The Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE) has a wonderful program dedicated to rescuing older dogs and those with special needs.
“Over the years, we have helped thousands of animals,” said CAPE Director J.P. Novic. “We have actually taken into our program over 1,700.”
CAPE is a nonprofit organization that was established in Santa Cruz 23 years ago. The center has two offices, one in Scotts Valley and another in Grass Valley.
“Two years ago, we opened up a second site up in Grass Valley, where we have an animal sanctuary,” Novic said. “That’s where we bring in animals who, again, have special needs and literally have no place to go.”
The rescue program is the center’s special niche, she said.
“We rescue most of our animals from the Santa Cruz shelter,” said CAPE Foster Care Adoption Manager Cathy Townsend, “they usually call us either for animals that are older or have medical or behavioral needs.”
Townsend is in charge of choosing the dogs that will be rescued by CAPE. Once the shelter calls her, she goes to the shelter, evaluates the dog(s), and then reaches out to CAPE foster families to see if they can help.
“We take in animals and they go directly into foster homes and then the foster homes get the animals tuned up with the medical care that they need,” Novic explained.
Foster families help nurse the animal back to health if necessary and then they are adopted out, but some of the dogs have conditions that require special attention and those animals are placed into the assisted-living program.
“The assisted-living program is a CAPE program whereby the dog lives out his life in a home and the finances are covered for his upkeep,” said CAPE Outreach Coordinator Nancy Eaton.
Petey, a nine-year-old Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix who is prone to occasional seizures, is one of the dogs in the assisted-living program. He will live out the rest of his life with Eaton, who will care for him and his special needs.
A Felton family recently adopted Tommy, a deaf corgi and Jack Russell terrier mix, and another family took in a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Gary, despite his having cancer.
Novic said that Santa Cruz’s animal protection community has done a great job reducing the number of pets without homes and that euthanasia rates are declining in the county because of rescue groups like CAPE.
“Until we can get that number of animals who are homeless to zero, everybody should be spaying and neutering their companion animals,” Novic said. “… The community needs to come together and really make this happen for the animals, we want to see every animal have a loving home.”
For more information about CAPE, visit www.capeanimals.org
