The Los Angeles Animal Services West Valley Shelter is full of dogs.
A trio of eight-week-old puppies share a cage in the entry hallway next to Olive, a 2-year-old mixed breed. Down the hall Nala, an 85 pound mixed breed, slumbers in a room originally designed for cats.
Ruby has the attitude of a seasoned shelter veteran. She meets your gaze as you approach her cage but does so laconically, as if suspecting that you are not here to take her home.
August is Clear the Shelters month, a campaign by NBC Universal Local to find homes for as many shelter animals as possible.
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For those who are a part of the shelter system beyond the month of August, their cause is an existential statement on society.
“How do you expect a society or community or city or town to be peaceful when their animals, living creatures are not being treated right? They’re not in loving homes they’re being abandoned and ignored,” Robert Ferber said.
Ferber is a volunteer at the Los Angeles County Agoura Animal Care Center as well as second vice-president of Healthcare for Homeless Animals and a former full-time animal cruelty prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles.
“I think the toughest job in this office, in this shelter, without a doubt is the person that sits at the front counter and has to listen to stories about why people are bringing animals in,” Ferber said. “And most of the times it’s not the animals fault.”
According to Shelter Animals Count, an organization that tracks the number of animals in shelters across the nation, over 2,000 shelters have taken in over 1.6 million animals from the start of the year through July. Of them, 783,614 were strays and 403,794 were relinquished by their owners.
The organization also reports that the shelters have completed over 880,000 adoptions and returned over 160,000 animals to their owners.
One of the owner-surrenders back at the West Valley Shelter is Fendi, a recent arrival whose auburn eyes scream hello when…
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