OC Animal Care bursting with runaway dogs frightened by booming fireworks
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Both relieved and chagrined, Becky Curtis sat alone in what seemed to be the waiting room of shame.
“I feel like I’m busting my kid from jail,” said Curtis, 51, who arrived at OC Animal Care at its opening Thursday, July 5, to retrieve her dog – one of dozens to arrive this week, frightened by the barrage of fireworks.
The evening before, Curtis and her family left behind their two spaniel siblings for a few hours while they joined Fourth of July festivities in Huntington Beach. First, they escape-proofed their Orange home, or so they thought. But a neighbor called to report a sighting of their boy dog racing down the street.
Somehow, 11-year-old Beau had managed to widen a cracked window, knock out a screen and, in his mind, run for his life. There was a war going on, after all. (And, no, neither the tranquilizers nor the blasting television blunted the noise enough.)
“This was the worst year ever for illegal fireworks,” Curtis surmised. “They’ve been rattling the windows and setting off car alarms all week.”
Curtis and her husband desperately drove around the neighborhood and walked the riverbed. Then it dawned on them to check the OC Animal Care website, which posts photos of stray dogs and cats within 30 minutes of their admission. Sure enough, there was Beau, who, although chipped, was not wearing a name tag.
After posting bail of $52, which covered a mandatory flea treatment, Curtis gleefully reunited with her pooch. “I’m just thrilled you’re alive,” she gushed.
Not every ending is so happy.
Spokeswoman for OC Animal Care Sondra Berg is an 18-year veteran of Santa Ana animal services.
“I dreaded Fourth of July,” Berg said. “So many dogs and cats got hit by cars. I knocked on people’s doors to tell them in person that their pet had died.”
Between July 4 and the morning of July 5, OC Animal Care saw its residency grow by 29 dogs. Yet that is just a fraction of canines counted as Independence Day runaways, Berg said. The designation stretches from July 1 through July 6, when people buy and set off firecrackers.
Already, the 10-acre facility, which debuted in March at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, is bursting at the seams. With more than 80 percent of its 202 dog cages and 310 cat cages occupied, OC Animal Care is waiving adoption fees for at least the month of July.
On Thursday, one crate after another housed a newly acquired stray sweetly peering from behind bars.
Dogs without identification are released for adoption after four days. Owners of dogs with chips and name tags are given seven days to show up.
Many people, however, don’t come looking. Even owners contacted by the shelter sometimes fail to stop by. “I don’t understand it,” Berg said.
One reason could be the cost of reclaiming a dog that has not been licensed. Anaheim Hills resident Michele Villanueva, 50, discovered the high price of back payments when she fetched Khloe at the tune of $900. The poodle had flown under the radar for all her eight years.
“I just never thought it was necessary because Khloe never goes anywhere,” Villanueva tried to explain. “Oh, well. She’s my baby. She’s worth the $900.”
Khloe made a break July 3 while her human was at work. Villanueva quickly located her mugshot on the OC Animal Care website, but with the shelter closed for the holiday, they both had to wait until Thursday.
“She’s never done anything like this before,” Villanueva said, “and she picked the worst day to do it.”