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What you can do to help
| Wednesday, Jun 18 2008 5:07 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jun 19 2008 2:04 PM
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Some shelters, like ALPHA Canine Sanctuary and the Bakersfield SPCA, have indicated that money is what they need the most.
Also, donating money is always the easiest way to help, said SPCA public relations coordinator Chuck Nordstrom.
IN-KIND/LABOR DONATIONS
“We always need shelter repairs,” Nordstrom said, “everything from grading land to replacing kennel doors, to working on fencing, gardening, there’s just a host of things where an in-kind type of donation is always acceptable.”
The SPCA often has to care for as many as 200 cats and just as many dogs at a time, which can mean a lot of wear and tear on a facility.
The best way to donate goods or labor for repairs or improvements is to contact an animal shelter of your choice and ask about specific needs.
VOLUNTEERING
Volunteers are the biggest need at the Bakersfield Animal Shelter, said Denise Haynes, division chief of Kern County Animal Control.
“We’re going to be starting a foster care program and we’re going to need people to be foster care parents,” she said. “We can’t adopt an animal out until they’re at least eight weeks old. So a foster care parent would be taking care of these animals until they’re old enough to be adopted.”
Nordstrom said, “It’s more important this time of year when it’s kitten season. Kittens need to be fed every two to four hours by bottle.”
Foster care parents are also needed to help in the rehabilitation of sick or injured animals until they are adoptable, Haynes said.
And there may be other needs as well: from clerical work to helping out at an educational/spay-neuter event. Call your shelter of choice to find out how you can help.
SMALL DONATIONS
“And hand in hand with that would be to donate items that would be needed by foster parents: dog and cat beds, crates, toys, exercise pens, blankets,” Haynes said.
Again, call a shelter and ask about its most needed items.
HELP WITH SPAY/NEUTER EFFORTS
“We have a high population of nonresponsible pet owners that don’t license their dogs, don’t have their pet taken to a vet for annual rabies and other vaccinations, don’t have their pets spay-neutered and of course, we end up with unwanted litters,” Nordstrom said.
Besides spaying or neutering your own pet, you can help out at local spay-neuter efforts. For example, Nordstrom said, starting on July 14, the SPCA will partner with the Fresno-based HOPE Animal Foundation.
“Animals will be dropped off here and transported to Fresno for low-cost spay-neuter” because, he said, “there’s no low-cost alternative here in Bakersfield.”
Up to 100 animals will be picked up twice a month on a Monday and returned on a Tuesday, and a lot of hands will be necessary to load and unload the spay-neuter mobiles, he said.
This effort will be tested for four months initially, Nordstrom said, with a progress review after the first two months.
ADOPT A PET
The same day that Pickering was trying desperately to find a home for the four abandoned kittens she found, Kyle McMahan, 25, who already owns a cat, was at the SPCA looking to possibly adopt a dog.
“I’d rather help a dog out rather than go out and purchase a dog if a dog’s in need that doesn’t have a home,” the Bakersfield local said.
Adopting from a shelter can also ensure you come home with a cat or dog that is already spay-neutered, vaccinated and maybe even microchipped.