The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Eda Coburn volunteers once a week with the Humane Society. Her job is to spend time with the animals, getting them used to the human touch. Here she doles out caresses to Sammy the cat.

Dog Days of Summer

The Humane Society helps to keep the valley's animals in check

By Pam Marino

Sammy sits quietly, assessing the visitors, completely ignoring the four rambunctious youngsters nearby who are fighting with one another.

The 4-year-old black-and-white cat eyes the visitors closely, waiting for them to acknowledge him. In the cage next to his, four gray tabby kittens are jockeying for position at the front of the cage, meowing and reaching their tiny paws out to the people in the room.

Along with dozens of other cats, Sammy and the four kittens are waiting at the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley for someone to take them home.

The Humane Society takes care of animal-control issues for cities throughout the valley--including Cupertino and Sunnyvale--by taking in thousands of animals like Sammy each year. Both Cupertino and Sunnyvale contract with the Humane Society to take care of stray animals and dispose of dead ones. Sunnyvale has its own animal-control officers, through the Department of Public Safety. Cupertino contracts with the society for all its animal-control needs, including licensing of both cats and dogs.

Right now the Humane Society is in the midst of "kitty season," each day taking in up to 55 to 60 cats due to the breeding season, according to spokeswoman Leslie Baikie.

In Sammy's case his original name "Stinky"--has been crossed out. "Sammy" was deemed a more palatable name, and fortunately Stinky, er Sammy, responds to both names when called. He was given up by an owner who moved to a home that does not allow pets, according to his information card.

Sammy has a good chance of finding a home, as valley residents adopt about three times as many cats as dogs, executive director Chris Arnold said. In the meantime, the staff and volunteers will do everything they can to make sure Sammy--as well as the hundreds of dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, lizards and other animals they temporarily house--are clean, healthy and as attractive as possible to potential adopters.

An army of volunteers come every day to give lots of love and attention to the animals, which are fed twice a day and receive thorough health exams as well as vaccinations against the diseases and upper respiratory illnesses common when large numbers of animals are kept together.

Arnold said the 69-year-old Humane Society--the largest shelter on the West Coast and the third largest shelter in the country--does everything it can to find homes for the animals before the last resort, euthanasia. There is no set time limit before the animals are "put down," but in the summer the shelter sometimes runs out of room. Other shelters are contacted first to see if they have space, and there are some animal-rescue groups who will take animals if they can.

In the winter there are fewer animals at the shelter, and they can stay up to three months.

According to shelter officials, 91 percent of the adoptable animals do find homes.

Not all the animals who come into the Humane Society are adoptable, however. Some animals are too sick and injured from abuse and neglect. Some have a nasty temperament. Feral cats are often very sick by the time they are brought to the shelter. In those cases, Arnold said, "euthanasia is really a blessing." She said approximately 60 percent of the animals who come to the shelter fall into the unadoptable category.

The nonprofit organization runs an "open door" shelter, which means it takes every single animal that finds its way there. By contrast, "no kill" shelters only take those animals that have the best chance of being adopted.

"We want to provide a safe haven for all animals," she said. "It doesn't mean all animals are adoptable."

The animal-control officers, both for Sunnyvale and the shelter, are the ones who most often find these animals roaming the streets of the two cities. Sunnyvale officers said they get between 10 and 15 calls a day from citizens reporting problems or asking for advice about situations with animals. They said they go into the field about 10 times a day. The Humane Society gets approximately 500 calls a year from Cupertino.

The officers are fulfilling what the state requires cities to do at a minimum when dealing with vicious, stray and dead animals. They also assist public safety officers and sheriff's deputies when animals are involved in arrests or other situations. And they take animals who need to be quarantined at the shelter after biting a human.

But officers interviewed said much of their job is dealing with humans.

"Sometimes it turns out to be helping people to communicate," said Sunnyvale officer Michelle Morgan of the calls she goes out on. "They may have an issue with a neighbor's animal."

Fellow Sunnyvale officers Tim Brackett and Manuel Montavo said sometimes it's just a matter of getting neighbors to talk to one another.

"Animal issues can become very emotional issues," Morgan said. Both Brackett and Morgan said people's pets are sometimes their children.

In the case of strays, the officers said they have had their share of bites and scratches, but usually they try to keep both the animals and themselves as safe as possible.

"You learn how to read animals," Morgan said. Depending on an animal's behavior the officers can determine what sort of stance, voice--stern and commanding or soft and gentle, for example--and tools to use.

Besides domesticated animals, the officers also pick up dead or injured wildlife that can become a possible threat to public safety.

Wild animals that are annoying people are a different matter, however.

In Sunnyvale the officers will advise residents on how to deter the animals and, as a last resort, will allow residents to trap the animals after completing a class. The trapped animals, mostly raccoons and opossums, are then turned over to a wildlife rehabilitation organization. Ironically, the animals are usually released only a couple of miles from where they were trapped, due to regulations that do not allow the animal to be released in an area unfamiliar to them.

Cupertino residents must call Santa Clara County Vector Control for advice.

Summer is a busy season for the officers and for the Humane Society. Longer daylight hours allow residents to see more of what's happening, and with kids home from school, doors and gates don't always get closed, giving some kitties and doggies free rein in their neighborhoods.

Officers and Humane Society officials advise pet owners to always have tags on their pets. The society also recommends microchip implants. For $20 the shelter will implant a tiny rod-like chip in the middle of the pet's shoulder blades in a relatively painless and simple procedure. Owners then register the chip with the manufacturing company. A scanner at the shelter picks up the phone number of the chip company. The shelter has been able to contact owners within half an hour of the animal's arrival.

The shelter offers a wide variety of services to owners besides microchip implants, including low-cost spay and neuter services and vaccinations.

Baikie called the spay and neuter clinic "the heart and soul of the Humane Society." In February the shelter offered half-price surgeries as part of national Spay and Neuter Month. The shelter received 1,400 calls that month and was able to perform 1,285 procedures. As a result, a national foundation recently announced that the Santa Clara society was third in the nation for providing spays and neuters.

Since Arnold took the helm five years ago, the shelter has seen a reduction in animals coming into the shelter, from 42,000 animals to 33,000 last year. That's in part due to aggressive spay and neuter programs. The shelter now performs the procedure on 100 percent of the adopted animals, including rats and guinea pigs.

"We just don't want any of the animals coming back or having babies," Baikie said.

For $25 the shelter will allow concerned citizens to bring a feral cat in for spaying or neutering and vaccinations. Citizens must rent a humane trap from a store--feed and grain stores carry them--and release the animals to the same location once the procedures are complete.

The shelter also has a list of 173 rentals in the area that accept pets. Baikie said only about 10 percent of rentals in the valley accept cats, and fewer than that accept dogs. The list is available at the shelter, 2530 Lafayette St., Santa Clara, or on the Web site at www.scvhumane.org.

In addition, pet owners can call for advice on behavioral problems, one of the reasons some choose to surrender a pet. Many times the problem is easily solved, Baikie said. A staff behaviorist, Maureen Strenfel, can be reached at 727-3383, ext. 753.

Yet another service is a grief-support group for owners who have lost their beloved pets.

Adoptions are taken very seriously at the shelter. Adoption counselors conduct interviews and try to help make an effective match. A letter from landlords is required. Children under age 6 who will be sharing their home with a new dog must come along, as well as any existing dogs in the home.

Fees are $30 for cats, $70 for dogs and $35 for rabbits. The fees include spaying and neutering, vaccinations, health exams, an identification tag and educational materials. For puppies younger than six months, a $50 deposit is required.

The shelter is open seven days a week. Adoption hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they are 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and on weekends 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Sammy is waiting.

For more information, call the Humane Society at 727-3383. Donations of unopened bags and cans of kitten food can be dropped off at 2530 Lafayette St., in Santa Clara, 95050, at the corner of Lafayette and Martin Avenue. Towels for cats' cages are also needed. Monetary donations can be sent to the above address. If donating for kitten food, specify "Food for the Kittens."

For animal control and licensing questions in Sunnyvale, call 730-7178. For animal control in Cupertino, call the above shelter number. For licensing questions call 727-9881.

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 8, 1998.
©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.