Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter: Keeping Pets and People Together
Modi is available for adoption at the Alameda Animal Shelter. photo: FAAS
Since signing a contract 10 years ago with the City of Alameda to run its animal shelter, Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter has worked hard to become a reliable safety net for our community’s homeless pets.
Our first goal was to develop new programs, including an emergency medical fund, designed to give as many animals as possible the second chance they deserve. Supported by our community’s leaders, more than 150 devoted volunteers, and many generous donors, FAAS now saves more than 95% of the almost 1,000 pets that come through our doors each year.
It’s a great start - but it’s only the beginning. Like a growing number of traditional animal shelters across the country, our ultimate goal must be to help as many pets as possible keep their homes in the first place.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, many animal shelters, including ours, experienced what we hoped would become a new normal: empty kennels! With people sheltering at home, many folks found new reasons and opportunities to adopt a pet.
When FAAS asked our community to foster pets so we could send our kennel staff home early in the pandemic, Alameda citizens responded by taking home every animal in our shelter. Almost every one of these pets was eventually adopted, thanks to these generous foster families.
The euphoria was short-lived, however. Recently, many shelters including ours, have found themselves full again, as people adjust to a post-COVID reality of returning to jobs and school.
Even in the best of economic times, we realize that some pet surrenders are inevitable. Still, that doesn’t mean we don’t reach for every tool available to keep relinquishments to the minimum.
Strengthening the Human-Animal Bond
Pets might not be for everyone, but “pet parenting” brings joy to more than half the households in the U.S., according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Whether we rent or own, are young or old, or are working or retired, animal companions can bring wonderful new dimensions to our lives.
For most pet owners, making that “human-animal bond” work is important. Alamedan Shelly Gable helped FAAS take one of its first big steps to help strengthen that bond when she established our Sasha Training Fund in 2013.
Shelly knew from first-hand experience with her rambunctious German Shepherd puppy, Sasha, how important canine training could be in helping shelter dogs succeed in new homes. Thanks to the Sasha Fund, all FAAS canine adoptions now include six weeks of free behavior training.
More recently, FAAS has used the Sasha Fund to send dogs with treatable behavior problems to sleepaway canine boot camps, which find them loving, permanent homes after “graduation.”
The Sasha Training Fund continues to save FAAS dogs with behavior problems thanks to donations from the public.
Healthy Pets Healthy People
When money is tight, free and low-cost services can help humans hang on to their furry loved ones.
For the last several years, FAAS has held a monthly Pet Food Pantry in our parking lot, where unopened donated food can be picked up by low-income families who struggle to feed their pets.
Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, Shelly and her mother, Sherry Gable, generously donated most of the funding needed for FAAS to complete the next step in our new initiative “Healthy Pets Healthy People” - the purchase of a motor vehicle equipped with built-in kennels, sink, and examination table.
The 26-foot Mobile Outreach and Adoption Center, dedicated to Shelly’s beloved Yorkie, Synta, made its maiden voyage last month to The Village of Love, an Alameda service for the homeless, to provide free basic pet examinations and vaccinations.
Tragically, Shelly lost her life to cancer soon after this amazing contribution to Alameda pet owners. But her legacy of love and support for pets will live on in the Sasha Training Fund and “The Synta” mobile center.
From One Home To Another
In December 2019, FAAS joined Home to Home, a new online service created specifically to connect people needing to rehome a pet with those who would like to adopt one. Available animals are posted on the Home to Home website and on the participating shelter’s Facebook page.
Every successful Home to Home match represents a pet who did not have to be surrendered to a shelter in order to find a new home. In the last two years, Home to Home has helped 98 pets find new homes without being surrendered to FAAS or another animal shelter.
Like most shelters, the Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter happily provides counseling to new adopters and can serve as a valuable resource when people need a little more help to navigate the sometimes complex experience of living with another species. Remember, we’re here for you!
How to Reach Us
If you would like to support Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter, learn about different ways you can help under the Donation link at AlamedaAnimalShelter.org. The main shelter is located at 1590 Fortmann Way in Alameda, California, (510) 337-8565. A satellite adoption location for cat and rabbit adoptions is located at South Shore Center in Alameda. All adoptions are by appointment. All net proceeds from FAAS’s thrift shop, The Thrifty Kitty, 1509 Webster Street in Alameda, also go to support Alameda’s lost and abandoned pets.