In a year defined by many challenges, Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF) continues to find reasons to celebrate.
Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS), like many animal shelters across the country, had to make adjustments at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to prioritize the health and care of the animals, as well as the health of the shelter staff. Thankfully, SAS’s volunteer team of foster parents were ready to help. These volunteers stepped up to provide safe spaces for the shelter’s animals to recover and thrive as they made their journey to their forever homes. Foster parents have enabled the shelter to continue to take in animals (including most recently, a group of 220 neglected animals in a single day), despite continued access and space limitations as a result of COVID-19 precautions.
SAS is extremely fortunate to have foster parents like Kari Pelaez, who has been fostering since 2018 and has fostered many of the shelter’s critters. Kari continued to work closely with SAS to provide the animals she was caring for with additional medical assistance as needed. She brought in a few of the guinea pigs she was fostering to get the medical attention they needed.
“I had two boys, Jeremiah and Jeremy, who had had some medical issues. They were very sweet despite being neglected in their earlier life. The vets at SAS fixed them up, and they were adopted,” shares Kari. “SAS is exceptionally thorough with their pet care. Every critter is cared for in the best possible way.”
Other guinea pigs under Kari’s care have ranged from babies to pregnant mothers who required extra monitoring. While caring for Daphne and Beatrice, Kari charted their weight frequently and provided them with calcium-rich hay which is good for expectant guinea pig moms and pups. “There came a point where Daphne was so big, she laid down a lot. I watched her closely and often. I also kept their habitat as clean as possible because I knew once the pups came, I wouldn’t want to disturb them too much.”
In addition to working closely with the vet team at SAS, Kari has also worked closely with the shelter’s Animal Care Officers to help facilitate potential adopter visits. “A few weeks ago, I took Beatrice the guinea pig to meet potential adopters. We were facilitating a supervised visit between Beatrice and the adopters’ current pig. An Animal Care Officer came in to help facilitate the visit and interaction. We chatted, and he shared his appreciation for the foster team. It’s always nice to be appreciated.”
SAS foster parents are also very close with one another and are always willing to offer a helping hand to their fellow volunteers. “The Critter foster team is great – we work with each other by sharing photos, asking questions, offering advice and helping with vacations,” shares Kari. SAS’s 63 critter foster homes have cared for 159 critters so far in 2020.
The support foster parents have provided SAS goes beyond just enabling them to continue taking in animals. Their care helps prepare the animals that go through SAS in their future forever homes. “I think it’s helpful for critters to live in a home, with people, with both the quiet and activity that comes in a family environment,” says Kari. “I think we also get crucial information about the animals themselves when we live with them and observe them in a home environment. By getting to know the animals’ individual personalities, we have a better chance at placing them in the best possible forever home. And that is ultimately the goal.”
If you are interested in celebrating the important work that SAS and volunteers like Kari have done this year and continue to do, consider donating to the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation. “Donations to SASF help fund all the things most people don’t see,” Kari says. SASF helps fund things like education, operational costs, and veterinary expenses for SAS.
“The work done by SAS and SASF matters: it matters to our community, to potential adopters, and most importantly, it matters to the animals.”