Four-legged friends
The volunteers of the newly formed Tracy Area Animal Rescue are putting a lot of work - and love - into finding homes for abandoned dogs. But they need more help.By Deb Gau
Article Photos
He's one lucky dog. Only a couple of weeks ago, "Bruno," a mixed-breed puppy about five months old, was found abandoned along with two other young dogs in Amiret. If it hadn't been for the efforts of area residents, he and his littermates would have had to face a Minnesota winter without food or shelter. Now, he's got both at the Tracy Animal Impound.
"We got the call from the sheriff's department about some dogs that had been found in Amiret. And the couple that found the dogs, they fed them until we could pick them up," said Jan Arvizu, one of the founders of Tracy Area Animal Rescue, a volunteer group that started up this June.
Two of the pups were able to be placed with area families, Arvizu said. Bruno, meanwhile, is being treated for a parasite-related medical condition.
Word of the Animal Rescue group is starting to spread, Arvizu said, and the group is working to become an incorporated nonprofit. However, as volunteers pick up more lost, abandoned and surrendered dogs, they'll need help.
"Things are really mushrooming," Arvizu said. "There's so many things to do . . . We need some funding, we're looking for volunteers. We don't want to burn people out."
Arvizu estimated the group has placed or fostered out more than nine dogs in and around Tracy this year.
Arvizu said looking out for animals has been a personal passion for a long time. She and Balaton area resident Cathy Nelson used to work together to take in stray or abandoned dogs and find them new homes.
"We probably placed about 15 or 20 dogs over the years," she said. "We kept saying, 'We really need to do something. We need to follow up on this.'"
Even before that, Nelson said, she had tried to find homes for some of the dogs that would be placed in the Tracy pound.
"I think it just opened our eyes, that there was a real need in the area," Nelson said. "There were so many good dogs that were being put to sleep."
"I just look on them as being so vulnerable. They depend on human beings," Arvizu said. "They suffer greatly when it's cold, and when there's no food."
Arvizu, Nelson and other area residents formed a core group for the animal rescue, and worked out a partnership with the Tracy city pound for the use of one of its two kennels. Dogs that would normally be euthanized at the end of their stay in the pound can get a second chance through the rescue group.
"We met up with Jan, I think there were three of us, and it just kind of progressed from there," said Bart Meyer, one of the animal rescue's volunteers. "I do a lot of walking on the weekends, I do a lot of chores."
Meyer said he helped out with work to insulate the Tracy kennels and build sleeping shelters for the dogs. He's also "fostered" dogs while they're waiting for new homes.
"I'm a dog lover. I've got three of my own," Meyer said. Sometimes it's hard to see a foster dog leave, he said, but it's worth it to know they have a good home.
Arvizu said the group has started advertising in the Tracy newspaper, on public access television and on local radio stations. A bank account for donations has been set up at Minnwest Bank South in Tracy.
Foster homes, dog walkers and other volunteers are also needed, she said.
"We have about six people who walk dogs and do their care," Arvizu said. "It's a very diverse group. We have one young man who's going to do our Web site."
There will still be challenges ahead for the animal rescue. Nelson said one concern is that hard economic times will lead more people to abandon pets.
"It's frustrating, because you see so many people abandoning dogs. It's just endless," Nelson said.
And while it hasn't happened yet, volunteers said they've prepared themselves for the possibility that a rescued dog might have to be euthanized someday.
"We're trying to be realists," Arvizu said. She knows the organization doesn't have the resources to keep animals indefinitely. But with the right number of volunteers and adoptees, that won't have to be a problem.
In the meantime, Bruno is improving, with plenty of energy to jump up and greet visitors at the kennel.
"The vet was hopeful," Arvizu said. "He's just a sweet dog."
