Wish-list gift registry for animal shelters -- Part II
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Newlyweds register for the gifts they need -- so why shouldn’t needy city animal shelters do the same?
I blogged about this last week, when I found that Los Angeles’ North Central shelter didn’t have the heavy-duty clippers the staff needed to cut through the matted hair of this big sweet white stray dog, to get a look at his wounds.
So I went out and bought the clippers for them. And then I thought, why not do this for other things the shelters need? I certainly don’t want the city to think it can get away with private citizens shouldering the work and the costs that should be the city’s, but in these bad budget times, it’s always the critter-care budget that gets cut first. I proposed a wedding-type gift registry.
If the East Valley shelter needs special formula for newborn kittens, put the gift request on a ‘’pet gift registry’’ website and let some Angeleno fulfill the wish. Angelenos of almost any income could donate anything from a one-dollar flea comb to a million-dollar pet playground where dogs could get out of those cages and romp.
Ed Boks, who heads up Animal Services, e-mailed me. We don’t have that kind of registry, he told me -- but the city does have gift certificates. A $100 adoption gift certificate would pay all the fees for someone who wants to adopt a shelter dog or a cat or two rabbits. Like gift cards, there are all sorts of denominations, and you can find out more about the gift certificate program here. For information or assistance, residents can call (888) 4LA-PET1, or (888) 452-7381. For the hearing impaired there’s (877) 875-8205.
Unfortunately, you can’t buy the gift certificates online. In a world where people are doing their banking and sending their Christmas cards online, the city programs would stand a lot better chance of getting people to sign up if they could make these donations possible online. Just like bridal gift registries.
-- Patt Morrison
About this photo: Staffers at the North Central shelter are looking for someone up to the challenge of fostering this 2-year-old male poodle for six months. Bitten by a coyote, he has responded well to treatment but needs to be in a home with no other animals while he is watched for signs of rabies. Health officials will have to do a home check. If all goes well, he can be adopted at the end of the time period. His ID number is A0967986.
