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Tails of Bakersfield: Help us help unwanted animals
| Thursday, Jun 19 2008 1:00 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jun 19 2008 1:37 PM
Innocence — in the form of four cute kittens — was left to fend for itself in a box at a local Wal-Mart parking lot earlier this month.
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Harley Pickering has a last-minute cry as she drops off one of several kittens at SPCA on Gibson Street in Bakersfield recently. Her mother, Desiree, found the kittens in a store parking lot, but when the family took them to the SPCA, the facility was unable to accept them due to overcrowding.
Several of the stray kittens found by the Pickering family.
Rance Wilson makes friends with his new dog as he prepares to adopt the puppy from the SPCA on a recent Wednesday.
A dog waits for the possibility of being adopted at the SPCA.
The following day, at the Bakersfield SPCA, Desiree Pickering, owner of two cats who recently moved here with her husband from Whittier, was trying to do everything in her power to save the little ones’ lives.
She already had been to the Kern County Animal Control shelter.
“The county said they would euthanize them. They were too little to be without their mother and they were going to euthanize them.”
She had also tried to contact The Cat People, an all-volunteer organization sympathetic to the plight of homeless cats.
“The Cat People said in their voice mail that they’re no longer taking any pets,” she said. “I can adopt a kitten but I can’t drop any off.”
Cat People president Barbara Hays clarified what she said has long been a misconception about her organization: “We have never taken cats from the public. We do emergency hands-on rescue out of specific colonies.”
She said the organization also assists cat owners with spaying and neutering and by providing cat food for seniors or people in financial straits.
Pickering then tried the SPCA but was told there was room for dogs but not cats, as cats are seasonal breeders and, yes, now is the season.
“I’ve never seen them turn away kittens. Ever!” she said in frustration.
“I can’t keep them but I don’t know what to do.”
Such was the cruel welcome to a new resident who was finding out the hard way just how serious the homeless pet situation is in Kern County.
“It could hardly be any worse, said Marilyn Stewart, director and founder of ALPHA Canine Sanctuary, a nonkill facility north of Oildale that can house up to 100 dogs and usually finds itself running close to capacity.
“We’re just in an absolute state of crisis. And until we start regulating breeding, that’s not going to get any better.”
On June 10, the Kern County Board of Supervisors, after hearing from local residents during a public meeting, decided not to enact a mandatory spay/neuter law, and to wait until the end of August before looking at nonmandatory options for controlling the local pet population.
TAILS OF BAKERSFIELD
The Californian, which has long reported on the local pet overpopulation problem and the euthanization of thousands of animals at the county shelter every month, wants to do something and invites the community to partner up.
“In the past, our community has come forward in lots of ways to help children and families in Kern County,” said publisher Ginger Moorhouse. “Now I hope we can share a little compassion for the animals who need our help more than ever.
“Whatever we can do to improve our shelters, donate or volunteer to help homeless pets, adopt or foster an animal and contribute in kind to the needs of homeless animals, I hope our residents will reach out to help in any way they can.”
Such is the spirit behind “Tails of Bakersfield,” a project that can accommodate different types of giving to improve the fate of our community’s innocent, furry-footed ones.