BAKERSFIELD, CA - Animal advocates are voicing their concerns about many Kern County pet owners holding no value in their adopted family members, and either turning them over, dumping, or euthanizing them, essentially making them disposable.
Many times, shelter officials say pet owners do it after their pet has been part of their families for a long time, well into the animals golden years.
They call senior pets any animal over the age of seven. Those at local rescues and shelters say the decision is heartbreaking for some of the pet owners, having to part with their pet for valid reasons. But, others just leave them and don't look back.
Nestled in the foothills just outside Bakersfield is the Alpha Canine Sanctuary. The non-profit is the rolling home to rescue dogs.
"This is what I was meant to do," said Marilyn Stewart, director of the rescue.
The twenty acres is at capacity at one-hundred dogs. Nearly half of them are seniors and owner surrenders.
"We call it the retirement center, and that is the old folks, most of which have been adopted out and have come back to us," said Stewart.
Stewart says most in the area were once adopted, then returned when the economy tanked.
Other owners have different excuses for turning in a pet that's spent loyal years by their side.
"The other ones, yah, they knock the ornaments off the coffee table with their big tail. You're moving. You have a nice house now. I don't want to see it get messed up. I don't want anybody digging in my backyard. I don't want my carpet to get dirty. Oh my gosh, that's what hurts," says Stewart of some of the reasons she hears from owners turning in their senior dogs.
Each dog cage at the rescue is marked with the dogs it holds. There is a ten-year-old brown shepherd mix. There are two senior chows that have been here for so long, they are now deaf.
And, there is Bella. Bella was adopted by a local family from Alpha Canine Sanctuary when she was nine-weeks old. Now, at thirteen years old, she is back.
Bella is limping, but there were signs she'd been recently cared for when she was found just a couple months ago as a stray. A microchip did not lead to her family, nor has anyone come looking for her.
"They feel, grieve every bit as much as we do, if not more," said Stewart of the abandoned senior dogs. "What's tough for us is to watch them grieve. A dog off the streets is overjoyed to be here. A dog that's turned in by the owner often grieves horribly."
"They look back at those owners. Those dogs pull on their leashes trying to get back with their owners when they walk out the door," said Julie Johnson, Executive Director at the Bakersfield SPCA, about senior pet turn-ins.
Johnson says staff and volunteers work with owner surrender senior pets daily as they mourn. She says they are often listless, unresponsive, and making an older pet, already hard to adopt out, even more of a heartbreaking challenge.
"It's so cold. It is just so cold and yet we have this incredible animal in front of us who continues to be so loving. It's the most loving little animal and it has no idea why it's here," said Johnson.
While a senior pet's adoption chances are slim at no-kill shelters and rescues. Their odds of just surviving plummet at local pounds to about a 50% chance. The lucky ones are adopted or placed with a rescues, the others put down. They are odds the majority of owners are willing to take says Kern County Animal Services Supervisor, Nick Cullen.
"But the ones that don't make it out, they are difficult decisions. Um, they are heart wrenching decisions most of the time," said Cullen.
Cullen says over the past calendar year, eleven senior pets are turned in each month. Shelter staff encourage their adoptions first. They show off pets like Louie, a ten-year-old Cocker Spaniel, obviously once cared for and not fit for kennel life.
"It's gut wrenching because those are the dogs that need the additional care, you know. Those are the ones that are hard for us to adopt out," said Cullen.
The tough truth is the large majority of senior dogs, like Louie and Bella, will never again have a forever home like they once enjoyed.
"She deserves better but we make the best of it we give her what we can," said Stewart looking at Bella in her outdoor pen.
They will spend what's rest of their lives waiting for someone to throw their ball and fetch again, not mind their graying face and give them kisses in return, a warm lap to lay their aged, aching joints, and they'll always be hoping the familiar face that left them, might reappear and want them again, forever.
"I mean are children disposable? Are they disposable? It's just so wrong. They are not disposable. They are lives, they have value. Every life has value," said Stewart.
If you would like information about the dogs featured or about any other adoptable animals, visit these local shelter and rescue links:
http://www.alphacanines.org/
Http://psbweb.co.kern.ca.us/AC_Internet/
http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/acc/animal_control.html
http://www.shafter.com/44/Animal-Control
http://www.cityofdelano.org/index.aspx?NID=232
https://www.facebook.com/WascoAnimalShelter
Https://www.facebook.com/ALPHACanineSanctuary
http://marleysmutts.org/
http://www.haltrescue.org/
Other Services:
http://www.critterswithoutlitters.org/
http://bakersfieldpetfoodpantry.org/
Many times, shelter officials say pet owners do it after their pet has been part of their families for a long time, well into the animals golden years.
They call senior pets any animal over the age of seven. Those at local rescues and shelters say the decision is heartbreaking for some of the pet owners, having to part with their pet for valid reasons. But, others just leave them and don't look back.
Nestled in the foothills just outside Bakersfield is the Alpha Canine Sanctuary. The non-profit is the rolling home to rescue dogs.
"This is what I was meant to do," said Marilyn Stewart, director of the rescue.
The twenty acres is at capacity at one-hundred dogs. Nearly half of them are seniors and owner surrenders.
"We call it the retirement center, and that is the old folks, most of which have been adopted out and have come back to us," said Stewart.
Stewart says most in the area were once adopted, then returned when the economy tanked.
Other owners have different excuses for turning in a pet that's spent loyal years by their side.
"The other ones, yah, they knock the ornaments off the coffee table with their big tail. You're moving. You have a nice house now. I don't want to see it get messed up. I don't want anybody digging in my backyard. I don't want my carpet to get dirty. Oh my gosh, that's what hurts," says Stewart of some of the reasons she hears from owners turning in their senior dogs.
Each dog cage at the rescue is marked with the dogs it holds. There is a ten-year-old brown shepherd mix. There are two senior chows that have been here for so long, they are now deaf.
And, there is Bella. Bella was adopted by a local family from Alpha Canine Sanctuary when she was nine-weeks old. Now, at thirteen years old, she is back.
Bella is limping, but there were signs she'd been recently cared for when she was found just a couple months ago as a stray. A microchip did not lead to her family, nor has anyone come looking for her.
"They feel, grieve every bit as much as we do, if not more," said Stewart of the abandoned senior dogs. "What's tough for us is to watch them grieve. A dog off the streets is overjoyed to be here. A dog that's turned in by the owner often grieves horribly."
"They look back at those owners. Those dogs pull on their leashes trying to get back with their owners when they walk out the door," said Julie Johnson, Executive Director at the Bakersfield SPCA, about senior pet turn-ins.
Johnson says staff and volunteers work with owner surrender senior pets daily as they mourn. She says they are often listless, unresponsive, and making an older pet, already hard to adopt out, even more of a heartbreaking challenge.
"It's so cold. It is just so cold and yet we have this incredible animal in front of us who continues to be so loving. It's the most loving little animal and it has no idea why it's here," said Johnson.
While a senior pet's adoption chances are slim at no-kill shelters and rescues. Their odds of just surviving plummet at local pounds to about a 50% chance. The lucky ones are adopted or placed with a rescues, the others put down. They are odds the majority of owners are willing to take says Kern County Animal Services Supervisor, Nick Cullen.
"But the ones that don't make it out, they are difficult decisions. Um, they are heart wrenching decisions most of the time," said Cullen.
Cullen says over the past calendar year, eleven senior pets are turned in each month. Shelter staff encourage their adoptions first. They show off pets like Louie, a ten-year-old Cocker Spaniel, obviously once cared for and not fit for kennel life.
"It's gut wrenching because those are the dogs that need the additional care, you know. Those are the ones that are hard for us to adopt out," said Cullen.
The tough truth is the large majority of senior dogs, like Louie and Bella, will never again have a forever home like they once enjoyed.
"She deserves better but we make the best of it we give her what we can," said Stewart looking at Bella in her outdoor pen.
They will spend what's rest of their lives waiting for someone to throw their ball and fetch again, not mind their graying face and give them kisses in return, a warm lap to lay their aged, aching joints, and they'll always be hoping the familiar face that left them, might reappear and want them again, forever.
"I mean are children disposable? Are they disposable? It's just so wrong. They are not disposable. They are lives, they have value. Every life has value," said Stewart.
If you would like information about the dogs featured or about any other adoptable animals, visit these local shelter and rescue links:
http://www.alphacanines.org/
Http://psbweb.co.kern.ca.us/AC_Internet/
http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/acc/animal_control.html
http://www.shafter.com/44/Animal-Control
http://www.cityofdelano.org/index.aspx?NID=232
https://www.facebook.com/WascoAnimalShelter
Https://www.facebook.com/ALPHACanineSanctuary
http://marleysmutts.org/
http://www.haltrescue.org/
Other Services:
http://www.critterswithoutlitters.org/
http://bakersfieldpetfoodpantry.org/