Photo courtesy of the ART Table.
Every other Wednesday, a group of volunteers sits at a table outside Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS). Their mission is to make themselves available to give pet owners alternatives to walking through the shelter doors and leaving their pets, never to see them again.
The Animal Resource Team’s (ART) mission is to keep pets with their family members in whatever way they can, whether it’s through active listening or literally leaving the table to go out and help the owner put up a fence to contain a chronically escaping husky.
“When people bring their animals to the shelter, we try to see what we can do to maybe keep them in the home,” ART table volunteer April Devane. “Whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes” has so far been in the form of assistance with medical issues if ART’s funding allows it, reuniting pets with their owners, allowing wandering pets to lead them back to their homes, rehoming “accidental” offspring, and educating them about spaying or neutering their animal and educating pet owners about the importance of spay/neuter and where to get no- or low-cost procedures.
“That’s what I love most about it—education,” said co-founder Faye Costigane. “Dogs come in with their balls hanging down, and we try to convince the owners about all the reasons to get them fixed.”
This is equally true for fertile females. One of the Table’s current projects is ChiChi, whose owner contacted ACS to surrender her during her third pregnancy. Education prevailed, and the dogs were given collars with proper ID tags, funds for spay/neuter and microchips, and help to prevent them all from wandering off the property (which likely got ChiChi in trouble in the first, second and third places). ART is also helping to adopt out the puppies (any takers?).
ChiChi with her pups and unknown fuzz-faced photo bomber. Photo courtesy of the ART Table.
The project came out of an effort by the volunteers during last year’s July 4 weekend. Seven strays, spooked by the fireworks and the rest of the holiday din and clamor, were brought in to the shelter and returned to their owners thanks to the combined efforts of volunteers and shelter staff. “That’s when we realized that we could be helpful in keeping the families together,” Costigane said.
Shelter visitors Juan Santos and son Cisco discuss care and feeding of their dog, who was at home, with the ART volunteers. Photo by Dutch Della Rocco
Thanksgiving of last year brought another memory to the Table when the shelter received a call about a dog with no ID tag running the streets. Three volunteers left the Table and rushed to North Long Beach. They followed the dog around until he led them to his house. Besides not having a tag, it turned out that the dog had no microchip, so there was another educational opportunity. Instead of a fine for an escaped dog or a shelter impound, the owner received information for spay/neuter, licensing, building a fence, and, because it was Thanksgiving, a turkey courtesy of a private donor.
Sometimes, all it takes is being good listeners, which each volunteer is. Other times, funding is necessary, particularly with medical issues. To fulfill needs, ART accepts public donations, raises money through fund-raising, and works with other nonprofits, as in the case of Sadie, an elderly terrier mixLast September, a shelter employee contacted ART asking for help Sadie’s vet bills. The poor dog was suffering with bladder stones, urinating blood, and in obvious pain. Her owner was disabled and lived on a fixed income. Not being able to afford Sadie’s medical expenses, he figured that if no one could help him, the only way to help his friend was to surrender her to the shelter.
SNP/LA, an LA-area nonprofit welfare organization, was contacted to pay for Sadie’s surgery, and an ART member covered the balance out of her own pocket. She also drove Sadie and her person to follow-up appointments and paid for special food for after-care.
“We were able to keep another senior dog out of the shelter and with her loving owner,” Costigane said.
Some stories don’t have happy endings but do give solace to human companions and a little time to say goodbye. ART cofounder and ACS volunteer Darlene McInerny fondly remembers Issha, a 7-year-old Malamute. Issha had had a lump on her front leg that caused immobility and pain, and her human couldn’t afford the $500 for tests. The vet refused a payment plan, and this owner, too, thought that shelter surrender was her only option. ART met with her and set up an appointment with their own vet and located a private donor to take care of the bill.
Sadly, Issha developed other issues, and the growth aggressively returned But her owner got four more months to enjoy with Issha, and when it was time to say, ART arranged to get Issha’s ashes and a paw print sculpture for the owner.
In some instances, the volunteers feel that it’s better to step back. “Sometimes, an animal will do better in the shelter than with an obviously uncaring or abusive human,” Costigane said. “It depends on gut reaction—and funding, again. But if the owner’s crying, we help.”
IF only for a couple of days a month, the ART Table has been a turnaround for pets and their owners on the possibly dead-end road to the shelter. To assist with their efforts, visit the donation page on their website.
“Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog.”
~ Charles F. Duran