Oakland’s only open admissions shelter
East Bay Animal Advocates has been a huge help in providing care and obtaining placement for the nearly 500 baby chickens that we impounded in May! Animal Acres in Southern California has agreed to take 200 of them and East Bay Animal Advocates will transport them there on July 5th! Thank you! Please consider donating to East Bay Animal Advocates to help cover the cost of transporting these birds!
The Oakland Animal Shelter would like to thank Pet Food Express for all of their ongoing support! They have provided the Shelter with a wide range of assistance, including financial contributions to the Friends of the Oakland Animal Shelter through their innovative My Mutt’s program, discounts to adopters, lots of donations of food and supplies, and expert help from their wonderful staff. For example, Pet Food Express recently installed large, warehouse shelving in the Shelter’s garage area. This has made it possible for us to convert our current storage area to a room for rabbits and small animals!
We want to acknowledge owners Michael Levy and Mark Witriol for their incredible commitment to helping animal organizations in the community. Special thanks to their staff members, Mike Murray, who has helped us in so many ways and to John, from maintenance, who installed all the shelving (all by himself!) and even made a beautiful cage for our Shelter rabbit – Dusty (see below!)! Thank you!
WONDERFUL NEW SHELVING FROM PET FOOD EXPRESS!
DUSTY’s (the Shelter bunny) NEW, HUGE BEAUTIFUL HOME
Ten employees from the Nutro Dog Food Division of the Mars Company recently spent a day at the Shelter to create an outdoor exercise run for little dogs. Our little dogs can now spend the day outside in the sunshine when they aren’t in the “Smallville”. See the before and after photos below:
Before:
Employees from Nutro clear out an area at the Shelter for little dogs.
After:
Businesses Contribute to Modernizing the Oakland Animal Shelter
Grand Opening of Two New Animal Areas on June 1st
WHAT: Oakland Animal Services (OAS) celebrates the opening of two new animal areas – a spacious room for puppies and an outdoor play area for cats. The Puppy Parlor is sponsored by Woof Dog Hotel and Daycare and The Catio by Purrfect Fence Inc.
The grand opening of these spaces on June 1st will be an opportunity to take photos of each area and to interview staff from OAS and each participating business.
WHEN: 10:30-12:00pm
Sunday, June 1st, 2008
WHERE: Oakland Animal Services – 1101 29th Street, Oakland 94601
BACKGROUND:
Oakland Animal Services reached out to businesses to request their help to make changes in the Shelter to better meet the needs of its animals. Woof Dog Hotel agreed to sponsor a new puppy room, the Puppy Parlor. This space was transformed from a dark, cramped room with small, outdated kennels to an open, airy space covered with bright murals and area for puppies to play and socialize together. Purrfect Fence also worked with OAS to sponsor an outdoor space for adoption cats to be able to spend time outside. The company enclosed a patio area with its special fencing to prevent cats from escaping. This area will not only provide fresh air and exercise for cats that are often in adoption for many months but will also educate the public on how to keep cats safe in their yards.
These are just two of the projects at OAS that have been made possible by the generous donation of time and funding from various companies. For example, local business, Pet Food Express, recently funded the addition of murals in the adoption gallery and the installation of warehouse shelving to improve the Shelter’s storage capacity. And, ten employees from the Nutro Dog Food Division of the Mars Company recently spent a day at the Shelter to create an outdoor exercise run for little dogs.
Oakland Animal Services came to the aid of more than 500 day-old chicks taken into custody at Oakland Airport. The chicks were being transported by the United States Postal Service from a Santa Cruz hatchery to a destination in Washington State on Tuesday, May 13.
The Oakland Airport Postal Service discovered many sick and some dead
chicks among the shipment of five boxes of 106 chicks each – or 530
total – and contacted Oakland Animal Services for assistance; 47 birds
were found dead. The chicks were from Cal Cruz Hatchery in Santa Cruz
and when reaching Oakland airport had already been traveling for over 24
hours before Oakland Animal Services impounded them.
Animal Place, which frequently works with animal control agencies to
help find adoptive homes for farmed animals confiscated in cruelty
cases, is working to help place the chicks. Because the rescued birds
are “broilers”, or chickens raised for meat, they are bred for rapid
growth so they can be slaughtered at six weeks of age.
“Shipping chicks through the postal service is common practice. It is
a given that many will die in route, but the losses are expected and
accepted by industry,” said Adam Parascandola, Oakland Animal Services
director. “These poor chicks were less than a day old before their
nightmarish journey began.”
“It should be illegal to transport any animal through the postal
service, let alone day-old chicks,” said Kim Sturla, Animal Place
director. “This is another example of treating farmed animals as
commodities and not living creatures. If only people knew the suffering
that went into their roasted chicken!”
It is legal to ship young birds through the mail, as long as they are
under 24 hours old when presented for shipping, and delivered to the
receiver within 72 hours. The practice of sending chicks through the
postal service began over 100 years ago, when the first commercial
hatchery in America sent 50 chicks from New Jersey to Illinois in 1892.
Today, millions of chicks are shipped each year through the mail,
without food or water or proper housing, and as a result, large numbers
die before reaching their destination, while many more suffer
unnecessarily. Animal advocates have long condemned the practice, and
although the U.S. Postal Service has instituted modest policy changes,
transport of live animals through the mail remains inhumane and results
in countless deaths each year.
This coming Saturday, May 10th from 1-5 pm will be the fifth event at the Oakland Animal Shelter for Oakland Raider’s fans. Come on out all you Raider fans, tailgate with Coop, and maybe even adopt that fuzzy little companion that you have been thinking about for awhile now. There will be Raider players, Raiderettes, great food, and a raffle. The shelter is located at 101 29th Avenue, Oakland 94601. For more info, go here.
We’ve been working hard to find ways to improve the lives of the animals while they are in our care. Small dogs are often extremely frightened when they come into the Shelter since they are surrounded by much larger and much louder dogs in the kennels. We wanted to find a way to house these little dogs in a new way. So, we found a room to remodel and with the help of multiple volunteers we repainted the room and filled it with comfy furniture and bedding to make “Smallville”. Now, little dogs will live in this room together without cages and away from the noise of the “big dog” kennels. We have already noticed a major change in the behavior of the first small dogs that we’ve placed in this room. They are much less stressed and outgoing! 
Pinky came to the Oakland Animal Shelter over one year ago in April, 2007! He was a very shy boy and his skin showed through his short fur. He was a very sweet dog, but tended to sit in the back of his kennel. He was moved into adoption and slowly gained confidence. Months past though and he was not adopted. Amy, a Shelter volunteer, decided to foster him and worked for months to find him just the right home. It’s finally happened! Thanks to everyone who cared so much about him to make sure he has a happy future.
