REDMOND, OR -- We’re learning more about the 14 dogs saved from being euthanized at a California shelter, and brought to Redmond’s Brightside Animal Center just after Christmas.
Redmond shelter director Chris Bauersfeld says she visits the facility in Red Bluff whenever she visits her daughter in the area. "They are overcrowded. There is no low-cost spay/neuter program in that area. They get dogs in, and they keep them through the 5-day stray hold. They told me that about 10% of the owners reclaim their animals. Another 10-20% are adopted out to the public, and they able to get another 10-20% transferred to other shelters. Then they euthanize the rest," Bauersfeld tels KBND News. When she stopped in at Christmas-time, she didn't leave empty handed. "I just happened to stop in, and they were pulling dogs at that point to euthanize. I said can you hold up just a sec and if I find some dogs that I can take back with me, will you hold them until Saturday. And the one caregiver started to cry – because there’s just so much emotion when you’re selecting which dogs are going to die at that moment." The breeds vary from lab and shepherd mixes to chihuahua and terrier-varieties.
But, that initial batch of dogs wasn't all: "Then, in addition to those 14 that I loaded into my car, I also had picked up a pit bull mother dog and her puppies the day before," says Bauersfeld. "They’d been brought into the shelter, they’d been found in a house where the people had been evicted. They left the pit bull behind, and she had her puppies all alone." Bauersfeld expects the pit bull family will travel to Redmond in about two weeks, where they will remain in foster care until the puppies are old enough to be adopted. The other 14 dogs should be ready for new homes, later this week.
Brightside is posting photos of the available dogs on their Facebook page ... interested families should call or stop in at the Redmond shelter.
