A Fresh Take on Familiar Challenges

By the beginning of the meeting, over fifty people would arrive from various Kern County outposts, bringing with them different ideas and backgrounds, frustrations and hopes. For some, showing up meant setting aside ego or old disagreements, and accepting that working alone wasn’t working well enough.

The question on everyone’s mind: Could they unite around a common goal to make a difference, despite coalitions falling apart in the past?

This is a story of one community’s attempt to untangle problems years in the making by going upstream, and discovering a renewed sense of agency and compassion for one another’s struggles along the way. It’s also a story that charts a path for animal shelter and rescue staff, pet guardians, and residents in any community to find common ground in experiences of an animal care system that’s long been under stress, and to find strength in a shared vision to change it. 

For Robbie Miller, founder of Strength of Shadow (SOS) Dog Rescue in Lake Isabella, that first meeting was the result of weeks of careful planning and one-on-one discussions that both laid the groundwork for a coalition and underlined why one was so urgently needed. Among his organization and others, there was a growing understanding that while the majority of dogs entering shelters come from four zip codes in the Bakersfield area, resources like microchips, vaccines, and low-cost spay/neuter–which help keep pets healthy in their homes and reduce overpopulation—were largely unavailable or inaccessible to people in those same communities. 

Even where resources exist, they’re unaffordable for many. Over 30 percent of California families and 40 percent of Kern County families aren’t paid wages that allow them to meet basic needs like food, rent, and medical care, according to a 2023  United Ways of California  report. In Kern, Black and Latine households are most affected, with nearly 60,000 Latine households struggling to meet needs—and that’s without considering the increasing cost and decreasing availability of veterinary care, made worse by a state- and nationwide shortage of veterinary professionals.  

Depending on the size of their dog, pet guardians in the Bakersfield area would pay between $300 and $600 for spay/neuter at a private practice veterinary clinic, Buck says, and there aren’t many veterinarians currently offering this service. 

For people and their pets to experience well-being—and to reduce the number of animals entering shelters—families must be able to access these basic needs, but in many communities access is uneven and unfair due to past decisions and policies. Today's reality in Kern reflects the county’s history of agricultural abundance, racial disparities, and income inequality dating back to the early 20th century, when federal and local policies and practices  restricted homeownership  to White, middle-class families and oil companies often hired only White employees.  

The region’s primary industries of agriculture, oil, and gas production still rely on low-wage workforces, driving concentrated poverty. 

“Throw all of that together,” Cullen says, “and it’s a perfect storm.” 

At the December meeting, a collective of animal shelters, rescues, trainers and volunteers officially formed  Kern S.A.F.E. (Saving Animals from Euthanasia) , with the belief that they could make a greater impact working together. The coalition is determined to make decisions today that prevent animals from unnecessarily entering shelters and build a foundation for a better future, one where people and pets in Kern County have the information and resources they need to thrive together, no matter their zip code.  

Core partners span the county and include  Almost Eden Rescue ,  City of Bakersfield Animal Care Center ,  Emm and Mal’s Animal Sanctuary ,  Kern County Animal Services ,  Marley’s Mutts ,  SOS Dog Rescue ,  Unity K9 Express Rescue and Outreach , and  SNIP Spay and Neuter , a mobile medical unit that provides low-cost sterilization at many of the coalition’s community clinics.  

The organizations range in size, with spay/neuter, vaccine, microchip, and outreach funding sourced from a mix of private donors, municipal budgets, and key grants from funders like  California for All Animals . By sharing people power and co-sponsoring clinics and other events, coalition members have been able to stretch their resources much further, SOS Dog Rescue Director of Operations Jennifer Haratani says. They’re able to do more frequent, higher-volume clinics and offer more resources in one place, like rabies vaccines, which must be administered under the supervision of a veterinarian. That means more healthy, sterilized dogs who can be reunited with their owners if they're ever lost, and more pet guardians happy to find affordable care for their pets. 

The coalition model also allows members to lean on one another for support, whether it’s by dividing up the workload or reflecting on wins and challenges in weekly Zoom calls. Riley Morris makes sure microchips are registered. Haratani manages a  spay/neuter waitlist  organized by residents’ city or county status, currently holding steady at over a thousand requests, and coordinates with SNIP to schedule clinics based on pet information, clinic sponsorship and location. Dawn Romero, Outreach Coordinator for Unity K9, coordinates efforts to contact pet guardians ahead of their clinic appointments to answer questions and see if they need help with transportation, which her team can provide. Shannon Williams, founder of Emm and Mal’s, coordinates volunteers and partnerships with human services organizations in the community. Bakersfield resident and community advocate Michelle Vallejos heads up canvassing efforts. 

“I’m really proud of the way that we’ve all been able to work together,” says Melissa Brunson, Executive Director of Marley’s Mutts. "We all now have a bigger support system for our individual rescues as well. I don’t know we anticipated that it was going to be that way.” 

From the beginning, the coalition recognized social media posts weren’t reaching pet guardians in the communities where resources were needed most, so they embraced a grassroots approach with the help of Spanish-speaking volunteers, going door to door, passing out flyers and striking up conversations with community members in their yards. They identified a few trends: the majority of residents didn’t realize vaccine and spay/neuter clinics were available, and financial and transportation challenges were common. In addition to arranging transportation, Kern S.A.F.E. will waive the $20 clinic fee if needed. 

The coalition has also focused on establishing a presence at community events through partnerships with organizations like Children’s First, Church Without Walls, and the Bakersfield Pet Pantry to offer clinic sign-ups and spay/neuter information, free pet food, collars, leashes, and ID tags.

When talking with pet guardians about low-cost spay/neuter opportunities, whether at community events or at their front door, coalition members emphasize the importance of a no-pressure, non-judgmental approach. Williams sums up her touchstones for building relationships and trust: consistency, conversation, compassion and follow-through. 

There are signs this shift to a relational approach is working. Community members are sharing information with their neighbors. Organizations are starting to see lower rates of parvovirus and distemper. Cullen says canvassing efforts have nearly quadrupled average attendance at Kern County Animal Services vaccine and spay/neuter clinics. 

Compared to July 2023, Buck says, the City of Bakersfield Animal Care Center has admitted 225 fewer puppies and 400 fewer dogs. "The greatest thing is that we were about 100 dogs less in the two-week period during July 4th than we were last year. We felt that difference in the shelter. We always dread July 4th, traditionally the busiest time of the year, but it wasn’t that much more than normal.” Buck attributes the decrease to Kern S.A.F.E. canvassers' presence in the community and at firework stands ahead of the holiday, where they offered free collars and engraved ID tags and shared flyers for a free microchip clinic at the shelter.  

In addition to combatting  widespread assumptions about why animals end up in shelters , getting to know pet guardians in communities like East Bakersfield and Oildale has also helped counter the negativity bias and burnout that is a hazard of shelter and rescue work, where staff is often overwhelmed by the number of animals in need. Many staff and volunteers must grapple with the uncertainty of whether or not they will have enough funding, staff, or foster homes to provide care, or whether overcrowding and slowing adoptions will force excruciating euthanasia decisions.  

“It’s changed our perspective on the way that we see operations, because it makes us more attuned to what people are going through or what challenges are,” Morris says. "Being an adult is expensive right now. A lot of resources are cost prohibitive. Prices went up everywhere, and a lot of salaries didn’t. It’s strengthened all of our relationships with one another. It’s renewed empathy and compassion that we all feel, because we see it: We know that [pet guardians] are trying.” 

Coalition members each shared stories of fellow residents’ strength, resilience, and commitment—to animals and to one another. The couple who stepped up to foster dogs, just after they’d lost their son and their house had burned down. The woman who worked all day in the fields and happily shared a bag of mandarins when she found out her dogs would be able to catch a ride to a vaccine clinic. The man who made multiple trips to a Saturday clinic to make sure all of his friends’ dogs were taken care of. Or community members who carpool so that neighbors who don't drive or don’t have a car can make it to clinics too. 

Volunteer and social worker Ashley Candelaria has family members who live in Oildale and East Bakersfield. She says they are communities where people look out for one another. "We’ve seen a lot of the community coming together, working together, for the better,” she says. 

Most people consider their pets members of their family, echoes Monica Jimenez, a bilingual volunteer who also works at the Dolores Huerta Foundation. “Whether you’re wealthy, you’re broke, or you’re homeless, that’s a strength [we have] as a community.” Jimenez was drawn to Kern S.A.F.E. because it made her feel empowered to make a positive change in her community. “Everything is so divided in our world,” she says. “Animals bring people together.”   

In their first ten months as a coalition, Kern S.A.F.E. has worked to keep their long-term vision centered amid slowdowns and setbacks. Candelaria acknowledges that it can be difficult for coalition members to navigate working within communities that they’re not a part of, even as they’re prioritizing partnering with local organizations and leaders. Continuing to build rapport is important, she says, “so it’s not about an organization coming in and trying to impose what they think is right.”  

Williams’ goal is to start following up with pet guardians who have attended clinics, and to keep showing up in the same communities over time, so the coalition can build relationships with people who are already leaders in their neighborhoods.  

Kern S.A.F.E. is making progress, but some days the seemingly endless need for low-cost spay/neuter can feel overwhelming. "We need more veterinarians,” says Kandice Webb, a coalition member and registered veterinary technician (RVT) with SNIP who often works 10-day, 12-hour shifts. Because of the veterinary shortage, her team is working over capacity but still not able to keep up with demand.   

Whether within the coalition or community at large, keeping expectations for change in check remains a challenge. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Miller says. 

Cullen agrees. “My job is to explain that animal problems are something that we will always deal with as long as there is poverty. There will be an ongoing need for a subsidized program to provide resources. Continuity has to be baked into this.”  

Webb wants city and county leaders, donors, and funders to understand the importance of sustained investment in low-cost spay/neuter. “The research I’ve read is that it takes five years to see a difference in a community—in [shelter] intake numbers, in people getting on board with spaying and neutering because a friend or family member talked to them about it. Even if we start making a difference in the next couple of years, without funding we’re going to be back in the same situation, because animals multiply so fast.” 

Coalition members are looking forward to offering more community clinics once the heat relents this fall. Going forward, Williams says, “we can ask, ‘How can we become more effective? How can we be more strategic?’”