As the busy holiday season approaches and we start prepping for presents, get-togethers, and festive traditions, it’s also important to look to those in need. Many animals in our community are relying on our help to receive behavior and medical care and find their forever homes. Consider adding the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF) to your gift giving list this season to support our vital work with animals – animals like Rio.
Rio, a small yellow canary, came into the shelter displaying several behaviors in a repetitive fashion. The Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS) Behaviorist Tina provided Rio with some options to begin practicing alternate behaviors to break up her repetitive behaviors. She started by moving Rio to her office so that she could observe her throughout the day and track how often Rio was performing these behaviors.
Tina found that Rio spent almost all her waking hours stuck in a loop. Fly to water, dip head in water, fly to perch, rub head and beak on perch, fly to second perch, rub beak and head on perch, fly to food bowl, pick up and drop food without ingestion, repeat.
Tina explains that many people might not think that these subtle behaviors are concerning, often because our experience with birds is restricted to captive birds. We may not understand the scope of their natural behaviors because we have altered their environment.
Ultimately Tina concluded that Rio was trying to cope. She was likely experiencing social pain from not having other conspecifics around. Mirrors can be helpful to some bird species and individuals (not all), but in Rio’s case it made all the difference. By altering her environment (her birdcage) to include daily novel toys, a mirror, and playing canary songs for her, SAS was able to see a reduction in the frequency of these repetitive behaviors within just a few days. Rio was much happier!
Thanks to Tina’s dedication and SAS resources, Rio was adopted and is now called Bi Bi.
Please consider giving a gift online at https://www.seattleanimalshelterfoundation.org/how-to-help/donate/ and give an animal like Rio a new chance at life. With your support, Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation can continue to fund ongoing and new programs at Seattle Animal Shelter to rescue, heal, and adopt out animals in need.
Giving Tuesday is coming up and Seattle’s animals would appreciate having your support this year! For those who may not know, Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving or generosity, and in 2023, Giving Tuesday falls on November 28th. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for us all to consider how we can help support the causes we care about—and here at the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF), we want to utilize this important day to promote animal welfare and care!
This year, our goal is to raise at least $5,000— and the first $2,500 donated will be matched by generous supporters!
Your donation helps pets like Pandora. Pandora was rescued by the Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS) with her three tiny kittens from under a highway. Sadly, her babies were incredibly sick. They tested positive for Feline Panleukopenia, a highly contagious virus that is so often deadly to young and immune compromised animals. With such severe symptoms and little to no chance of surviving, to alleviate their suffering, SAS veterinary staff made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize the kittens.
Pandora when she first came in to the shelter
Pandora needed an immediate foster home to keep her quarantined away from other cats and to improve her chances of staying healthy. An amazing volunteer, Heidi, graciously took her as a foster. With close counseling from SAS’s Foster Program Coordinator (a position made possible by donations to SASF), the SAS Behaviorist (another position funded thanks to SASF donations), and the dedicated cat foster lead volunteer, Heidi supported Pandora and helped her affectionate nature shine through.
Pandora, after some time in foster
Pandora was then listed on the SAS website and found an adopter! All the behavior notes and strategies were shared with the adopters to help her succeed in her new home. Soon, Pandora was choosing to be on the bed with her new kitty sibling. Quite a collaborative adoption success story!
Pandora settling into her new home
On this Giving Tuesday, please consider being one of our matching donors so we can meet our $5,000 goal and can continue to create animal success stories like Pandora’s. We appreciate any level of support!
Esteban Rodriguez has come prepared. He has over 15 years of experience in animal welfare, all in government municipal sheltering, and has held almost every position there is to hold in a shelter environment. We sat down with Esteban to dive into his vast experience, what motivates him, and his vision for the shelter’s future.
Let’s start with your background. Where did you start out?
Esteban: In 1999, in El Paso, Texas, I started as a kennel technician. In 2007, I left El Paso Animal Shelter and started a business in order to provide for a sick parent. But in 2014, in Dallas, Texas, I came back to animal welfare work. I worked there for two and half years, and then moved to San Antonio, where I worked as a supervisor to Animal Control Field Officers.
I paid attention to what was happening in the animal welfare world – what was new, what was trending, what were different organizations doing, what were the most progressive measures being taken? That led me to Austin in 2017. Five years prior, Austin had become the largest no-kill municipal shelter in the country. After learning and experiencing a lot about progressive animal welfare measures in Austin, I took the opportunity in 2019 to become an External Operation Manager at Pima Animal Care Center, in Tucson, Arizona. From there, I became an Operations Manager for two and a half years at Santa Barbara County Animal Services in California. Finally, in 2021, the Director position for the Seattle Animal Shelter opened up – and it was the perfect match.
What drew you to Seattle Animal Shelter?
E: Throughout my career, while I had good ideas and different things that I knew would make an impact in our community, a lot of those would only get so far and then fall flat. I saw the opportunity come up in Seattle and it really spoke to me because it talked a lot about diversity, equity, and being a progressive organization. And with the Director role, you have a little more opportunity to move things along and knock down the barriers that are there.
With SAS, I’m able to speak and build relationships with people directly involved in SAS operations, based on respect and honesty, and work towards becoming a more community-centric organization. I felt I needed to get into this role, because I could do the most good with this organization for the people and the animals in this city.
My belief is that it’s not just the animals we should care about, it’s the people as well. Animals don’t arrive at the shelter on their own. When you start to involve the community in the solution, you’re going to see a different organization. That means involving people from all walks of life, and meeting them where they are.
That makes a lot of sense. Shelters are intricately connected with the people in the community because of that relationship between people and animals.
E: With any animal, comes people. We want to do the best thing for the animal, but sometimes the best thing for the animal is to stay with its people – because they understand the animal and they love the animal to the best of their ability. It’s our job to be a resource to make sure people have the ability and the opportunity to live their life as a responsible pet owner with their pet.
Animal services are a gateway to social injustice as well. People are struggling, and their connection to the world and reality is their pet. We have to ask ourselves how to do justice by them and their animals at the same time. As public servants, we are always asking ourselves these questions and evolving in order to address multiple needs at once to serve the community best. We’re not going to leave animals uncared for, but we want to be empathetic to individual situations and make the right call on a case by case basis, while at the same time providing the right kind of support.
Goliath and Vedder
Do you have any pets? What’s their story?
E: I have two dogs. One is Goli, short for Goliath, a 6-year-old Giant Schnauzer, from a shelter in Arizona. I initially fostered him, and he’s been with us ever since. Our other dog Vedder is from SAS, and another foster-turned-forever dog.
What are your goals for SAS?
E: What I want for the Seattle Animal Shelter is when the public sees us out in the community, they’re not running to close their doors. What I want them to do is to open their doors and come out and speak to our officers and ask for assistance if they need help. That takes relationship-building, and is our ultimate goal for becoming a more community-centric organization.
Specifically, we want people to be a part of the solution. We’re transitioning to a more case-management style of animal welfare: being able to have those conversations with pet owners, giving them the proper education, the resources, and the support that is needed to become a responsible pet owner. This way we have a relationship, and are able to keep animals and people together.
Becoming that community-centric organization means including people of all cultures, language, background, walk of life, into the solution of creating responsible pet owners. If we can do that successfully, the animal shelter becomes a place where community members come to seek help, or come to help other community members.
What are some of the greatest challenges SAS faces? And how can we solve them?
E: A few things have slowed our progress – the pandemic, a shortage of animal welfare professionals to fill vacant positions, and our building’s construction. Our shelter was built in 1982 for an evolving kind of sheltering, so our physical location has some limitations on space, but we are working through it. We utilize fostering as much as possible, and gradually we are changing how we support animal welfare in the community.
We are also building up our staff and volunteer forces, which will help us really push forward on what we’re trying to do for the future. Eventually, I’d like to be out in the community more, offering free services like simple vaccinations and spays/neuters, creating meaningful relationships within the community.
What are the best ways people can get involved with SAS?
E: The best way to get involved is to become a volunteer with our organization. Also, be informed; know about the current municipal code (which outlines pet owners’ responsibilities in the City of Seattle jurisdiction; what is needed or allowed in the City of Seattle to be a responsible pet owner). Share us on your social media platforms, spread the word about things we share online. Be an advocate in your community for SAS, and share us as a resource.
What motivates you to do this kind of work?
E: What drives me is creating opportunities for the people and animals that need second chances. Seeing animals come into the shelter scared drives me to create programs and outreach with people to prevent that separation. Making sure we can keep people and animals together, rather than having to bring them into the shelter, is my goal.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
E: My favorite part of the job is connecting with people. It allows me to navigate how my role can have the most impact in our organization and position my work as a tool for change.
What’s been a favorite moment or memory of your time with SAS so far?
E: When you’re working in the animal welfare field it is hard to pinpoint favorite moments, because there are so many. I have loved seeing the community support for the Shelter via Furry 5K and Fund- A- Need participation. Another treasured moment has to be the Train-a-Chicken training we did with our entire staff. The philosophy and intent of the training was to demonstrate that if you can train a chicken with time and patience you can train a dog or cat. The reason this is at the top of favorite moments is we were figuring out what post-pandemic looked like for SAS and this gave our team the opportunity to all be together doing something impactful and fun. It really kickstarted how we functioned as a team.
What’s something about SAS that stands out from other animal shelters?
E: The thing that stands out about SAS is how pet friendly City of Seattle communities are. What I see is commitment, compassion, and the willingness to do better for all Seattle pets.
What is the importance of the SASF/SAS relationship?
E: The importance of the SASF/SAS relationship is for us to work together toward a common goal: the health and well-being of animals in our community. Our partnership thrives when we have a shared vision and consistent message for our supporters and the broader community. We each play a critical, yet distinct, role. SASF as a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enriching and enhancing the lives of animals cared for by the shelter. SAS as a public shelter with municipal code responsibilities to ensure public health and safety while caring for animals with oversight from the Finance and Administrative Services Department.
What is the importance of SASF donors to SAS?
E: SASF donors are integral to the SAS and the community it serves. While they contribute financially, their emotional contribution is just as important. They share a passion for the welfare of animals. These donors play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the shelter’s initiatives and programs. Their support reinforces the shared commitment between the foundation and the shelter to the well-being of animals. Together, we can continue to make a positive impact on the lives of animals in Seattle and strengthen our community’s commitment to their welfare. I’m eternally grateful for their dedication.
For Sagan Lain, starting a career in animal welfare felt like “turning on a light switch in my being.” “After graduating college I was wanting to work in a helping field, but not exactly sure what that would look like with an English lit degree,” they said. “I found a job posting for a high-volume spay-and-neuter clinic. I was an animal lover but hadn’t considered working with animals as a profession. I instantly fell in love, getting to support animals and people in need.”
After pursuing their passion for more than a decade, Sagan has found a home as the Foster Program Coordinator at Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS).
“There’s something incredibly beautiful for me about getting to serve animals that are between homes and in that need, and getting to support community in that work. And I love volunteers! I truly feel so blessed to have worked with volunteers in all my roles in animal welfare in the last decade. It fills my heart, getting to support people who dedicate their time, their labor, their care, their skills to pets.”
The Foster Program Coordinator role is new to SAS, made possible by the funding of the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s fundraiser Furevermore. The goal of the position is to provide much-needed support to foster parents, and to have someone be the consistent communicator between them and the shelter, according to SAS Animal Care Manager Tracy Bahrakis.
“We should do better by them, but in the current structure we just don’t have capacity for it,” Tracy said last year.
Now, thanks to so much generosity, they do.
Sagan is currently focusing on building processes and updating resources around those communications needs, ensuring there is more consistency and collaboration. Beyond that, Sagan and other shelter leaders are currently reviewing a consultant’s recommendations for the program, noting “we are on the precipice of making some changes that are incredible.”
And Sagan knows something about transformational changes.
“I was very happy and comfortable with the work I was doing (before moving here), but also was never going to have fewer responsibilities in my life and was ready to spread my wings and come to the most beautiful place I’d ever been to. I also knew that this region had a robust and well-founded animal welfare community, so I was excited to get my feet wet in a different region.”
They certainly have done that. Sagan is fully immersed in their role and is excited to be part of the progress that’s supporting this community and all its animals.
“The future of sheltering is so dependent upon foster programming. In the history of sheltering, we thought that keeping animals in shelter between homes was the most humane thing. But we really have found that the stress that an environment like this inherently entails is not conducive to helping pets heal and grow.
Foster is the future. It makes total sense that the Foundation would identify that, and want to support the animals of SAS by increasing their foster programming.”
Today, Lachy is healthy, and you’d never guess what happened! Unfortunately, Lachy fell out of a four-story window. Although he survived the fall, that was the beginning of his recovery period. He was diagnosed with pneumothorax (air in his chest), multiple rib and pelvic fractures, and he was non-weight bearing in one of his hind limbs. After time at the vet, he was transported to the Seattle Animal Shelter a few days after his accident.
Senior veterinarian at the Seattle Animal Shelter, Dr. Watlington, was able to provide us with more details of Lachy’s medical condition. When he arrived at the shelter, he was very sweet and easy to handle. His pelvic fractures were non-surgical. He was put on exercise restriction and pain medication to help manage his discomfort. The shelter’s behaviorist, Tina, did a wonderful job identifying his enrichment needs. Lachy is a Belgian Malinois, a very high-energy breed, so he needed a bit more stimulation in his kennel since he wasn’t going on long walks or able to play. Being confined was a tough situation for this active boy. On top of being active, his foster parent said, “He’s driven, smart, affectionate with his people, guards the house, good with other dogs. He picks things up super-fast…Things like advanced obedience, agility, nose work etc.” After some time, Lachy was sent to a veterinary rehabilitation facility for a consultation, and it was concluded that his pelvic fractures were healing very well. He was able to move to a foster home to continue his healing in a more peaceful environment for about two months.
Since Lachy is a breed that is both active and smart, his foster family mentioned, “He’s a really good dog for someone that wants and knows how to work with driven guarding and working breeds. If I was able to fully have the choice, he would not go to first time dog owners or to someone that lives in an apartment downtown or someone that wants a “normal house” dog.” Belgian Malinois are known for being highly obedient and protective, which means Lachy needs extra room for activities!
While in foster, his foster parents did only on-leash activity for a month with slowly increased walk time. As activity increased, Lachy’s foster family started to explore more of his interests, “I learned today that he LOVES water, from a kiddie pool in our yard. He’d be the best hiking and alpine lake swimming buddy!”
Luckily, this good boy was adopted last week and has gone to a loving home. We are proud of our animal success stories here at the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation, and we owe a lot of thanks to our amazing sponsors for making these types of stories possible!
For most dogs, going into a shelter is an overwhelming experience. There’s noise, strange smells and a lot of uncertainty. And these feelings were magnified exponentially for little Tarsier, a mini-Aussie/retriever mix.
After being found on the streets of Capitol Hill and brought to Seattle Animal Shelter, Tarsier was immediately identified as a pup in need of additional support. She was placed in Shelter Behaviorist Tina Hope’s office to get one-on-one attention as well as a little peace. Tina spent the day with Tarsier trying to socialize her a bit, but she still wasn’t eating well or engaging with toys.
An urgent call for foster ended up with Tarsier going home with shelter staff member Jeff. Once there, Tarsier was still showing a lot of fear, specifically hesitancy around going outside. Tina worked diligently with Jeff to manage this behavior with a specific plan suited for his environment, with clear goals and steps on what to do.
“Bringing home Tarsier was an invaluable experience in demonstrating how we can help facilitate the space for agency in fearful dogs,” Jeff said. “With the help of Tina’s multi-step plan, we were able to have Tarsier be able to choose to go outside on her terms rather than carrying her outside, which could increase long lasting anxiety or stress by removing her agency.”
Tarsier wasn’t in foster for long. This darling girl with soulful eyes caught the attention of Kim Bryan of Edmonds, who was visiting the shelter with her 13-year-old son to see if they could find a good companion for their current shepherd mix, Finn.
“We just had this feeling, because we had Finn and we knew his temperament, that she might do better having a dog friend,” Kim said. “We knew any adopted dog who has gone through trauma would have challenges, but we were OK with that.”
For Tarsier (now Olive), it was bonding at first sight.
“Finn was so relaxed when he first met Olive that when she first spotted him she immediately perked up. She was still scared, but immediately started watching him and following him. The first ‘puppyness’ we saw was when she met our dog.”
It was an obvious decision that Olive would go home with them. Kim got a lot of support from shelter staff around Olive’s needs.
“They were great, Jeff in particular. He let us know what he’d been working on with her, which was promoting puppy behaviors. Oftentimes people are trying to get their puppies to mature, but if she jumped for joy or spun around, he would praise her for that. That was good for us to know. In our two meetings with Olive before adoption, shelter staff allowed us as much time as Olive needed. They sat on the floor with us, helped us introduce our dog Finn to Olive in a safe, drama-free way, and let us know how to best interact with Olive, who was very, very cautious at first. It feels like the shelter staff get to the core of what’s going on with each dog quite quickly: Olive was only there five or six days and they already understood her really well.”
“On that very first day she would go up to the door and stop, but she kept watching Finn go in and out. I swear he told her, ‘It’s fine.’ By the end of the day she was going out on her own, following along behind Finn.”
And now, two months later, Olive is living her best life. She loves playing with water, and especially playing with Finn.
When Kim brought Olive home she had a gradual introduction planned, but Olive had other ideas.
“They wrestle, play tug of war, they race. She’s very confident in saying, ‘You’re going to play with me now.’ They are very bonded.”
When the family visits their Anderson Island cabin, now Olive comes along, too. Her earlier caution has given way to a huge curiosity. Her current fascination is standing for long moments in the yard, watching the island deer.
“It’s quite remarkable,” Kim says, “because she was literally afraid of the outdoors, and now she’s the first one out the door.”
The Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation funds many shelter programs, including the Behavior Program. To learn more about the Behavior Program click here, or follow this link for information on how to donate.
The Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation financially supports programs at the Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS) through yearly grants. One highly impactful grant supports SAS’s “Shelter Diversion” program and its Owner Support Fund, which started in 2020 and continues today.
In 2020, the uncertainty and drastic adjustments were tempered by the positive outcome of implemented changes at SAS. These changes included a new way of managing SAS intake requests – which is when owners contact the shelter to surrender their pet. Shelter staff began talking to families considering relinquishing their pets and working with them to find alternatives or to rehome their pets themselves. The grant funds received from the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation, which continued in 2022, made many of these new and expanded services possible.
SAS’s initial goals included:
Reducing shelter intake
Keeping established pets in their homes
Collecting information to better inform future efforts to create programs and services that continue to address goals one and two. Specifically, to:
Identify the top reasons for owner surrender to SAS and the most common needs expressed by pet owners surrendering animals.
Track how often the family leaves the shelter with their pet and resources, versus how often intake was the solution.
Use information obtained to better assess SAS’s ability to provide solutions for every family that needs help.
SAS has learned a lot from administering this grant over the past few years. The initial strategy of working with owners who called the shelter about relinquishing their pets had limited success. SAS discovered that by the time people called about surrendering a pet, they had often already made up their mind and were not open to accepting support for alternatives. SAS’s initial tracking indicated that 63% of the recipients declined support and wanted to proceed with the surrender. SAS heard comments like “We’re at the end of our rope” and “I just can’t do it anymore.”
SAS had the greatest success when their Field Officers identified recipients while working with them in the field where pet owners are being offered support before pursuing punitive measures.
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In 2022, assistance was provided for pet medical needs, pet behavior support, and emergency short-term pet boarding. Not surprisingly veterinary care was the single greatest need requested. The cost of veterinary care is significant and represents one of the challenges of sustaining a program like this, especially as people become more aware of the opportunities for support. While parameters may need to be put in place, this often is not helpful to the pet owner in need who cannot neither afford any amount nor have any further capacity to incur debt via credit cards etc. Solutions to these challenges will exist through partnerships and collaborations that help to leverage funding and the possible expansion of SAS’s own veterinary team and the reevaluation of services they are able to provide to the public.
“Without the help of the Owner Support Fund, I could have never kept Bella! I was having a really tough financial year with health issues when I found Bella, an 8-month-old cat abandoned next to an apartment dumpster, left in a carrier with no note or water. The apt manager where I found her saw video of a tenant bringing her out and leaving her with the trash. SAS made it possible for her to receive essential medical care, so I could keep her. I hope the funding continues so that you can help more people keep their pets!”
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Behavioral support was the next most common need identified. Concerns included: Aggression to people and/or pets, separation anxiety, barking, and reactivity.
“I am beyond grateful for the assistance that the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s Owner Support Fund has offered me and my dog, Koda. He is an adult husky with severe separation anxiety and has trouble walking in unfamiliar neighborhoods. So, an overall very nervous pup. The assistance fund came to me during a critical time. He was getting more destructive, and his stress and anxiety was pouring into me to the point I thought I should rehome him after the 8 years of having him. The fund helped me afford an amazing trainer that I would otherwise not have been able to afford on my own. My dog means the world to me and seeing him less stressed on our walks and unfazed when I leave home truly gives me peace of mind. This program not only helped Koda become a more confident dog, but it helped me become happier and healthier mentally. I can only hope more people get to utilize this program and get a second chance like Koda and I did.”
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Without the support provided through the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation funding this program, many pets would have been relinquished or may even have suffered through medical conditions or other substandard conditions. One of the additional benefits of this program is that it enabled SAS staff, particularly field officers, to create positive relationships in the community.
An essential ingredient to reducing intake is shelter diversion. As the old saying goes—an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And to cure animal homelessness, we must continually invest in programs that address the root causes of that homelessness. This is how we move the needle of lifesaving forward—and keep it there.
Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s support of crucial shelter diversion programs assures our community can meet the growing needs that exist for pets and the people who love them. By providing as many resources and services as possible, we reduce the barriers to keeping pets and people together, healthy, and safe.
