BayTails

Kudos to our pals at the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA, whose mobile spay/neuter van marks its 1000th free surgery this month.

In late 2005, PHS/SPCA supporter (now Board member) Vanessa Getty funded the purchase of a 26-foot long vehicle, specially designed to house a surgery suite and post-surgery recovery kennels. Later, Getty and a small group of friends formed the San Francisco Bay Humane Friends and committed to funding three years of operational expenses for the program. All expenses — gas, insurance, staff time, surgery supplies, printing for promotional flyers, etc. — are paid for by the San Francisco Bay Humane Friends.

Now, at least once per week, PHS/SPCA staff — led by one of the shelter’s veterinarians — bring the custom vehicle to a targeted community in San Mateo County or San Francisco and offer low-income and fixed-income residents free spay/neuter surgeries for their pets. In many cases, these are folks who otherwise would not be able to afford the surgery. More “fixed” animals means fewer accidental litters and fewer unwanted animals at the shelter. And, fixed animals are much less likely to act aggressively and contract forms of cancer.

"It's wonderful when we have a donor or small group of donors in this case who ask how they can make a difference, then they make it happen," said shelter spokesperson Scott Delucchi.

In the mid 1970s, PHS/SPCA took in as many as 45,000 dogs and cat per year. The last few years, the number has been around or below 10,000 — a significant decrease largely due to spay/neuter advocacy and education efforts. The mobile spay/neuter program is further driving down the number of unwanted pets in San Mateo and San Francisco Counties by reaching people who previously could not or would not fix their pets.

The clinic format is simple. The shelter schedules a series of clinics in one community, then promotes the clinics in the targeted community a few weeks before the first one. Pet owners do not make appointments; they simply drop-off dogs or cats between 8-9 a.m. — first-come, first-served — and return in the late afternoon for pick-up. "No strings attached, expect for the little ones our vet uses during surgery," said Delucchi.

For safety and practical reasons, PHS/SPCA does not accept dogs over 80 pounds or over 8 years old; puppies and kittens must be at least 16 weeks of age and all animals must be vaccinated. Owners, for most clinics, are limited to one pet per family. Pets must fast from midnight on the evening before surgery. Clinic staff give pet owners recovery instructions at the time of pick-up.

PHS/SPCA has been visiting East Redwood City and San Francisco regularly for the past year. Upcoming Pacifica clinics are set for September 8 and October 13 and will be held in a parking lot adjacent to the Little Brown House at 1850 Francisco Blvd. PHS/SPCA has chosen Serramonte Shopping Center for the Daly City clinics, and will visit on September 12 and 26, and October 10 and 24. The mobile unit will be parked near the shopping center’s electronic message board in the main parking lot.

Calling all pet lovers! Grab your friends, pack up the kids (and the dog) and come to the 2nd Annual Bay Area Pet Fair & Adoptathon, a weekend of fun, education, entertainment, products and services for pets and hundreds of adoptable animals.

Experience canine performance demonstrations, contests, vendor exhibits, expert speakers, a Kids’ Pavilion, and the centerpiece of the event, a multi-agency Adoptathon. Last year, more than 150 animals found new forever homes during the Pet Fair! This year’s Fair features “The Other Dog Show,” a dazzling display of street mutts, shelter dogs and cast-off purebreds competing for the title of “Best In Show.”

The Pet Fair’s huge Adoptathon includes over 30 regional animal shelters and rescue groups bringing dogs, cats, rats, rabbits and other pets available for adoption. This is a wonderful opportunity for potential adopters to meet the right animal for their home and family.

Registration and info here.

Downloadable discount coupon here.

Here's what his pals at the San Francisco SPCA have to say about this handsome guy:

"Don't let that big, goofy head fool you — Noah leads with his HEART! He’s a 2-year-old, neutered male brown brindle pit bull mix. He's a strong guy and weighs 65 pounds.

Noah (ID#A064938) is a staff favorite at the San Francisco SPCA because he is so affectionate with everyone he meets. He's a special dog who deserves a loving home with an experienced adopter, someone who can build on his good foundation of obedience training and make him into a proud breed ambassador! Visit him at the San Francisco SPCA, 250 Florida Street near 16th Street in SF. For more information, call 415-522-3500 or visit www.sfspca.org.

Barring a miracle, Michael Vick's victims will be the only ones to die for his crimes.

The prosecutor in the case wants the 50-odd confiscated dogs, taken from hell and being kept in "undisclosed locations" at shelters in rural Virginia, to be killed, and 5 p.m. Eastern today marks the deadline for their putative owners to claim them before Judge Henry Hudson issues an order on their fate. In theory, he has two options, selling them, which no one expects to happen, and killing them.

This means that at such time as the dogs cease to be "evidence," they'll die. If by some chance they're in a "good" shelter, someone they've bonded with and grown to love and trust will commit the ultimate betrayal of that love and trust, taking them for what they think is a jolly outing and conning them with blandishments that everything is OK while someone else pumps their veins full of Fatal-Plus. If they're in the type of "shelter" that abounds around the country, they'll be hauled to the death chamber wailing, peeing and dragging their feet by sadistic thugs who forcibly hold them down for the lethal injection. Or, since this is in the rural South where such things are still accepted, they'll be thrown in a metal box, shut in, and left to struggle and scream in pain and terror for the endless minutes it takes the deadly gas to kill them.

True, in the time it takes you to read this column, this is happening to hundreds of puppies, kittens, dogs, cats, and assorted other critters across the country, most of whom have done nothing except, say, have a sniffle, or be yet another large black dog, or have a treatable medical condition, or have an owner who died, or be in a cage that has to be vacated for the next unfortunate. None of which is even remotely acceptable. But for Vick's dogs to be twice victimized, and at the hands of the "justice system," is the very definition of obscenity.

The rationale for killing these dogs? Statements from "animal rights groups" like PETA, who have been calling for the dogs' blood on the grounds that they're "ticking time bombs." Conveniently missing from PETA's grandstanding is their stated agenda of killing ALL pit bulls, not to mention their sorry track record of taking animals from shelters and individuals with promises to find them homes, killing them in their death van, and throwing their remains in dumpsters.

Then there's the Humane Society of the United States, which aside from the occasional bit of disaster relief and such does no hands-on work with animals and maintains no shelters, preferring to focus on "advocacy." Its position, amid crocodile tears, is that the dogs must die, and it urges people to "mourn" the still alive and well dogs by sending big bucks to the HSUS anti-dogfighting war chest.

Never mind that the people who actually work with dogs, including rescued fighting dogs, think it's very likely many of them could be rehabilitated. Nor that James Smith, the shotgun-toting animal control officer of Surry County, where the dogs are being held, says, "They are not violent to humans."

And frankly, the issue here is not whether they're violent to humans, the issue is that Michael Vick owes these dogs a life of care and comfort as a minor reparation for what he did to them. For those who aren't candidates for adoption, and there probably are some, Vick should be required to fund the construction and staffing (with savvy, caring people) of a secure facility in which the dogs live in the most homelike setting they can manage. Perhaps the former premises of Bad Newz Kennels. And, of course, they should be spayed and neutered.

It is perfectly within the power of Judge Hudson to require Vick to do so as a condition of accepting his plea bargain, and Vick has plenty of ill-gotten money to do it. For this reason, some of us have launched an online petition encouraging the judge to stop listening to the usual suspects and do right by these dogs, and we heartily encourage folks to sign it.

Since the prison system has largely abdicated its responsibility to keep those in its custody safe, some may find a silver lining in the likelihood that Vick and his sorry-ass cronies are pretty likely to experience some of what they inflicted on their victims once they're behind bars. However satisfying the thoughts of vengeance may be, they should not be a distraction from the urgency of seeing to the safety and well-being of the former inmates of Bad Newz Kennels.

If you're expecting a new human addition to your family, don't leave the canine relationship-building to chance. This popular class at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society helps get things off to a good start. Find out more here.