Success Stories

This is Lucinda. Her family met her at Oakland Animal Services when they were visiting from Germany in August. They fell so head over heels for her that they adopted her and took her home to their country! They sent us photos today of Lucinda getting a taste of snow in their garden for the first time. Germany’s animal shelters have very few chihuahuas like we do here in Oakland. Lucinda’s family says there are waiting lists of people who want a chihuahua like Lucinda. If we could just figure out how to fly more to Germany . . .

Yep!  That’s a tiny black kitten on the ledge of the 880 freeway – only 15 ounces and very scared!  Thankfully, Oakland Fire Department assisted Oakland Animal Control Officers in getting the kitten off the ledge.  She’s now resting at the Shelter after eating a huge amount.  She has an injured eye but it appears like it will heal well.

Betty Boop arrived at the Shelter in May 2012.  She was given her name by a volunteer because of her wide, inquisitive, flirty eyes.  Betty quickly became a volunteer favorite; however, months went by with little adoption interest from the public.  Betty’s lush dark brindle color and her pit bull/boxer mixture may have made it more difficult for her to find a home but likely her high energy was the main thing that turned away potential adopters.  Many said “Oh, she’s too energetic for my lifestyle” when they met her.

Volunteers who worked with her every week found her to be one of the smartest dogs any of them ever met, both affectionate and obedient. She absolutely loved the water; in fact, lived for it. There is a kiddie pool at the shelter, and every chance she had, Betty couldn’t wait to climb in and immerse herself totally. She also played “chase the water stream” – a volunteer would water the front lawn with a big hose while she tried to “bite” the water. Very funny. This was the type of serious exercies Betty desired and needed to keep her brain and muscular frame engaged. Days passed, months passed and still no one was interested in adopting Betty Boop.  The stress of shelter life was starting to get to her and the staff and volunteers were running out of options for finding her a home.The volunteers, determined to find her a home, strategized to get the word out about Betty Boop.  They decided to play up her unique attributes – they publicized her as a high energy dog that loves water.  It worked!!!!!  Flash forward to September — Betty Boop found an amazing home! A couple was looking for a water-loving companion for their male pit bull – Ace – who participates in Splashdog events. They saw Betty’s Petfinder profile and the videos of her with water hose, kiddie pool, etc.  They adopted her!

This adorable shepherd puppy was found after she had been hit by a car on Saturday night. A good samaritan rushed her to PETS Referral Center in Berkeley, where the staff treated her for an injured rear leg, a deep laceration on her front leg, and other bumps and cuts. Oakland Animal Services then took her into our care where she spent the day being monitored in the director’s office and given lots of love and attention by the shelter volunteers. One of the OAS animal care attendants then volunteered to take the little girl home over night to keep a close eye on her.  OAS then called the East Bay SPCA who agreed to take on the injured puppy.  They were able to x-ray her and discovered that she has a fracture of her left tibia. She is resting comfortably now and will be given great care by EBSPCA, who will find her a home when she has fully healed. Thank you to everyone for their help! It just shows that it takes a village of animal lovers….

This adorable shepherd puppy was found after she had been hit by a car on Saturday night. A good samaritan rushed her to PETS Referral Center in Berkeley, where the staff treated her for an injured rear leg, a deep laceration on her front leg, and other bumps and cuts. Oakland Animal Services then took her into our care where she spent the day being monitored in the director’s office and given lots of love and attention by the shelter volunteers. One of the OAS animal care attendants then volunteered to take the little girl home over night to keep a close eye on her.  OAS then called the East Bay SPCA who agreed to take on the injured puppy.  They were able to x-ray her and discovered that she has a fracture of her left tibia. She is resting comfortably now and will be given great care by EBSPCA, who will find her a home when she has fully healed. Thank you to everyone for their help! It just shows that it takes a village of animal lovers….

This adorable shepherd puppy was found after she had been hit by a car on Saturday night. A good samaritan rushed her to PETS Referral Center in Berkeley, where the staff treated her for an injured rear leg, a deep laceration on her front leg, and other bumps and cuts. Oakland Animal Services then took her into our care where she spent the day being monitored in the director’s office and given lots of love and attention by the shelter volunteers. One of the OAS animal care attendants then volunteered to take the little girl home over night to keep a close eye on her.  OAS then called the East Bay SPCA who agreed to take on the injured puppy.  They were able to x-ray her and discovered that she has a fracture of her left tibia. She is resting comfortably now and will be given great care by EBSPCA, who will find her a home when she has fully healed. Thank you to everyone for their help! It just shows that it takes a village of animal lovers….

We are going to begin featuring some of our longest-term residents each week. You can see the list of these animals here. Please share this link with your friends/family to help us publicize these animals who are really ready to find a home! Here at Oakland Animal Services, we do not set a maximum amount of time for animals to stay with us. We understand that it can take extra time for some animals to find that right adopter. Our staff and volunteers do their best to make these animals as comfortable and as happy as possible while they are in the shelter, but it is always best to get them into a home. We depend on caring people, like you, to consider these long-term animals when looking for a companion. One of the benefits of adopting a longer-term resident is that these animals often are staff and volunteer favorites. They get to know the personalities of these animals extremely well and can tell you more about the animal than one that hasn’t been with us as long.

This is Boots, our longest term dog at the shelter. As you can see, he’s quite the ham!

 LIST OF LONGEST RESIDENTS

Update: MacArthur has been adopted! Here she is with her new companion:

Oakland Animal Services sometimes rescue rabbits that have been living on the streets of Oakland. (Yes, rabbits!) These creatures, often abandoned by their human caretaker or otherwise lost, somehow find a way to survive in the face of many dangers, including cars, predators, lack of food, and an overwhelming amount of stress.

This bunny, who we named MacArthur, had reportedly been living on MacArthur Boulevard and 14th Street for nearly a year. She was finally trapped by a caring neighbor who usually traps and fixes feral cats. MacArthur had apparently even been seen hopping several times across MacArthur Boulevard — and lived to tell the tale. She had discovered a vegetable garden where she got food and found refuge under cars at a local mechanic’s shop. She had even been seen playing with a puppy, the two of them taking turns chasing each other. When MacArthur was finally trapped, she was covered in grease and oil from living under cars. It’s remarkable that she hadn’t been poisoned from these chemicals.

When she arrived at the shelter, we immediately gave her a bath. She wasn’t happy with this at all. But then she got to sun herself in our courtyard and was brushed and dried by a bunny volunteer, and is now reacquainting herself with life indoors with regular food and care. This special bunny is available for adoption at OAS. Not surprisingly, MacArthur is fearless and has a strong personality, but she is also quite a sweetheart. Come visit and see for yourself!

MacArthur’s story is unusual. Sadly, the vast majority of rabbits on the streets don’t survive. It is important to keep your bunny safe inside. Rabbits can be litter trained and are very clean, making for great indoor family companions.

Thank you to the Idaho Humane Society for taking over 100 of our small dogs into their adoption program!   We drove 50 small dogs to them at the end of July and, incredibly, a large number of them have already found homes in their new state.  We greatly appreciate this assistance from Idaho since we receive so many small dogs that we have trouble getting them adopted quickly.   We also thank all of the hard work of our volunteers who helped get the dogs ready to go to Idaho, the volunteers who drove them to Idaho from Oakland and the Friends of Oakland Animal Services for funding their journey.

 An Oakland resident took out his garbage this morning and was shocked to find a young deer literally stuck in his gate.  It appeared the deer had attempted to leap between the bars of the wrought iron gate to get to the other side but became stuck when her entire body was unable to pass through.  She looked like she had been trapped for hours since her skin was rubbed raw on both sides of her body.  The resident called Oakland Police Department – two Oakland Animal Services’ staff responded to the scene.  They saw that the deer was still thrashing about trying to free herself and was obviously exhausted from the struggle.

Wedged Between the Bars of the Gate – 3 inch Space!

The staff looked her over and saw that her wounds appeared to be superficial and that she did not seem to have any broken bones.  She had become so wedged between the bars (a space approximately 3 inches wide) that there was no way to safely and painlessly free her without tranquilization.  Oakland Animal Services’ staff injected her with a tranquilizer in her back leg.   Her thrashing soon slowed down, her head began to get heavy and she finally fell asleep.  At this point, the two staff of Oakland Animal Services were able to handle her without causing her stress and manipulate her body to safely remove her from the gate.

Freed but Still Sleeping

Staff then carried the deer from the driveway and placed her safely in a shady spot up the hill – the very place she had been aiming for!  Then they injected her with a drug to reverse the effect of the tranquilizer.  The young deer slowly started to wake up where she found herself freed from her nightmare.

Safe in the Shade

Time to Wake Up

 Oakland Animal Services receives calls every year regarding deer that have become trapped and even impaled on fences.  Staff encourage Oakland residents in areas with high populations of deer to cover fences and gates with chicken wire and consider removing sharp tops of fences to prevent these types of accidents.