dogs out of Los Angeles shelters. “A lot of rescues are breed-specific; I think mutts deserve an equal chance,” says Skow, now the executive director. “Small dogs get adopted faster, so we get the larger mixes, including pit bulls and Rottweilers.” Currently, the facility continues to expand its services, working with pet foster homes; providing medical care for severely abused animals in need of rehabilitation and socialization; and managing visits to prisons, mental health facilities and schools. “We take in who we can help. To see a dog triumph over tremendous odds gives people hope,” says Skow. Recently, volunteers pulled 70 dogs from Los Angeles shelters, fos- tered them for a month and then trans- ported them east to adoption facilities where conditions were less crowded.
MISSION: ANIMAL RESCUE
Big and Small, They Need Our Help by Sandra Murphy
E
very creature in the animal king- dom has an essential purpose, yet through human interference,
animal life overall has become so imbalanced as to signal a tipping point for Earth. Extreme care for the rapidly growing population of a relative hand- ful of pet breeds stands in stark contrast to trending extinction of dozens of other species. Fortunately, in addition to the efforts of dedicated volunteers,
conservationists and supportive law- makers, every one of us can make a real difference.
Home Pet Rescues Zack Skow started by volunteering with a nearby dog rescue organization. He became director, and then in 2009 founded his own nonprofit, Marley’s Mutts (
MarleysMutts.org), in Tehacha- pi, California, pulling many kinds of
Spay/neuter is the best solution to
pet overpopulation, says Ruth Stein- berger, national founder of Spay First, headquartered in Oklahoma City (
SpayFirst.org). From 20 years of experi- ence, she explains that in locations and situations in which surgery is imprac- tical, “We’ve had great results using calcium chloride in ethyl alcohol, done under sedation. A slow infusion into the pet’s testicles causes them to atrophy. It’s less invasive, with a lower chance of infection and less pain, and reduces testosterone. For feral cat populations where traps haven’t worked, megestrol acetate, derived from progesterone, added to food acts as birth control to slow or stop colony growth.” Treatment of laboratory animals
has also improved. “There have been three significant changes since 1984,” says Cathy Liss, president of the nonprofit Animal Welfare Insti- tute, in Washington, D.C., founded in 1951 (
awionline.org). “General hous- ing conditions are better, the number of government-owned chimpanzees has decreased and laboratories no longer obtain dogs and cats from ran- dom sources, so no stolen pets end up in labs.”
16 Twin Cities Edition
NaturalTwinCities.com
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