regular LBUSD classes). This interactive humane education program is free to all schools in the Long Beach Unified School District, Girl and Boy Scout Troops, Long Beach Parks and Libraries and Community Groups. Basic elements of the program are as follows:
- Humane treatment of all living creatures
- Basic pet care
- Proper behavior around animals
- Responsibilities and rewards of pet ownership
- Handouts and study materials
- Follow-up activities
For information, contact FOLBA’s office at 562.988.7647.
Monthly Mutt Mingles, Pussy & Pooch Pethouse and PawBar, 4818 East Second Street, Long Beach, third Wednesday of every month; and 222 East Broadway, third Thursday of every month, 6:00–8:00PM
Join P&P for their monthly mixer, and enjoy special treats, toasts, and plenty of in-store tail-wagging. Mutt Mingles are a great way for your dog to learn valuable social skills. It’s a chance for them to experience and interact in a social setting with food, drink and plenty of other distractions! It’s important for your dog to learn how to behave around other dogs and people so that they’ll be the stars of the dog park and the dog beach. The indoor facility provides for a very comfortable setting and fun atmosphere. Dogs may be off-leash if supervised closely by their owners. For their protection, we lock the front door so dogs are safe from the street traffic.
#PizzaRevPets Campaign, throughout June
In celebration of National Pet Adoption Month, PizzaRev has launched the #PizzaRevPets campaign to help find forever homes for sheltered or abandoned animals. Throughout June, animal lovers are encouraged to share their favorite adopted pet photos and their adoption story via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, using #PizzaRevPets. PizzaRev will choose one grand prize winner to receive free pizza for a year. The winning photo will be displayed at PizzaRev restaurants across the country. Ten winners will receive a $100 PizzaRev gift card. PizzaRev, where you can craft your own pizza, has devoted time and funding to pet adoption, and many of the employees have adopted pets of their own; the Long Beach store is located in the Towne Center, 7551B Carson Avenue, near the movie theater.
Low-Cost Pet Vaccination Clinics, Saturday, June 18, 4:00–7:00PM, Scherer Park, 4600 Long Beach Boulevard, Long Beach
Pet owners must be 18 years or older. All pets must be on leashes or in carriers. Only healthy and non-pregnant animals will be vaccinated. If you have a prior rabies vaccine certificate, license tag or license renewal notice for your pet, please bring it with you to the clinic. Vaccination and microchip services are provided for pets residing in any city. Licensing service is provided for residents within our jurisdiction: Long Beach, Signal Hill, Cerritos, Los Alamitos and Seal Beach. For more service information and pricing please visit Southern California Veterinary Vaccine Clinics.
Priscilla’s Puss ’n’ Books Kitty Karnival, Saturday, June 20, 11:00AM to 4:00PM, Apostrophe Books, 5229 East Second Street, Long Beach
Cats and books—what more could you pussibly want?
SpcaLA Friends for Life Summer Camp, June–August, spcaLA P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village & Education Center, 7700 East Spring Street Long Beach
Paws down, this is the best summer camp around. Kids 8 through 13 will learn the basics of pet care and responsibility, respect for all animals, and the beginnings of dog training—all while making the best kinds of friends—those who care about animals! There are 10 sessions available, each running Monday through Friday. Enroll on our website, available at this link.
Hounds on the Hill, Saturday, June 6, 11:00AM–2:00PM, Signal Hill Park, 2175 Cherry Avenue, Signal Hill, free
At that hour, you won’t see the sun going down but you’ll definitely see a bunch of happy mutts and their people running round and round. Enjoy doggie demos, kids crafts, food and music, and take advantage of dog licensing and low-cost flea and tick meds and vaccinations.
spcaLA Pet Adoption Day, Saturday, June 6, 10AM–4PM, spcaLA P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village & Education Center, 7700 East Spring Street, Long Beach
spcaLA’s biggest pet adoption event of the year will feature meet and greets with Heidi and Frank of 95.5 KLOS and with KABC’s Drive Home’s Jillian Barberi and John Phillips, vendor booths, adoption specials, giveaways, family fun and possible your future best friend! Each adoption includes initial vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a free veterinary examination, microchip and an adopter’s gift bag. Lots of specials, lots of rock, and you rock if you adopt one of these wonderful animals!
Pours for Paws, Saturday, June 27, 6:00PM–9:00PM, Howl Event Space, 237 Long Beach Boulevard, Long Beach, $50 single, $90 couple, $100 foursome
Join the Seal Beach Animal Care Center (SBACC) for a delightful evening in the courtyard of a historical house to enjoy live jazz, hors d’oeuvres, tasting great vintages, and a silent raffle and auction. It’s a great evening out for you and an even better one that will benefit the dogs and cats at SBACC! Contact [email protected] for tickets and info.