by Lori Weise, Founder and Director of Downtown Dog Rescue
Mr Ellis is a senior citizen who lives in South LA on a very fixed income with his 92 year old mom. He meant to fix his gate but he couldn’t afford to get a handyman to help. His worst nightmare happened, both of his dogs broken down the wobbly gate and were picked up by an animal control officer. The good news is that the shelter was the South LA shelter and Lt Botta is there to help dog owners redeem their dogs. Mr. Ellis’ case was no different. Lt. Botta called us up and asked for our assistance through the Operation Safety Net program which helps keep dogs out of the South LA shelter. Mr. Ellis had no money, no transportation and no idea how he was ever going to get his two dogs back.
Sandy D. who manages our hotline and many other parts of DDR made many phone calls to coordinate the handyman work, Mr. Ellis’ transportation and the dogs ride home. Volunteer Sandy Z scouted out the situation, spoke to Mr. Ellis and hired handyman Carlos to fix the gate at a cost of $150. Once the gate passed inspection from the Dept of Animal Services, DDR paid the fees to get both dogs back home at a cost of $157 per dog. Sandy Z transported the dogs back to Mr. Ellis and her report was that he had “Tears of Joy” upon being reunited with his dogs.
Doesn’t it make more sense to assist dog owners in underserved areas redeem their dogs or even better prevent their dogs from ever entering the shelter? We all know that there are not enough homes for highly adoptable dogs. Imagine what chance these two dogs would have had in being rescued or adopted as dogs that appeared to be under socialized, bonded and dog aggressive with other dogs.
All the volunteers at Downtown Dog Rescue want to thank Lt. Susan Botta for working to reunited more dogs back to their owners and for working with us to get the job done!
