I’ve always been an animal lover. I grew up in a family that brought spiders outside rather than squashing them – all of our pets were adopted/rescued and we went out of our way to try to help animals who appeared to be suffering (we drew the line at cockroaches – sorry). I remember my dad finding a baby opossum in our back yard one morning – he brought it inside wrapped in a towel. After the initial excitement, we were a little stumped as to what to do with the little creature. However, lo and behold, Orange County had a (an?) Opossum Rescue Society that came over within the hour and carted the baby marsupial away to their rehabilitation center. We were all a little surprised – but mostly impressed – that such a society even existed.
http://www.petconnect.us/county/ca?/orangecounty/rescues_wildlife_opossum/
However, when I moved to Bakersfield, I realized that not every city has the same resources for animal rescue, which may reflect on a larger issue of whether animals like cats and dogs are seen as valuable “members of the family” or merely property – or even pests. Bakersfield has one animal shelter (a “kill” shelter) that euthanizes more than two-thirds of the animals that it takes in each year (approximately 20,000 animals). Furthermore, there are only two no-kill rescues, and they’re bursting at the seams – animals are usually refused at the door because of lack of capacity.
However, the animals locked behind the gates at the “pound” are only a fraction of the stray dogs and cats roaming the streets of Kern County, darting in and out of traffic, sporting fresh injuries from recent run-ins with cars, or lying dead or dying on the side of the road. Certain areas are particularly notorious for being “overrun” with stray dogs – central Bakersfield, Delano, and Northeast Bakersfield (my neighborhood). Kids who go to school in these areas learn quickly that dogs on the playground aren’t cause for disrupting class – it becomes normal, part of the scenery.
I have a hard time driving sometimes, because I’m afraid to look too closely at objects on the side of the road. Is that a discarded blanket or a dead dog? Ever since I moved to the Northeast side of town, the odds are that it’s not a blanket.
So, what’s an animal lover to do in this town?
The answer involves a steady supply of milk bones….
and a car, a steady heart, and the patience to chase down a spooked dog who’s been running for a while. Also, the fortitude to start knocking on some neighborhood doors to try to track down the dog’s owners if it seems like the dog hasn’t strayed far. Finally, and this is tough, if the dog isn’t wearing a collar and the no-kill shelters are packed to capacity, the ability to surrender her/him to the shelter, knowing that at least there she/he will be safe from traffic, fed, and warm.
Southwest: I found a pair of dogs that had been abandoned by people who’d recently lost their house (I knocked on every door in that neighborhood with the dogs’ pictures on my cellphone). That was in the Southwest. I kept them for a while at my church – I bought them beds, toys, food, etc. and put ads in every single paper and on Craigslist. I was refused for weeks by the no-kill shelters and finally had to bring them to Kern County Animal Control. That was tough.
Central: I was picking up my car from our friend Jorge’s shop in downtown Bakersfield when I saw two little terrier-mix puppies run around the corner and dart nearly into the street. Jorge didn’t recognize them (they didn’t have collars) and they needed little cajoling to leap into my backseat. Like always, the no-kill shelters were full, so I started making calls to some of my friends to see if they could foster the dogs. I guess I should mention that I can’t bring home dogs to my house, as my oldest dog was abused and has issues with dog-dog aggression. Luckily, one of my coworkers was able to watch the dogs for a couple of days while I posted pictures, tried to get them into the rescue shelters, and tried to find people willing to adopt. After several days, however, we had to call Animal Control and bring them in to the county shelter.
Northwest: One day, in our house in the “fancy” Northwest area of Bakersfield, my husband and I heard a shuffling noise from the other room. We walked into the kitchen and found the beagle from next door standing inside our house, drinking noisily from our dogs’ water bowl. What’s more, several puppies crawled near her feet, trying to get at the water, too. They’d somehow found a way to get through our fence and through the dog door. It’s a good thing they did, because our neighbor had left town for two weeks and the dog and her young puppies had no food or water (in the middle of a Bakersfield summer). It turned out that he’d supposedly arranged for his cousin to come take care of the dogs, but the guy never showed up. Needless to say, we went to the store, bought the dogs beds, food, water, toys, and spent time each day caring for them (along with raging against our seemingly heartless neighbor).
Northeast: I saw a dog running in and out of traffic as I was pumping gas by my house. I had him in my backseat when my neighbors volunteered to foster him – that was months ago, and although he wakes me up at 6AM every day, I don’t regret picking him up.
It’s too easy to look the other way when we see an animal trotting past us – tired, scared, thirsty. Despite being fellow travelers on this road, they’re treated as invisible, as worthless. I understand that, in a city where there already exists so much human poverty, it sometimes feels silly to complain about cats and dogs, but when we ignore the suffering of those who are most vulnerable – all those in need – we do a disservice to everyone. I think it’s time for Bakersfield to start paying attention to what’s outside our windshields – we’re missing out on so many opportunities to help each other, whether that means giving a stray dog food and shelter, or refusing to be a part of the city’s segregation – living intentionally, becoming a conscious member of the community. Because that’s how we really become a family.