With Contra Costa Animal Services at capacity and Jelly’s in San Pablo losing its lease, Richmond area volunteers fill in gaps.
by Kari Hulac Aug. 26, 2024, 6:38 a.m.Updated Aug. 27, 2024, 11:24 a.m.
Richmond residents found this 12-year-old pit bull on Pittsburg Avenue in June. An ad-hoc group of volunteers saved him from possibly being euthanized. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
On a blue-sky summer day in June the life of one old pit bull mix was coming close to a painful end on a hot sidewalk in North Richmond.
The dingy white dog was lying alone on Pittsburg Avenue, its ribs and hip bones protruding from its dehydrated, starving body. It was blind and deaf and had no teeth.
The moment would be significant if it wasn’t for the fact that such scenarios are completely unremarkable to those whose lives are dedicated to protecting the welfare of west Contra Costa County’s abandoned, abused and neglected animals. The left-for-dead dog was a “pretty standard” neglect case, according to El Cerrito vet Matthew Judd, who routinely sees much worse. Animal rescuers interviewed by Richmondside said they haven’t seen so many abandoned animals in the area in years.
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There isn’t one answer to why this is happening. Most professionals and rescuers agree that it’s a combination of causes: A COVID-era uptick in backyard breeding by those looking to cash in on the wave of people adopting during the pandemic; those pandemic adopters now changing their minds; a spike in accidental births stemming from spay and neuter costs tripling — with fewer vets offering the surgery; and skyrocketing veterinary fees attributed to increased supply and labor costs.
The result? People who can’t afford care or who decide that the cute puppy they adopted four years ago is now a difficult-to-manage adult dog are surrendering — or dumping — their pets.
Shepherd mixes are among the most commonly found breeds at the Contra Costa Animal Services shelter in Martinez, along with huskies and pit bulls. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
With more animals in need local shelters have less space. It doesn’t help that the Contra Costa Animal Services’ Pinole satellite shelter was closed in 2020 due to budget cuts.
How does this impact the animals? There are a number of sad anecdotes as to how this plays out:
A Richmond man who called KQED’s Forum show in June said it took him two weeks of calling city and county officials to get someone to remove the body of a dead dog from his street.
At the county’s Martinez Animal Services facility kennel after kennel echoes with the baritone barks of energetic shepherd mixes, among the top three breeds in the shelter population. Also commonly surrendered are huskies and pit bulls.
El Cerrito veterinarian Judd told Richmondside that someone in Richmond is illegally performing — and routinely botching — cesarean sections on French and English bulldogs, breeds whose puppies can sell for thousands of dollars a piece.
“Six months ago I had a dog whose uterus had been cut in half,” said Judd, owner of Abbey Pet Hospital, which treats about a dozen animal welfare cases a week. “Delilah. Delilah was her name.”
He said those popular breeds are “super high needs” when it comes to medical care.
“Breeding the French bulldog is insane,” Judd said. “They are disabled. You are breeding for a disabled animal that is going to need more medical care.”
Richmond, El Sobrante lead county in number of strays
Contra Costa Animal Services (CCAS) says intakes are increasing to pre-pandemic levels, with the Richmond/El Sobrante area leading the county in the number of strays picked up. The 100-kennel facility’s field services division handled 4,028 strays between January and July of this year, compared to 3,969 during the same time period in 2023.
“We’ve reached a fever pitch,” the facility’s new director, Ben Winkleback, said in a July press release publicizing its free adoption program. “With an already crowded shelter and an average intake of nearly 20 animals each day, we’re asking for the community’s help in getting as many pets out of the shelter as we possibly can through adoption and foster.”
Ben Winkleback, the new director of Contra Costa Animal Services, hopes to expand public access to more of the facility so volunteers can help better socialize animals for adoption. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
The facility at the time had 200 pets needing permanent or temporary homes, including more than 170 dogs. With the average length of stay increasing from 14 days in July 2023 to 20 days in July of this year, there’s even more pressure on an already overburdened system.
“We need people to adopt,” Winkleback told Richmondside on a recent tour of the facility. “If you do the math, that (length of stay) doesn’t work out.”
When the math doesn’t work out, euthanasia may be the only option. The number of euthanized animals has increased from 548 between January and July 2023 (405 cats, 134 dogs and nine others) to 620 (400 cats, 193 dogs and 27 others) in the same time period this year, according to CCAS’ performance reports. However, it’s not all bad news. Compared to the number brought in, the shelter is only euthanizing 8% of its canine intakes, thanks to high return-to-owner rates and to the volunteers and rescue groups who remove an estimated 15 to 20 CCAS dogs a week, placing them into permanent homes or foster care.
CCAS staffing is a challenge, Winkleback said, explaining that there are between seven and 10 unfilled vacancies, partly for budgetary reasons and partly due to hiring and retention issues. That leaves the equivalent of 75 full-time employees to run an operation with a $17 million budget.
As such, the shelter must assess its needs daily and allocate resources accordingly in order to “do the greatest good for the greatest number,” Winkleback said.
During the recent behind-the-scenes tour, a terrier mutt with a wiry, sandy blond coat, the friendliest little dog one could hope to meet, limped through the surgical unit holding an injured limb up, tail wagging fiercely despite having a broken tooth and nerve damage likely caused by being hit by or tossed from a car.
Contra Costa Animal Services thinks this dog was likely tossed out of a car and/or hit by a car, but its tail was still wagging on a visit with CCAS Director Ben Winkleback. Vet care and supply costs have skyrocketed over the past year, further pinching the facility’s already tight budget. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
“This is just a sample of the things we see all day long,” said CCAS Public Information Officer Steve Burdo, as the terrier limped around, and a vet operated to remove a foxtail from a feral cat’s abdomen.
While life can be dire for the county’s unwanted animals, it would be worse were it not for a scrappy network of west county animal advocates and small nonprofits which act as unofficial third-party partners that fill in where Animal Services cannot.
These groups have taken 736 animals from the shelter through July of this year (287 cats, 364 dogs and 85 other animals) compared to 690 during the same time period last year. The shelter is dependent upon these groups, which, for example, can take dogs at risk of being euthanized because of how long they’ve been at the shelter and/or because they aren’t suitable for adoption by the general public due to behavioral and/or medical issues.
The tale of Richmond’s Pittsburg Avenue pit bull is one example.
A Pittsburg Avenue pit bull’s guardian angels
On that sunny Saturday in June, Richmond dog lover Felix Hunziker was driving down Pittsburg Avenue in North Richmond when he saw that pitiful white pit bull.
He joined other passersby and stopped to help, putting the dog into a dog bed he had with him and offering it water, while the others shaded it from the sun with an umbrella.
“County dispatch was useless,” Hunziker said in an email to Richmondside. “[They said] they were aware of the call for service, but the one (Animal Services) officer on duty was busy in East County, and they refused to say whether or when the officer would respond. All I wanted to know was, ‘Would it be one hour, two, four, today?’ No answer, and they eventually hung up on me.”
Hunziker said a Berkeley police officer stopped but left after learning that county officials had been notified.
After waiting for more than an hour, Hunziker said he had no other choice than to drive the dog to Martinez, about 20 miles away. There the dog became number A1019272, a number among many numbers but better than the alternative, Hunziker said.
“I figured a few days of food, water, and comfort is better than dying alone by hyperthermia or truck wheels on a North Richmond street,” he said.
However, the 12-year-old blind, deaf and toothless dog, which had untreated glaucoma and needed eye surgery, was lucky enough to end up with much more than the relative comfort of the shelter compared to the streets.
From the streets to safety: See Austin’s journey home in pictures
Austin had untreated glaucoma so one eye was removed at Abbey Pet Hospital in El Cerrito, which helps care for about a dozen of neglect cases weekly. Austin is shown after surgery with two of his foster parents, Caysen Russo of Vallejo (center) and Stella Davies of Oakland (right) Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Richmond residents found this 12-year-old neglected pit bull in North Richmond in June. Courtesy Felix Hunziker
While they waited for help from Contra Costa Animal Services, which they said never came, the concerned onlookers held an umbrella over the ailing dog, shielding it from the hot sun. Courtesy Felix Hunziker
After waiting for help for an hour, one of the dog’s rescuers decided to drive it to the county shelter, 20 miles away in Martinez. There, because of its multiple health problems, it was a likely candidate for euthanasia. But several volunteers stepped in, from Vallejo down to Oakland, and took him into their homes. Courtesy Felix Hunziker
In foster care, the dog, which was given the name Austin, quickly found a zest for life, playing with the other dogs in the home. Courtesy Kathy Kear
Austin had untreated glaucoma so one eye was removed at Abbey Pet Hospital in El Cerrito, which helps care for about a dozen of neglect cases weekly. Austin is shown after surgery with two of his foster parents, Caysen Russo of Vallejo (center) and Stella Davies of Oakland (right) Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Richmond residents found this 12-year-old neglected pit bull in North Richmond in June. Courtesy Felix Hunziker
Richmond residents found this 12-year-old neglected pit bull in North Richmond in June. Courtesy Felix Hunziker
Swipe through to see the photos or use the arrows if reading on desktop.
Thanks to the compassionate network of volunteers who keep watch on the CCAS population and search frantically for homes for animals at risk of being euthanized, A1019272’s story did not end there.
Those volunteers, using social media, did their magic and found the dog a foster home and much-needed medical care.
It’s endless work, said dog foster parent Bara Sapir of East Richmond Heights, estimating that volunteers save 15 to 20 dogs a week from CCAS.
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“Week after week after week. It’s just nail-biting, all the stress. They’ve got a really good track record of saving them, but the amount that they work, it’s heartbreaking.”
— Dog foster parent Bara Sapir of Richmond
“Week after week after week,” she said, describing the monitoring of what CCAS calls its “24-48 hour” list, a list of animals that third-party rescues find placements for. “It’s just nail-biting, all the stress. They’ve got a really good track record of saving them, but the amount that they work, it’s heartbreaking.”
A1019272 was given a name — Austin — and after just a few days with warm, loving caregivers, he quickly blossomed from a downtrodden street stray on his last legs into a happy good boy with a dog grin on his face to prove it.
“It feels like a broken system,” Sapir said. “A dog that is happy as this dog Austin is — a deaf, blind dog with health issues — a dog that is a great dog. All it needed was a chance.”
Hunziker was surprised and heartened by the flood of volunteers who helped save Austin’s life.
“So many people shared Austin’s plight, pledged donations for his care, and put him on their watch list to save him from the needle. (The fact) that caring people will rally to save a ‘lost cause’ like Austin, and provide a comfortable and loving home where he can live out the rest of what’s presumably been a very hard life, restores my faith in humanity,” he said.
Those volunteers included dog trainer Kathy Kear and Len Welsh, founder of the Kensington-based Stitch in Time Animal Rescue. Judd’s veterinary clinic removed his painfully damaged eye.
Kear, a San Pablo resident and dog trainer who has worked with Bay Area shelters for 23 years, is a frequent sight around Richmond parks, where she offers agility classes and takes dogs on pack walks.
Described as someone who has scaled 7-foot fences to rescue dogs, Kear admits she has stolen dogs from abusive homes to get them to safety. She says the animal welfare situation in west county is the worst she’s seen in her 23 years of working with shelters in San Francisco and the East Bay.
“It’s very concerning,” Kear said. “We live in a very wealthy state. Why are there so many animals that they are euthanizing?”
Kathy Kear, San Pablo dog trainer and former shelter worker, with her dogs Patrick and Bernadette Photo credit: Kelly Sullivan
She blames home breeding; cities failing to enforce limits on the number of animals allowed in homes; a lack of spaying and neutering; and mismatches between adopters and pets.
“Everyone went crazy with getting dogs during COVID. Everyone wanted to become a backyard breeder and is still doing that now. There’s too much breeding,” she said.
At one point in her career, she said, pit bulls could be spayed or neutered for free. Now private vets charge $400 to spay a small dog. The low-cost Animal Fix Clinic in Richmond is so busy it’s booked up more than a month out, according to its website.
Judd said not enough vets are even willing to do that surgery, explaining that clinics are struggling with post-pandemic staffing shortages and increased labor and supply costs, among other factors, many of which also impact county Animal Services, which has its own in-house vet clinic, though it’s not equipped for advanced care, and offers low-cost spaying and neutering.
“They’re in a tough position,” Judd said of Animal Services. “They don’t have the resources to place them. They collect them.”
Jelly’s closure would pressure burdened system
A dog in a kennel at Jelly’s Place on San Pablo Dam Road. The shelter, which has saved about 800 animals in the past seven years, according to its director, may be forced to close if a new location can’t be found. Credit: Maurice Tierney
Another animal welfare facility in a tough position is Jelly’s Place, a network of one-story buildings and outdoor fenced kennels that sits on a slim parcel of land between Interstate 80 and San Pablo Dam Road. It began as an animal refuge in 2012 and became a no-kill nonprofit shelter in 2017, when retired elevator mechanic Julie Bainbridge took it over and named it after her late English bulldog.
Jelly’s houses 100 cats and dogs onsite with an additional 30 animals in foster homes. They’ve been at capacity for two years, Brainbridge said. She said during her time there they’ve saved 800 animals — 300 of those in the past year.
“We’re always full,” she said. “I want to help, but my hands are tied most of the time.”
A full shelter means desperate owners resort to desperate measures. Bainbridge often comes to work to find dogs tied to the property’s locked gate or dead in the street because they’ve gotten loose and been hit by a car. Many of the dogs in her care have broken legs or backs or are missing limbs — cases that likely would end up on a public shelter’s euthanasia list.
As if that isn’t enough, Jelly’s, which survives on grants and donations, is being forced to vacate by its landlord, Caltrans, by May 2025. Bainbridge has been trying to raise money and is hoping someone will donate property to them because market rents in the area are five to six times what they’ve been paying. If not, they will be forced to close – which advocates say would have tragic repercussions on the greater system.
Jelly’s Place founder Julie Bainbridge with Nancy Barker, an English bulldog she said likely had its ears sheared off by an owner who wanted to make the dog “look tougher.” The shelter has been asked to vacate its Caltrans-owned San Pablo Dam Road property by May 2025. Credit: Maurice Tierney
Bainbridge said they are lobbying county elected officials and the governor to see if they can intervene with Caltrans.
“I don’t believe that Caltrans needs the space we are on and is leaning more toward the amount they could get for this parcel,” Bainbridge wrote in a recent letter to Contra Costa County Supervisor John Goia. “I can’t believe the County could sustain having yet another private rescue close its doors, as several rescues have closed due to overwhelming veterinary costs, burdening the county shelter system.”
Jelly’s leases state-owned property along San Pablo Dam Road next to Interstate 80. Credit: Maurice Tierney
If Jelly’s closes, that leaves just one physical shelter in this area, Milo’s Foundation in Point Richmond, which rescues dogs and cats from high-kill shelters, saving an average of 1,400 animals annually according to its website. While Milo takes applications for its rehoming services, such as in cases of surrender or the death of an owner, it does not accept strays, referring those to the county as is required by state law.
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We’re always full. I want to help, but my hands are tied most of the time.”
— Julie Bainbridge, founder of Jelly’s Place
“(The county shelter) will see an increased rate in shelter euthanasia as they struggle with space to house and care for all the animals that would otherwise get help through Jelly’s Place,” Jelly’s website says.
A cat at Jelly’s Place in San Pablo. An enclosed space outdoors allows the felines to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine. Credit: Maurice Tierney
CCAS Director Winkleback doesn’t disagree.
“I don’t want any animal shelter to just evaporate. That doesn’t help any of us,” he said.
Solutions to the animal welfare problem
West county animal welfare resources
Contra Costa County Animal Services: Emergencies are routed through the sheriff’s office, 925-646-2441. CCAS, 4800 Imhoff Place, is the first responder for abandoned, abused, endangered or potentially dangerous animals in Contra Costa County. It’s offering free adoptions throughout August.
Milo Foundation, 510-900-2275; 220 S. Garrard Blvd., Point Richmond. Milo rescues adoptable dogs and cats from high-kill animal control shelters and finds them homes and rehabs dogs and cats and offers sanctuary to those that are not adoptable.
Jelly’s Place, (510) 621-3493; 2905 San Pablo Dam Road, San Pablo. Jelly’s is a nonprofit rescue and shelter offering dog and cat adoptions and veterinary care for neglected and injured dogs and cats.
Stitch in Time Animal Rescue: lenwelsh@berkeley.edu. This Kensington-based rescue helps find homes and advanced medical care for high-needs animals in shelters and helps provide advanced medical care for pets whose owners cannot afford it.
Animal Fix Clinic, (510) 215-9300; 12226 San Pablo Ave., Richmond; low-cost spay and neuter services. (Currently scheduling October appointments.)
There are many things, advocates say, that need to be done: More education about spaying and neutering; better enforcement of laws governing the number of animals allowed in homes; imposing a backyard breeding ban.
Other changes that would help include a stronger foster network, deployment of mobile adoption centers, better outreach to underserved populations who may be unaware of services, for example non-English speakers, and spreading awareness among county pet owners that if their pet goes missing, odds are it can be found in Martinez.
Sapir supports imposing restrictions on breeders.
“Let’s stop the births, slow down the number of animals being born,” Sapir said. “Breeders are dumping and (should be allowed one litter). No one is regulating it.”
Winkleback, who is still new on the job having only started at CCAS in May, wants to learn how his facility can be a better partner with third-party volunteers and hopes to introduce some practices he’s had success with in prior roles at shelters in Oakland and Santa Cruz.
He’d like to give the public more access to the shelter and give volunteers more time with animals who may not be eligible yet for adoption to help ensure that if they are released for adoption, they’ve received important socialization time that will make their adoptions more successful, so they’re not returned.
Rescuers seem optimistic that Winkleback will make improvements.
“It really is tremendously important for animal rescues in the county to partner with the shelter and maximize the capability we have to deal with the situation,” said Len Welsh, founder of Kensington-based STAR, which houses about 30 rescues in Richmond and focuses on getting vet care for animals with serious medical needs. “There are certain things a shelter can do and certain things rescues can do, and it has not been happening. I think we’re going to see some very big changes.”
Welsh said any bad blood between rescuers and CCAS needs to be left in the past.
“You can’t cooperate with someone you’re bashing at the same time,” Welsh said. “There’s not enough appreciation on the part of some of the advocates. “If we can reset and go forward and put the past stuff behind us (we can) remember it’s all about the animals.”
El Cerrito vet Judd says one long-term solution is to develop a birth-control option for dogs that doesn’t involve surgery.
He also said state regulators need to establish a veterinary practitioner license that would allow such caregivers to examine patients and prescribe medications — similar to what a nurse practitioner does for humans, saying this would reduce the cost of vet care.
Dog trainer Kathy Kear teaches an agility class at Marina Bay Park in Richmond. She hopes to bring together the area’s various rescue organizations and create a dog sanctuary. Credit: Kelly Sullivan.
Dog trainer Kear said she is in the early stages of creating a nonprofit dog sanctuary or dog training center in Sonoma or Vallejo, hopefully uniting the many disparate rescue efforts and putting an end to separate entities working piecemeal.
“There’s no cohesive structure,” she said. “It’s on a wing and a prayer. No one is working together.”
She hopes, like Welsh, that the big personalities of local animal advocates can be set aside.
“We have to put the egos away and work for the common good,” she said.
