The Manteca Animal Shelter can be a sad place for employees and volunteers who do their best to see that the strays they pick up on the street are adopted out to good homes rather than being euthanized.
The cages were at a breaking point Tuesday morning with over 46 dogs, cats and one bunny. A rescue operation out of the Bay Area – The Milo Foundation – took possession of many of the animals in their effort to find them homes in other areas.
Milo is a domestic animal foundation located on 280 acres with regular adoption locations in the greater Bay Area. The fact that the group took so many animals Tuesday morning had the staff elated that there might be homes for the dogs and cats on the horizon.
The rescue group took a litter of four kittens, two adult cats, a rabbit, four small female dogs, two small male dogs, one Rottweiler mix, a female terrier with her four pups six to eight weeks old and five Chihuahua puppies.
There is a Jack Russell Terrier ready for adoption with the name of “Trebol.” Another six-month-old Jack Russell Terrier sits patiently in his cage unaware of what awaits her in the future.
The upswing in the unwanted pets in the past several years has been attributed to the downturn in the economy as well as the foreclosure crisis. While many people can no longer afford to care for a pet and voluntarily turn them in to the shelter, others have simply walked away from foreclosed homes and left animals to fend for themselves.
The staff at the shelter was reduced by one officer that has been supplemented at best by three volunteers and a part-time employee. Working for over a year at the pound – nine hours a week – is Ashley Endsley-Wilson. The teen spends her time giving a great deal of “tender loving care” to the animals while doing some of the dirty work of cleaning the cages. She is going into her freshman year shortly at Sierra School.
Many people have questioned the location of the shelter due to the lack of signage on South Main Street that would lead them to the facility. And due to the shortage of staff it is not always open when Peggy Miller or Les Rowe are out on a call for service.
Linda Sell is one of those special people with a love for animals that just doesn’t stop. She has found a need with helping those many abandoned family pets. Formerly only a volunteer, she is now on part-time salary for 16 hours a week. But that doesn’t fill the need, so she puts in another 16 hours that she doesn’t get paid for at the pound. Linda is very humble about her volunteering. She’s at the shelter seven days a week besides holding down another part-time job in graphic arts.
The Manteca shelter also takes animals from the city of Lathrop keeping them the required time and attempting to find their owners in many cases. The Wetmore Avenue facility is antiquated in comparison with the Ripon pound that is heated and air conditioned. However with the current state of the economy there are no promises that the Manteca facility will get an upgrade anytime soon.
What the staff regrets is that many of the new residents in town don’t have any idea where the pound is located. Even when driving down Wetmore Avenue, it is often difficult to locate due to the lack of signage.
The cages were at a breaking point Tuesday morning with over 46 dogs, cats and one bunny. A rescue operation out of the Bay Area – The Milo Foundation – took possession of many of the animals in their effort to find them homes in other areas.
Milo is a domestic animal foundation located on 280 acres with regular adoption locations in the greater Bay Area. The fact that the group took so many animals Tuesday morning had the staff elated that there might be homes for the dogs and cats on the horizon.
The rescue group took a litter of four kittens, two adult cats, a rabbit, four small female dogs, two small male dogs, one Rottweiler mix, a female terrier with her four pups six to eight weeks old and five Chihuahua puppies.
There is a Jack Russell Terrier ready for adoption with the name of “Trebol.” Another six-month-old Jack Russell Terrier sits patiently in his cage unaware of what awaits her in the future.
The upswing in the unwanted pets in the past several years has been attributed to the downturn in the economy as well as the foreclosure crisis. While many people can no longer afford to care for a pet and voluntarily turn them in to the shelter, others have simply walked away from foreclosed homes and left animals to fend for themselves.
The staff at the shelter was reduced by one officer that has been supplemented at best by three volunteers and a part-time employee. Working for over a year at the pound – nine hours a week – is Ashley Endsley-Wilson. The teen spends her time giving a great deal of “tender loving care” to the animals while doing some of the dirty work of cleaning the cages. She is going into her freshman year shortly at Sierra School.
Many people have questioned the location of the shelter due to the lack of signage on South Main Street that would lead them to the facility. And due to the shortage of staff it is not always open when Peggy Miller or Les Rowe are out on a call for service.
Linda Sell is one of those special people with a love for animals that just doesn’t stop. She has found a need with helping those many abandoned family pets. Formerly only a volunteer, she is now on part-time salary for 16 hours a week. But that doesn’t fill the need, so she puts in another 16 hours that she doesn’t get paid for at the pound. Linda is very humble about her volunteering. She’s at the shelter seven days a week besides holding down another part-time job in graphic arts.
The Manteca shelter also takes animals from the city of Lathrop keeping them the required time and attempting to find their owners in many cases. The Wetmore Avenue facility is antiquated in comparison with the Ripon pound that is heated and air conditioned. However with the current state of the economy there are no promises that the Manteca facility will get an upgrade anytime soon.
What the staff regrets is that many of the new residents in town don’t have any idea where the pound is located. Even when driving down Wetmore Avenue, it is often difficult to locate due to the lack of signage.
