Dear Animal Welfare Supporter,

By now, you probably know we have a passion for serving the people and animals in Placer County at the highest level of professionalism. Whether serving customers at our Used Book Store in Auburn, responding to animal cruelty complaints, disseminating animal care information to the public or providing temporary animal assistance, we continually strive for excellence.

The important part is, we believe that protecting and stopping animals from cruel treatment is more about educating animal owners than it is about enforcing animal cruelty laws. In most cases, we're helping cooperative owners by providing pet food, equipment, and other resources with personalized and professional service. However, when owners persist in treating their animals cruelly, we'll never walk away from helping those animals.

In October last year, after months of unsuccessful efforts to work with an owner, 29 neglected horses were rescued from deplorable conditions. In their months of being in HSSF's custody, these poor animals, whose overall health was not good and deteriorating, received veterinarian attention, were wormed to address high parasitic counts identified by laboratory tests, and were fed proper supplements twice a day in addition to good forage.

According to those laboratory tests, one very sick colt had 15,000 parasite eggs in a gram of fecal matter. If our veterinarian had not intervened and treated that animal we are certain it would have died. As a result of their time under HSSF's care, they all gained much-needed weight and enjoyed improved health. The costs of this rescue, bringing these 29 horses back to good condition and professional fees were close to $45,000.

With a grant from ASPCA, the financial impacts of the rescue were greatly reduced. We can't thank ASPCA enough, as well as the wonderful volunteers who helped with daily multiple feeding schedules, paddock cleaning, monitoring, and so much more. A big thanks also goes to the professionals—the experts who helped with managing the herd, transporting, and training while they were in HSSF’s custody. We’ll provide more details about this rescue in our next newsletter.

I informed the owners that a dog couldn’t be tied to a stationary object for more than three hours in a 24 hour period or longer than it takes for the owner to complete a “temporary” task (Health & Safety Code 122335). I also mentioned the complaint was for unhealthy water and unsanitary conditions. Immediately, the owner said Harley was an escape artist and they had been meaning (for a long time) to finish the fencing around his dog kennel so he didn’t have to be on a chain. It just seemed time had gotten away from them. And so, they agreed to spend the weekend finishing the kennel project.

But…. before I left, Harley had to be removed from the chain to correct the violation and to be sure he wasn’t put back on—I asked to take it with me. It took a wrench and great strength to unscrew the cabiner that fixed the chain to the ring on the dog’s collar. Once released, the chain clanged to the ground and I was overcome with a feeling of relief and freedom. I think Harley felt it too because he immediately rose on his back paws and placed his front paws on the horizontal bars of the iron fence so he could be closer to us and maybe catch a few head rubs -- which I indulged him in.

Most complaints take 2-3 visits to complete. The first visit usually results in leaving a door hanger asking the resident to contact me. The second visit is to discuss the complaint; and if the complaint is valid, the third visit is a follow up to be sure any corrections required have been completed.

Harley’s complaint followed the 2-visit protocol, and he was liberated from his chain. Harley’s owner and I agreed that I would return to verify the work was completed and, of course, provide Harley with a few more head rubs.

Special Recognition

As always our gratitude runs deep for our book store volunteers and the volunteers who care for, love on and entertain the animals now free from cruelty - and for donors who support our work.

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