Recently, a man walked into the real estate office where I was working the desk, to look for rental housing. Under one arm was an airline carry-on cage. Inside, his cat crouched.
He was furious that another real estate office had told him he was unlikely to qualify to pay any of the rent on available units. Fortunately, I don”t handle rentals for the office and was able to escape the situation by asking him to come back later.
I was much more concerned with kitty”s housing situation and tried to peer into her cage while the man talked. Surprisingly, the cat seemed calm, even sleepy.
This was among several surprises for me as I looked into the fate of pets as part of our “Season of Sharing” series on the impact of the Fort Bragg Food Bank on our community.
It started with the fact there is a safety network in place for pets. In the back of the Food Bank are big cardboard drums filled with dog and cat food.
The homeless man and his traveling cat get food there. There are as many as a dozen dogs waiting outside the food bank every day, as their owners gather food for their human and animal families.
But pets are suffering along with humanity in the current economic downturn. The Ukiah animal shelter is full. Some Bay Area shelters, which have taken local animals in the past, are facing temporary closures or other cutbacks due to the financial crisis.
For some pets awaiting adoption, that can mean a quicker end than ever.
Locally there are several groups more active on behalf of pets than ever, most notably the Friends of Mendocino Coast Animals and the non-profit Love in Action.
I joined the homeless for lunch on Sunday at Lighthouse Foursquare Church at 126 N. McPherson St., Fort Bragg, and heard some harrowing and inspiring stories about pets and the work of the local non-profit groups on behalf of animals.
Surveys of the homeless have found more than 10 percent have pets.
Cesar Millan, the famous Dog Whisperer from the National Geographic Channel, says homeless pets are often better adjusted than dogs left home alone, surveys found.
Spending all day with their owners has positive effects. But pets of the homeless face challenges when they need veterinary care and when food runs short.
Local veterinary clinics rotate emergency care, with each deciding case by case how to deal with indigent owners. The Eileen Hawthorne Fund is a key community resource for such situations.
The Fort Bragg Food Bank helps provide pet food as well as hosting adoption and other events for local animal non-profits. Just before Thanksgiving, the Friends provided free flea and tick treatments at the Food Bank.
Jim Mooneyham was enjoying ham and sweet potatoes on Sunday at Lighthouse. Last week, he was among the pet owners who spent the coldest nights in the new winter shelter set up by Coast Community Center and the non-profit Love in Action.
Mooneyham recently became homeless but still has his car and most importantly his dog, Little. While the new shelter program kept men safe from the cold last week, there are no dogs allowed. Women and children are sheltered at the Hospitality House.
Little, a devoted Heeler-McNabb cross, spent the night in Mooneyham”s car. He wouldn”t have stayed in the shelter if he didn”t have a safe place for Little. But some homeless people chose to stay out in the cold with their dogs rather than utilize the new shelter, which will be rotated among local churches.
“Dogs are very warm. A person can stay warm by snuggling up to their dog,” Mooneyham said. In fact the phrase “three dog night” referred originally to cold weather.
Both the county animal shelter and the Mendocino Coast Humane Society operate busy facilities at the end of Summers Lane, where pets can be adopted.
The Friends of the Mendocino Coast Animals adopted this new name recently to broaden the scope of work beyond the county shelter.
“Friends” has begun a more active effort to help lessen some of the problems for low income folks and their pets, said Jessie VanSant.
“We are starting a fostering program in an effort to lessen the load on the coast shelter and keep animals from ever going into the system in the first place in the face of budget calamity and the low place of pets on the totem pole in Mendocino County,” VanSant said.
Pets are very high on the totem pole in homeless society, I could tell very quickly on Sunday at Lighthouse. Many of the homeless were a little reluctant to talk until they learned the subject was pets. Then, everybody seemed to have a story to share for publication.
Linda DeMits wanted to get a photo of her 17-year-old terrier cross, Sallie, into the paper. She had the dog inside a dog carrier, clad in a sweater that looked much newer than anything the woman had for herself.
Demits, recently evicted from her home so the landlord could renovate, is staying with friends as she looks for home.
“I suffer from brain damage,” she said. “This dog has saved my life several times, believe me. I”m always going to give her the best.”
Sallie was much gentler than any terrier stereotype, offering a friendly and cautious nose to the camera after Demits lifted her from the decorative padded basket bed on the floor at her feet.
The church served a huge Christmas meal, complete with singing of Christmas songs and gift bags for each homeless person. Every Sunday, the church feeds the homeless a lunch big enough to last all day.
Dog and cat food is also a provided by the church.
Pastor Chuck Allen said if the church didn”t provide dog food, the guests would give their own portions to their pets.
Love in Action, the catalyst behind working out shelter for homeless humans, has also had ideas that have strengthened the safety net for homeless pets.
One is that the Fort Bragg Police Department now equips officers with free leashes provided by the Mendocino Coast Humane Society. Roy Falk of Love in Action said locals have complained at the sight of a dog on a heavy rope, or dogs not on a leash at all.
Now, officers don”t have to ticket or arrest the homeless, but can provide a leash.
“The police department has been totally engaged with the community in solving these problems,” said Falk.
Historically, the Mendocino Coast Humane Society, which raises money with its Ark thrift store on Highway 1 at Simpson Lane, was the key force in caring for animals. The Humane Society has an active Website, including a new blog which features individual pets up for adoption. The traditional Fort Bragg charity has seen numerous newer animal care agencies arise, such as, among others, Mendocino Coast Dog Owner Group (MCDOG), which has created three local dog parks, and the new Friends group.
VanSant hopes all the groups that help animals can come together in 2009.
“We are planning a potluck in February at the [Fort Bragg] Grange, inviting all the coastal animal care/rescue groups to come in order to create a coalition and help one another go forward in the best ways possible. I hope that each group will make a presentation and tell what the group is, its focus, what it”s doing, plans for events or fund raising and what help is needed,” she said.
“This way (I hope) we can reduce the duplication of efforts and consider one another”s plans when making our planning as individual groups, to share resources, bolster, make a higher profile for all and so forth,” VanSant said.
Season of Sharing
The goal of the Advocate-News and Mendocino Beacon”s annual Season of Sharing fund drive is to raise money to help the Food Bank operate year-round, not just during the holidays. Last year the community donated $37,214.15; this year”s target is $40,000.
The Community Foundation of Mendocino County administers Season of Sharing contributions free of charge as a courtesy to the newspapers, so every cent donated goes to the Food Bank. Donations are tax deductible.
Checks should be made out to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County (CFMC), and mailed to Advocate-News, P.O. Box 1188, Fort Bragg, 95437, or you”re welcome to bring them to the newspaper office, located at 450 N. Franklin St.
If you have any questions about our fund drive, call the newspapers at 964-5642. The fund-raiser runs through Jan. 9.
Donors” names are printed each week, unless they ask to remain anonymous.
Contributions this week brought the total to $20,850. Donations were received from the Mendocino Coast Gem Mineral Society, the James G. Cummings Fund, Andrew Klasik, Jeffrey Flynn and Linda Lasell, Robert and Christine Sowers, Robert and Susan Krebs, Patricia Sinkay, Marianne McGee, Bruce and Karen Smith, Connie Reynolds, Alan Antow, Louis Bohannon and four anonymous donors.
