Abandoned Dogs Find Shelter

There is a dog crisis here in California’s Central Valley. Many dogs are out on the streets without a home. However, the Animal Rescue of Fresno (ARF) is one of a few shelters that cares for abandoned dogs, working to find them a home – even if that home is out of state.

ARF has rescued many dogs throughout the years and President Linda Guthrie has played a significant role in her nineteen years at the shelter. “Because if it wasn’t for people like us, people who want to run a rescue who want to save their lives… all these animals would be dead,” says Guthrie.

Guthrie and her team take care of the dogs in hope of later finding them a home here in the valley or out of state. “We now work closely with UC Davis and taking dogs, Chihuahua’s, to Minnesota. We have over, almost two-thousand Chihuahua’s in Minnesota now. For seven years we’ve been taking dogs to Oregon. We’ve taken sixty to seventy-five dogs every six to eight weeks,” she adds.

The ARF team also drives up  to Oregon to help dogs a permanent home. They’re awfully excited. “Instead of these dogs being euthanized and dying… we call it a ‘Heaven- Can- Wait’ run so basically we cheat death because we get them out of state,” says Mindy Miller, ARF Vice President.

The facility is run by a group of volunteers who takes in donations to help give the dogs the proper care they need to stay healthy. Wendy Hunter has one word to describe just how they feel after a day’s work – gratified. “That kind of stuff is really great because it’s kind of sad because you take like fifty or so dogs from here. It’s so hard to say goodbye, but you know they’re going to find a really good home,” says Hunter.

The Animal Rescue of Fresno is located off Dakota and Maple and is always looking for volunteers.

If anyone is interested in volunteering or donating to the animal shelter please contact their phone number (559) 225-5715.