Report from the Front Lines: Rescues Don’t Pause for a Pandemic

These past 127 days have been something else. 

At noon on March 16th, I was in the car listening to the radio. At the top of the hour, Christie James, who always sounds optimistic, was delivering the news: “As of 12:01am Mayor Breed’s shelter-in-place order will go into effect.” Oh my gawd. “All non-essential businesses are to be closed.” I knew I couldn’t panic.

By 12:30pm, I arrived at Family Dog Rescue and called in the staff. On Facebook, we posted that fosters were urgently needed. People arrived in droves. The rest of the day looked and felt like the busiest Saturday we’d ever had. By 10:30 that night, 40 dogs had gone into foster care and 10 had been adopted. 

But what to do moving forward? Shutting down was not an option. Dogs needed saving and rehoming. It didn’t take a crystal ball to know that the future held everything from death by COVID-19 to layoffs, homelessness, increased crime, and dogs being abandoned in greater numbers. Our work had to go on. 

How to keep the shelter open? Within days people were donating disposable face masks, and the employees who remained on the job wore them. Other staff were told we’d hold their jobs. We followed CDC guidelines to the letter. Hand washing became a thing. If someone wasn’t feeling well, it was “Stay home!” We moved to a mandatory 7-day self-quarantine model. 

After rooms were used for an appointment they were sanitized – door handles, couches, pens. Gloves were offered to potential adopters. Hand sanitizer was available. Everyone who entered the shelter had to sign a COVID-19 attestation stating that they hadn’t been exposed to anyone who’d tested positive. And yes, people who couldn’t affirm that were turned away. We no longer allowed walk-ins and switched to appointments only - and those only after a written application was approved.  One-third of our staff felt it was unsafe to venture into public spaces, which created gaps in the schedule. I personally filled in on everything from cleaning kennels and offices to running adoptions and foster appointments. 

Within 24 hours of the shelter-in-place order, our army of amazing volunteers simply disappeared. Corporate groups cancelled en masse. The shelter became a ghost town. Cleaning supplies ran short. If I passed a store I thought might sell bleach, I stopped and bought as many bottles as allowed, no matter the size or the cost. There were holes in the supply chain. Rescue, which we used to use to clean the kennels, was sold out nationwide. We switched to bleach and Fabuloso.

I transported dogs to the vet. All veterinary practices had moved to appointment-only and by the way, “you can’t enter the lobby.” Emergency services were the order of the day. We used to rely on VIP Pet Care for low-cost rabies vaccinations. No more. Did I mention that the cost of everything increased? How were we going to do this?

City and county shelters in the Central Valley, where a majority of our dogs come from, were shut down. Animal Control Officers were furloughed. But our rescue partners continued to pull dogs straight out of abuse/neglect/abandonment situations and from horrific backyard breeding scenarios. Sick dogs, pregnant dogs, terrified dogs, and senior dogs. All were welcome. Transporters arrived morning, noon, and night at our shelter. Pilots for Paws continued to bring dogs to us several times a week. 

About three weeks into lockdown, we hit our stride. Sure, we had over 1,600 unread applications and only 50 dogs available for adoption. Yeah, our calendar was booked solid for three months out. True, individual donations decreased. Was it apocalyptic? Pretty darn close. But we managed.

In recent weeks, several of our long-term volunteers have returned. They were sorely missed and it’s been great to see them again. A small number of new volunteers have been trained. Our monthly Mexico intakes have continued. Toilet paper is no longer impossible to source. Donations of food and cleaning supplies have continued, for which we’re deeply grateful. 

From March 16 to July 18 we had 744 adoptions. No one on staff has tested positive for COVID. While we’re all living with this terrible uncertainty, it has been a privilege to help so many homeless dogs find great new families. Stay safe out there.