imbalances in particulate matter, which
will add to comfort and limit the spread
of diseases. Healthy animals are happier,
and happier animals get adopted.
The current San Martin Animal
Shelter at 12370 Murphy Avenue is a
re-purposed house, over 70 years old,
with a veterinary clinic housed in a
trailer and seven salvaged livestock stalls.
“People might look at our current
facility and think; Oh they don’t save
lives there,” said Jenkins. But this is
not “the pound” of old where stray,
abandoned, lost, or surrendered animals
enter but do not leave. The shelter has
been a no-kill facility since 2013. Last
year, the shelter received over 4,000
animals and achieved a 94.3% live-
release rate.
“It’s never okay for us to say we’re
going to euthanize animals due to time
or space. That’s not ever going to be the
case. We will always, no matter what,
save every animal that we can,” she said.
And this from a shelter that accepts
every animal regardless of condition—
seniors, hit by a car, abused, malnour-
ished, or sick—and every species great
or small: cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits,
birds, livestock, horses, goats, pigs, and
more. Every shelter animal is available
for adoption.
The foster program “has really
increased our capacity,” Jenkins said,
adding that last year foster families took
in 1,069 kittens.
“They’re responsible for a large part
of our live-release rate. We’ve recently
started a foster dog program.”
According to Jenkins, shelter visitors
can “check out” a dog for an hour or
two, take them for a walk, on a hike, or
to the beach. Or keep them for a day or
a sleep-over weekend.
“Sometimes fosters adopt the dog, but
even if they don’t, the dogs get social-
ized and might get adopted quicker.”
At the current Murphy Avenue site,
the dog room is narrow and dark with
concrete floors and twenty dog runs—a
double row of ten are lined up along the
walls. The dogs sleep on raised padded
beds, some have toys or stuffed animals.
Smaller dogs share, two to a run; most
large dogs have a run to themselves. An
outside exercise area is bare dirt with
no trees and a picnic table sits in the
middle for use by volunteers. The yard
is large enough to throw a ball and to
hold play groups for socializing.
In the dog room, one run holds a
white Maltese mix and a Chihuahua.
Both approach the front of the run when
I stoop, but only the Maltese approaches
when I enter. Another run houses a
black and white Border Collie-mix who
lies stolidly in the center of the pad,
making furtive glances my way.
The cat room is square with stain-
less steel cages stacked three high. In
Lisa Jenkins, the Program Manager of Animal
Care and Control for Santa Clara County
the center there are climbing perches
and cat toys scattered about. And adult
white Domestic Short Hair is curled
sound asleep on a chair. A black and
white kitten plays alone with toys in his
cage. A male orange tabby and a female
tortoiseshell huddle behind a folded
towel. Despite the make-do facilities, the
employees, fosters, and volunteers are
upbeat, dedicated, compassionate, and
optimistic. Every animal is treated as
an individual, provided with comfort,
medical treatment, and companionship.
And they can use our help: donations of
money or supplies, and volunteers are
always welcome.
The new facility will have the same
high standards but in a setting that
will make things easier. They’ll have
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
WINTER 2020
an upgraded veterinary clinic with two
surgery rooms for in-house spay/neuter
and medical treatment for homeless
animals as well as a separate space for
owned-animal procedures. A grief room,
with a separate exit, will allow people to
share the last moments with their pet in
a peaceful setting. There will be a space
for staff and volunteers to gather, dog
agility yards, and a small animal room.
The Field Services division of the
Animal Services Center, Animal Control,
will be housed in the same building.
Animal Control provides assistance
with a variety of services: picking up
confined, stray domestic animals; patrol-
ling for stray, roaming domestic animals;
investigating animal bites, animal abuse
and neglect of domestic animals and
livestock; and picking up injured, stray
domestic animals, among other func-
tions. Both the Animal Shelter and Field
Services cover a territory that extends
from Palo Alto to Gilroy.
The Santa Clara County Animal
Services Center is the only shelter that
houses livestock. The new facility will
feature a 2,500 square foot barn with
10 stalls, a pasture and an exercise yard.
The barn and pasture are a separate
space set front and center, where they
can see and be seen.
The new center will also house a
spacious multi-purpose room that
can hold up to 300 people. The room
will be used for meetings, workshops,
agriculture-based training, and for
non-shelter events hosted by other
community organizations.
There’s a special bond between
people and pets. People receive as
much, or more than they give: friend-
ship, companionship, and love. So, it’s
comforting to know that we will have
a county shelter that tends to animals
lost, strayed, abused, and ill. And it’s
comforting to know that the new shelter
will be modern and state-of-the-art;
sheltering taken to a whole new level.
When misfortune happens, we seek
shelter, a place of refuge that welcomes
and accepts, feeds, houses, and protects
us, but a shelter is supposed to be
temporary. It’s important to shelter these
animals, but it’s more important to find
them a loving home.
gmhtoday.com
105