Pets and Their People

The dog stood in front of a used tire shop in an industrial section of town. His gait was slow and weary over dirt and gravel. A cardboard box on a cement pad by the front door was his makeshift doghouse.

Filth gripped his ratty black and white fur. Twisted mats hung from his torso.

A passerby called 311 to report a loose dog in poor condition. A city animal control officer went out. He spoke to the dog’s owner and left—without the dog.

“We did go out and while it’s not the best setup for him, he does have access to the back area of the shop,” says Phillip Zimmerman, manager at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter.

The green sturgeon is an ancient creature. This “river dinosaur” dates back 220 million years. Today he thrives in local waterways.

The southern green sturgeon spawns in a small segment of the Sacramento River and uses the lower American River for juvenile rearing.

Despite the green sturgeon’s resiliency, the species is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

It started in the Galapagos 20 years ago. The first spay/neuter clinic was on Isabela Island. The first patient was a dog named Luna.

Today, Animal Balance deploys high-volume temporary MASH clinics (Mobile Animal Sterilization Hospitals) in 10 countries, including the United States.

In March, Sacramento hosted its first three-day MASH in partnership with Sacramento County’s Bradshaw Animal Shelter, converting a county-owned building at McClellan Park into a spay/neuter hospital.

A whale harpoon hangs on the reception area wall. A relic to prove a point: To change something bad, create something better.

“For thousands of years we harpooned whales to light our homes,” says Paul Shapiro, CEO of The Better Meat Co. “We didn’t stop because we care about whales. We stopped because kerosene was a cheaper way to light our house.”

Humans whipped horses to get from one place to another. That ended when cars were invented. Feathers were plucked from live geese for writing, until the metal fountain pen came along.

The slightest noise—heavy footstep, rustling branch, loud whisper—will send the northwestern pond turtle off a sunlit log and into his safe place, the cool waters of the American River.

He’s a shy creature. The booming sounds of heavy machinery tearing up his riparian habitat will not bode well for him.

Next summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin another phase of its erosion-control project along the lower American River from the Howe Avenue bridge to east of Watt Avenue.

Trucks, tractors and excavators will bulldoze through the wild and scenic parkway landscape.

Just in time for northwestern pond turtle nesting season.

The heavy metal trap clamped down on the opossum’s neck with the power of a jackhammer.

Spring-loaded to deliver deadly force, the trap drove the young marsupial over a wood fence separating two Elk Grove homes where he hung for 24 hours before the neighbor called for help.

The old-style, body-gripping device “crushed his esophagus,” says Sandra Foreman, animal care manager with the Wildlife Care Association of Sacramento. “It was tight around his neck, like someone strangling you.”

At home, Albert is calm and relaxed, indifferent to cats and other canines. The scruffy mutt takes treats with gentility and shares toys like a gentleman.

Leashed walks are a different story. At the sight of another dog, large or small, Albert is a model for leash aggression.

“He barks and spins uncontrollably and aggressively,” Albert’s owner Nicole Martin says. “And lunges in the direction of the other dog.”

Dogs with leash aggression, also called fear reactivity, will bark, lunge, snarl and snap at other dogs, sometimes people, while on leash. An afternoon stroll becomes a physical and emotional struggle for dog and owner.

Dags was named for the dagger-shaped marking on the back of his neck. A mix of husky, pit bull and lab, the big mutt lives with owner Joey Rival at the Safe Stay Community on Florin Road.

The community offers cabin-style shelters for 125 unhoused guests and their pets.

“I take Dags everywhere I go,” says Rival, who moved to Safe Stay last November. At the time, his 2-year-old canine companion was not neutered.

That’s when Sacramento County’s PAWS (Pet Aid & Wellness Services) Mobile Clinic stepped in.

Public artwork at the Light Rail Station on Franklin Boulevard is no longer a death trap for birds.

Sculptor David Best made permanent modifications to his rusted steel archway in late February that will prevent birds, including pigeons and birds of prey, from entering the structure with no way out.

“This was an accident that birds were trapped in the sculpture and died,” Best says. “This was not intentional.”

Front Street Animal Shelter killed 1,132 animals in 2023. This year, more than 150 dogs and cats have lost their lives.
These numbers are important. Hayden’s Law, enacted in 1998 to move California toward a no-kill state, says “no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.” This includes animals who “could become adoptable with reasonable efforts.”

“Killing adoptable animals is easier than putting in the effort to save them,” says Julie Virga, a local animal advocate who campaigns against what she calls Front Street’s mismanagement. “This is a complete failure of leadership.”

Buggles, a pit bull mix with a tongue-forward smile, had skin infections across his face and body. Lilo faced death without immediate medical care. Markie’s new family received free dog food and preventive medicine after adopting the easygoing mutt.

All three stories reflect the work of Friends of Front Street Animal Shelter, a nonprofit established in 2001 to help animals at the city shelter. Last year, Friends brought in $750,000, mostly from individual donors.

The call came into the Wildlife Care Association in early September. A great horned owl was caught in a metal art structure at the Franklin Light Rail Station near Consumnes River College. The large bird of prey had been trapped for at least 24 hours.

Chris Lay, a Wildlife Care volunteer with eight years of experience, was first to respond. “He was alive, but there was no way to get him out,” she says.

It was a sweltering summer day in 2022 when county Animal Control Officer Jessica Solano responded to a call about a dog named Bowbii.

Bowbii, a 170-pound Caucasian shepherd living outside, was severely malnourished, immobile and covered with maggot-filled skin infections.

“It was the most challenging call I have ever done,” Solano says. “The dog needed urgent medical care and the owner had failed to provide that care.”

It’s illegal in California to deprive an animal of food, water or shelter.

It’s a crime to tether or chain a dog to a stationary object for longer than three hours in a 24-hour period. It’s against the law to allow that rope or chain to become entangled.

Are unhoused people exempt from these laws? Their dogs are denied food, water, shelter and the ability to move freely on a daily basis.