Read the latest from the Friends of Oakland Animal Services.
Home for the Holidays: Adoptions fees waived through January 7
In what has become an annual tradition, Oakland Animal Services is celebrating Home for the Holidays. Adoption fees will be waived for all animals through January 7, 2018. Standard adoption screening still applies.
Those who can’t adopt can still help shelter pets this holiday season. The shelter has an Amazon wish list with much needed items including snacks, toys, and cozy beds for the pets.
Limited Services During Labor Strike
UPDATE December 11, 2017: The strike has been suspended and the shelter will return to normal services beginning Dec 12.
The City’s employee labor unions have called for a labor strike beginning Tuesday, December 5, 2017, which they indicate may continue for an indefinite length of time. Oakland Animal Shelter employees are represented by these unions.
During the strike, OAS will be providing limited services to the public. OAS will be open during regular hours for owners looking to reclaim their lost animals and for members of the public who must bring in stray or surrendered animals. We ask that you hold onto an animal, if possible, until the conclusion of the strike.
Routine services such as adoptions and licensing WILL NOT occur during this time. OAS will continue to rely on partner agencies to transfer animals from our care so that they may be adopted through alternate channels.
OAS will call upon its cadre of volunteers to assist management to provide care for the animals in our shelter.
Calls for emergency response on animal-related matters should be directed to the Oakland Police Department (OPD). Calls for routine services including dead animal pickup, strays and other non-emergency calls will be delayed for the duration of the labor strike.
Friends of Oakland Animal Services Selected as Grant Recipient of Petco Foundation’s Holiday Wishes Campaign
Michelle Dunn (left) with Archie (formerly Yin Yang) and Susan Reale with Chipper (formerly Kuro)
Local Woman Submits Adoption Story to Win $50,000 Grant For Friends of Oakland Animal Services
After submitting her story to the Petco Foundation Holiday Wishes campaign, Sue Reale of Oakland, Calif. won Friends of Oakland Animal Services a $50,000 grant that is part of the Petco Foundation’s Holiday Wishes campaign. This year, the Petco Foundation will deliver a total of $765,000 in grant awards during Holiday Wishes celebrations from now until December 20 – including one $100,000 grand prize, and a series of finalist awards ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to support the tremendous lifesaving efforts carried out by these deserving organizations year-round.
Sue’s essay focuses on how she found a complete stranger to donate a kidney since she was in need of a transplant. Soon after Sue’s transplant surgery, she adopted her dog Chipper from Oakland Animal Services. Her donor ended up adopting Chipper’s sibling Archie. The final twist to the story, the dogs were born on the same day as the transplant. Today, the foursome spread the word about saving lives through kidney donation and pet adoption. You can read Sue’s complete story here and here.
The Petco Foundation invites all animal lovers to play a role in making Holiday Wishes come true. From now until December 20, 2017, fans can read all finalist stories and vote for their favorites to win the “People’s Choice Award.” The five organizations with the most votes will receive additional funding ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 to support their lifesaving work. Results of the “People’s Choice Award” will be revealed before Christmas.
To vote for Sue’s story and give FOAS a chance to win an additional $25K, follow these steps:
- Visit the Holiday Wishes People’s Choice Award page
- Scroll down to the Oakland Animal Services submission (the submissions are listed alphabetically by organization).
- Select Oakland Animal Services. NOTE: If you click “read more,” it takes you away from the voting page. To vote, just click the picture so the box turns yellow).
- Keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page.
- Click submit at the bottom of the page.
About the Petco Foundation
At the Petco Foundation, we believe that every animal deserves to live its best life. Since 1999, we’ve invested more than $200 million in lifesaving animal welfare work to make that happen. With our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners, we inspire and empower communities to make a difference by investing in adoption and medical care programs, spay and neuter services, pet cancer research, service and therapy animals, and numerous other lifesaving initiatives. Through our Think Adoption First program, we partner with Petco stores and animal welfare organizations across the country to increase pet adoptions. So far, we’ve helped more than 5.5 million pets find their new loving families, and we’re just getting started. Visit petcofoundation.org to learn more about how you can get involved.
Giving Tuesday FOAS Newsletter
Butterfinger and Finn seek foster or forever families
More info on Butterfinger | More info on Finn
UPDATE, 27 Nov 2017: Butterfinger and Finn are now in foster homes!
Butterfinger is an active dog who loves to play soccer! He is beginning to show signs of kennel stress so we are hoping to find him a foster or forever family soon.
Finn is a very playful dog who is treat motivated and therefore easy to train. He is ready to leave the shelter and find a foster or forever family.
To foster Butterfinger or Finn, complete and submit our online questionnaire.
Vote now to help FOAS win a People’s Choice award!
Michelle Dunn (left) with Archie (formerly Yin Yang) and Susan Reale with Chipper (formerly Kuro). Photo by Soulful Pet Photography
The Friends of Oakland Animal Services has been chosen to receive a Petco Foundation Holiday Wishes grant, and possibly more, with a vote from you! Vote for Oakland Animal Services in the People’s Choice competition through December 20 for a chance to help grant us up to $25,000 in additional lifesaving dollars.
****VOTE HERE****
“My kidney donor saved my life. In turn, we saved the lives of two puppies who have created even more of a forever bond between us.” Those words and this incredible story, submitted by our adopter, Sue Reale, earned us much needed funding to help us continue to serve Oakland’s residents and pets.
Now it’s your turn to grant Holiday Wishes!
****VOTE HERE****
Free spay/neuter for Oakland dogs and cats
Each year, our shelter takes in thousands of homeless dogs, puppies, cats and kittens. To help reduce the overpopulation of pets in Oakland, Friends of Oakland Animal Services (FOAS) has launched a FREE spay/neuter program for dogs and cats (including feral cats). The program is open to residents of Oakland, CA.
The first FREE pet fix day will be on December 7. FOAS will be providing transportation round-trip from the the meeting point at OAS to the Fix Our Ferals surgery center in Richmond. Space is limited, and YOU MUST HAVE A CONFIRMED APPOINTMENT with us to participate.
This free service includes sterilization surgery, core vaccinations, microchipping and routine flea treatment. Here are the details:
** YOU MUST HAVE A CONFIRMED APPOINTMENT TO PARTICIPATE **
- To participate, complete this online form, and we will contact you if we are able to accommodate your pets:
- Your animal must be dropped off with FOAS staff, in the parking lot at Oakland Animal Services, 1101 29th Ave, between 6-7am on December 7.
- You must pick up your animal the same day, between 5:30 and 7:00pm. Animals not picked up will be considered abandoned, and impounded at the shelter. Fees may apply to redeem your pet.
- The program is open to dogs and cats, including feral cats, belonging to an Oakland resident. Minimum weight is 3 pounds. Maximum weight for this event is 60 pounds due to transport limitations.
Contact petfix@oaklandsanimals.org with any questions or for more info.
We have more in store for 2018! Stay informed about our spay/neuter program and other FOAS news by subscribing to our email newsletter.
We need kitten fosters!!
We still need kitten fosters! Not a lot, but we could use a few fosters to be on call as the kittens come in. We have several litters that could use fosters in the next day or two, and if the current trend continues….more are probably making their preparations to arrive at OAS.
Even if you are out of town over Thanksgiving, we may need you after Thanksgiving, so go ahead and submit the foster application so we know we can call on you to help these guys.
Complete the application to be considered.
Oakland Animal Services Mobilizes to Provide Mutual Aid to Napa/Sonoma Animal Shelters
How the Public Can Help During Fire Crises
The City of Oakland’s Animal Services department (OAS) has mobilized to provide mutual aid to the communities in the North Bay affected by the multiple fires that continue to threaten the lives of residents and their pets, livestock and wildlife. Oakland Animal Services officers are returning to its shelter in Oakland with adoptable cats, dogs and other domestic species to free up space in shelters in Napa and Sonoma so that they can accommodate more animals affected by the fires. Oakland Animal Services encourages the public to consider adopting these pets and will be screening those qualified to adopt according to the usual criteria while suspending the normal adoption fee through October 22. Adoption details may be found below. Regular adoption screening will apply, and all adopted pets will have vaccinations, microchip and be spayed/neutered.
The Public Can Help Animals Affected by the Fires Via Oakland Animal Services:
- ADOPT
- FOSTER
- DONATE (Amazon wishlist and our Friends online donation portal)
- IN-KIND DONATIONS ON SITE: The Oakland Animal Services shelter can use gently used blankets and towels as well as comforts like dog treats, large Kongs, Temptations cat treats and veggies for rabbits. OAS staff are in regular contact with the shelters in the areas affected by the fires, they do not need any more in-kind donations at this time.
News from the Sonoma/Napa Shelters:
Like OAS and like most open door shelters (either governmental or those with government contracts), Sonoma County Animal Services and Napa County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center are the designated emergency response agencies tasked with coordinating all animal rescue efforts in their jurisdiction. Every day of the year they accept all at risk animals, including companion animals, farm animals, exotic animals, and wildlife. Every animal brought to the shelter is welcome, regardless of age, breed, temperament or medical condition. Municipal shelters do not have development or fundraising staff and yet they are doing the hard work every day of the year to help all animals in need. For those of you wanting to know how to help the animals displaced because of the fire, we have heard from Sonoma that they are seeking monetary donations for specialist supplies:
They do not need food or other supplies at this time and their adoptions are on hold.
Their website is being updated with animals displaced by the fires and they are trying to coordinate all lost and found animals through their website above.
Napa County needs help with transporting livestock and horses, emergency boarding for livestock and horses, hay and livestock feed. Please visit the Napa County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center Facebook page to get contact information if you can help.
The emergency is not over yet and the situation will most likely remain critical for the next several weeks or longer. We encourage your support throughout the duration of this emergency. If you want to help in addition to donating funds, you can adopt from the shelters in the Bay Area who are assisting in the relief efforts. As always, the open door shelters will continue to be open door locally as well as doing our part to help shelters in areas affected by the fires so that they can keep the displaced animals to facilitate reunification.
