Oakland’s only open admissions shelter
This sweet Persian was brought to us terribly matted and sick. We groomed her and are bringing her back to better health. She is a sweet cat recovering from her unknown, but clearly poorly kept, circumstances. 
As with many neglected animals, we don’t know the story of their past, but are hopeful to make a better future. We are fortunate that Persian Rescue has accepted this girl into their program. She will live in a foster home to make her fully recovery!
Our Animal Care Coordinator, Martha Cline, was fortunate to be part of the latest Animal Farm Foundation Internship program in June. She had a wonderful time, learned a bunch and made a sweet new friend in the process. Here is a bit of her experience:
I recently had the pleasure to participate in Animal Farm Foundation’s week long internship in upstate New York. This was the a valuable experience for me, as the Animal Care Coordinator at Oakland Animal Services, to take week to focus on learning techniques from AFF to improve our programs for our Shelter dogs. I was paired with Rohan Marley, a dog at AFF. The two of us would live together during the week and I would be responsbile for caring for him, including feeding, toileting, training and giving feedback on his interactions with me over our time together.
I can only say that Marley was very patient with me as I practiced the obedience training techniques that AFF instructors showed us over the course of our time there. The internship gave me new tools and ideas that will help us improve the quality of life of the dogs at OAS; I’ve ordered clickers to train our awesome dog volunteers to “click for calm” in the kennels. I developed a new appreciation for what agility training can do to build self- confidence in shelter dogs; and while we may not have an entire agility course, we can build an inexpensive jump that will help us learn to teach our dogs build focus and decrease kennel stress. I can’t wait to teach some tricks to some of our extra special pups like Tallulah and Hudson.
The discussions during the internship with both instructors and participants about how to publicize dogs, with specific attention on what it means to publicize and educate about pitbull type dogs had me rethink my own approach to adoption counseling and how to talk with people about what each specific dog needs – no matter the breed.
Thank you AFF, the dogs (especially my new friend Marley), and of course my fellow interns for an awesome learning experience. Now I have the challenge and the pleasure of taking what I learned and applying it creatively to our divers dog population here in Oakland!
Martha Cline, OAS Animal Care Coordinator
This dog, now named Dony, was rescued from an abandoned house by an Oakland Police Officer. He was found incredibly emaciated, with no food or water. It is unknown how long he had been living in the home . The staff at OAS has taken slowly feeding him small amounts of food to help his system get used to eating again. Dony has begun to stand up in the past few days and we are hopeful for a full recovery soon. He is such a sweet guy.
Update 6/30/11: Foster mom and puppy were taken by PetsUnlimited today for their adoption program. Thank you!
This little chihuahua puppy was surrendered to OAS this week from a citizen who could no longer care for her after receiving her as a gift.
The puppy was distressed having been too young when she was weaned and separated from her mother (it is illegal to sell puppies in California younger than 8 weeks old). We tried to pair the puppy with several female dogs; most of which growled, barked or ignored the baby when she was put in a kennel with them.
This mama however, immediately became excited, tail wagging, upon sight of the puppy. She has taken the baby in and quickly took to cleaning and comforting her. They are quite happy together and can be found all snuggled up in their kennel together. 
They just don’t come any cuter than this. Although these dogs look like they are twins, they are really just the best of friends. Hudson was adopted from OAS 2 years ago and was recently surrendered by his owner. Both are amazing dogs looking for amazing families to adopt them. Both animals are spayed/neutered and ready to go with you today!
This bird is a true survivor. He was seen falling out of the sky after a hawk dropped him while flying through Oakland. The little cockatiel fell to earth in West Oakland and was rescued by a witness who called OAS. If you recognize this bird or have any information about who it belongs to, please call us at 510.535.5602
Oakland Animal Services has seen a huge influx this year in the number of small dogs we are getting into the Shelter. This may be a result of movies that highlight little dogs as the stars or the downturn in the economy – people are downsizing to apartments and getting small dogs and then moving out of the area and leaving these little dogs behind. Whatever the reason, we now often have 75 small dogs in the Shelter at any given time! The Shelter was not designed for small dogs. We’ve had to make major changes in our dog housing to accomodate these little guys.
We’ve also developed partnerships with rescue groups outside of the state that can help adopt them out. States like Oregon, Washington and Arizona have not seen an increase in small dogs in their shelters and are able to get them adopted much faster than we can here. This partnership helps us find homes for these little dogs and also helps them compete with puppy mills to prevent an overpopulation of unaltered small dogs in their areas.
We’d like to thank all of the volunteers who helped coordinate the transfer (especially Patty Ozenne), volunteers who transported the dogs out of state, and the organizations who took the dogs:
Barbaree, Patty, Sugi and Marnie help get OAS dogs ready to go to Washington State!
OAS dogs on their way to Washington State!
Animal Control Officer Jackie Pan rescued a 13 year old border collie mix who fell into a well underneath a house. His owners frantically tried to get him out but were unsuccessful.
They called Oakland Police Department’s Animal Services and ACO Pan responded.
Here’s the dog all the way at the bottom of the well filled with water!
The dog was a little wet but safe!
After months of joint investigation by the Oakland Police Department’s Oakland Animal Services (OAS) and the Crime Investigation Division (CID) – Theft Section, La Preda Thomas of Oakland was arraigned on Friday, October 9, on two felony counts of animal abuse charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. Thomas is accused of severely injuring more than 15 cats and kittens in incidents dating back to 2006.
Thomas became known to Oakland Animal Services and several animal rescue groups in 2006 when numerous times she was found with cats or kittens she claimed to have “rescued” that had serious and unusual injuries, ranging from multiple broken limbs to huge puncture wounds to a severely injured eye. Many of these cats also had their claws crudely cut off, sometimes with portions of their toes removed.
In one case, in 2007, OAS seized a group of kittens from Thomas’ residence that had been left in a cage in the hot sun with no water. Upon further examination, it was discovered that two of the kittens each had a front leg that was completely broken in half in almost identical locations. OAS learned from CID that Thomas was on probation for burglary. Terms of her probation included a search of her residence. OAS requested and participated in a search of the home this past July and again in September. In the first search, OAS and the search team rescued three kittens; almost every limb of each of these kittens had a fresh or healing break or fracture.
The second search of her home revealed an injured female cat and her kitten; the mom had a badly broken front leg and shattered hip that probably will need surgery. These cats are all healing and safe, thanks to the Montclair Veterinary Clinic, which donated all of the many radiographs needed to charge the case, and to Island Cat Resources, which assisted in finding the victims loving foster homes.
Experienced OAS veterinarian Dr. Jyothi Robertson says, “As a veterinarian, this is the first time I have seen so many severely malnourished animals with similar fractures coming from a single person claiming to be a rescuer.”
Despite the number of injured cats rescued from Thomas, she denied hurting any of the animals, claiming only that she specifically looks for injured cats to rescue, trapping or grabbing them in the community. OAS located a resident who had given kittens to Thomas. This person stated that the kittens were healthy, normal, and active before she gave them to Thomas. These same kittens were later found at Thomas’ residence. One was dead; the other’s front legs were both shattered, and he had pneumonia secondary to several broken ribs.
Thomas remains in custody awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Megan Webb, the director of Oakland Animal Services since April, says that one of her main priorities in her new role as director is to prosecute serious cases of animal abuse and neglect in the city. “Animal abuse is a crime and should be treated as such,” she says. “I’ve been so impressed with the support and assistance we have received from the police department on these cases.” This is the third felony animal-abuse case that OAS has helped to charge since Webb became director. The first was a cock fighting case where more than 150 roosters were seized. The third involved an 18-year-old man who is accused of having slashed the throat of his neighbor’s cat on two separate occasions. He remains on a psychiatric hold until he is transferred to Santa Rita jail.
