Pet rescue group desperately needs help

It was a rescue dream come true while it lasted, but we all dreaded the day when that pendulum would inevitably swing the other way, and here we are.

There’s a separate conversation to be had about responsible, committed pet ownership through the real-life hardships that many are struggling with. But the undeniable reality is that people are surrendering and abandoning animals in record numbers, and we need substantial help to address the problem.

There is no animal shelter in Baker City. We have two small, foster-based rescue groups: Best Friends of Baker, Inc. and New Hope for Eastern Oregon Animals. Both are nonprofit, “no-kill” organizations.

The Animal Clinic is contracted by Baker City to operate the impound service; they have kennels in the back of the building for this purpose (dogs only, not cats).

Lost, stray, or abandoned dogs are taken to the clinic and impounded by an enforcement officer into the city’s temporary custody, and a five-day holding period begins

If a dog is claimed, the owner must provide documentation of current rabies vaccination and city licensure (or pay for the vaccine and obtain a dog license), then pay the per-day impound fee, and the dog is released into their custody.

When a dog remains unclaimed at the end of the five days, Best Friends takes legal ownership, addresses any medical needs, and places the dog into foster care, where it stays until we find an adoptive home.

If the holding period is complete and no foster care or boarding is available, we can pay for extra days of impound. But this can only be a very brief solution, because the few kennels fill up quickly when dogs aren’t removed promptly after five days, leaving no space to put new impounds.

If all options are exhausted, and there’s nowhere to put an unclaimed dog, the next step, unfortunately, would be euthanasia. This hasn’t happened to a healthy, non-dangerous animal in at least a decade, because Best Friends has always intervened. But this post-COVID animal crisis is threatening to make it impossible to continue to avoid euthanasia.

Best Friends’ typical dog rescue-to-adoption pipeline goes like this:

• Evaluate a surrender request or unclaimed impound.

• Complete the intake (legal ownership and physical custody).

• Find an available mutually-compatible foster home (or temporary boarding) and transport the dog to that location.

• Schedule veterinary appointment(s) for spay/neuter, vaccination, worming and/or treatment of illness or injury.

•Transport the dog to/from the appointment(s).

• Screen adoption applications, call personal, veterinary, and landlord references, and conduct a home visit when possible.

• Complete the adoption contract, provide vet records to the new owners, and place the dog in their care.

When a surrendering pet owner can adequately continue care of the animal throughout the process, they may choose to retain physical custody in lieu of foster care, but the rest of the process is the same.

The situation with cats is even worse, based on the countless number of them, and because their needs vary so greatly between domestic, feral, and homeless-but-social cats. We do lots of trap-neuter-release to reduce breeding; and feeding, sheltering, emergency medical care for cats that are unadoptable for whatever reason.

For cats that go through our program from rescue to new placement, we have a few foster homes and a small “cattery” area in the back of our headquarters location, but it’s more of a holding area for cats and kittens awaiting foster, adoption or transport, and it accommodates only a fraction of the cats in need.

We periodically transport qualifying cats and kittens to the Oregon Humane Society in Portland, which is hugely helpful, but they only accept a limited number, and it’s unpredictable. Transports get delayed and canceled all the time, for various reasons. The cats and kittens lucky enough to get a cattery or foster vacancy, each have to be escorted through the program’s step-by-step process (similar to the one for dogs), and our volunteers are already spread thin by the normal state of operations. Since June 2020, we’ve rescued 602 cats.

It takes significant volunteer effort to escort a single animal through the process; we’re constantly juggling many of them at once, with only a handful of individuals doing most of the hands-on logistical work. So, yes, we do need more foster homes, but that’s not enough. A fleet of new fosters would meet the physical housing needs of dogs and cats, but then it would be impossible for our small team to conduct the foster-to-adoption portion of the pipeline. It’s an unavoidably dual limitation; nowhere to put the increased number of animals, and insufficient volunteer power to execute their progression toward adoption. We need to resolve both problems simultaneously, in order to rescue more animals. It can be done, but only if the community steps up to volunteer “full-service” foster care.

A full-service volunteer facilitates the progression of animals in their care. This can include scheduling medical appointments and transporting to/from the vet, screening adoption applications, calling references, and helping select the best home (the foster becomes the expert on that unique dog or cat’s needs).

Once experienced, a full-service foster might conduct the home visit, or complete the final adoption. It’s one person escorting one animal through each step and into their forever family, like a bridge of love and safety between an animal’s former life and his future one. We currently have a few of these full-service volunteers, each taking their time with a single dog or cat, while a couple of overworked coordinators frantically juggle the numerous animals in foster-only care or paid boarding.

It’s impossible to overstate how preferable it is, for the humans and animals alike, to have the slow, undivided attention of a full-service foster. It’s like night and day. And now, in this post-COVID era, it’s life or death.

Full-service cat fosters receive login credentials for our operations management program, ShelterLuv. They complete a personalized foster profile that details what kind of animals are a good fit for the home (age, sex, energy level, special needs, pregnant, house trained-only, good with kids/cats/dogs, kittens only, etc.). They can even enter “blackout dates,” indicating in advance when they are unavailable for foster care. Each cat gets its own profile, too, which includes all the corresponding data. This allows the software to match a homeless feline with an available, environmentally compatible foster.

We hope to import the dog program into ShelterLuv at some point but, for now, full-service dog fosters communicate directly with the dog program coordinator, who keeps hard copy files and printed paperwork for each dog. In both cases — dogs and cats — the program coordinators and experienced volunteers are available to consult along the way.

Fostering, even the full-service kind, doesn’t require an abundance of free time. Our existing fosters include busy professionals, parents, and students. If you have time for pet ownership, you can handle fostering; most of it can be done at your convenience. Best Friends covers all veterinary care, and gladly provides supplies if needed. All fostering is a labor of love, but it’s especially rewarding when you personally shape the course of an animal’s life. Many adopters are happy to send updates and photos, which fill our hearts with pride and joy.

It’s not a lifetime commitment set in stone; you can start with one animal and see how it goes. Without serious inquiries from reliable new volunteers, a tragic number of animals in Baker County will go unrescued.

If you can provide full-service foster care, please contact 541-519-4530 for dogs, and 541-519-7387 for cats.

Please do not give your pets away to strangers on the internet (or anywhere), especially for free. People who acquire animals that way are often doing so impulsively, or because they don’t want to go through a screening process or pay an adoption fee. These may be perfectly nice people, but they’re not necessarily making a careful, informed decision with realistic expectations of the caretaking and financial responsibilities of responsible pet ownership. Casually acquired animals often continue to be passed around, and eventually surrendered or impounded. And that’s if they’re lucky enough not to end up with someone abusive or neglectful. Please trust us on this — you cannot identify those people by meeting them once.

Visit our website — BestFriendsOfBaker.org — to access various request forms and applications: Surrender request form, spay/neuter assistance, foster and adoption applications, and information about receiving pet food assistance and our fundraising resale store

Our organization is operated by a small group of unpaid volunteers. We are extremely overwhelmed, doing the best we can. Please be patient with us. This includes reaching out by phone. You may need to leave a voicemail and wait for a call back. You can also reach out via Facebook Messenger or email us at BestFriendsOfBaker@yahoo.com.

Other ways you can help include donations of money, pet food (adult and kitten/puppy), kitten formula, cat litter, old blankets, towels and linens, large styrofoam coolers in good condition, and high quality household items for Best Friends’ resale shop.

• Follow our Facebook page and instagram accounts .

• Like, comment, and share our social media posts for greater visibility.

• Host a birthday fundraiser on Facebook.

• Designate “Best Friends of Baker, Inc.” as your Amazon Smile beneficiary.

• Order items on our Amazon Wish List.

• Attend a kitten yoga class. Proceeds benefit Best Friends’ rescue operations. The event is set for Sunday, Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. at Wild Lotus Wellness, 2820 Broadway St. Save your spot at: Wildlotuswellnessbc.com.

• Offer to house “working” cats to patrol barns and control mice. For residents who offer to feed, water and house barn cats, Best Friends will deliver spayed or neutered cats.

• Volunteer for cattery duty (minimum one to two visits per week, preferably morning and afternoon on the same day, for at least three months)

• Shop our Rescued Treasures resale shop: Fridays 8 a.m. to noon and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Spay/neuter your pets, keep your cats indoors as much as possible.