Our Foster Program
While we work to raise funds to purchase a permanent home for our sanctuary, we offer a fostering program for animals who have lost their guardians. We currently have a full house in our foster program and are hoping to find:
1) more people willing to take in long-term foster animals
and
2) to raise funds so we can add more members to our foster family in 2023.
We provide all food, medications, and vet visits for our pet guests. All of your donations allow us to continue this work and we are so grateful to our supporters for their help!
Pets in Need – Why BAARCS is so necessary
Life can change in a moment and for many that means they can no longer care for themselves or their animals. COVID, financial hardship, sudden homelessness are all too common reasons these days that pets can suddenly become homeless.
The following stories are a small example of the reason there is a real need to open a sanctuary like BAARCS, where we can help by providing a safe harbor for these animals.
Just think of how many more animals can be saved once we have a permanent location for our sanctuary!
Maxwell
the newest member of our Foster Family
Maxwell’s daddy passed away from COVID and unfortunately there was no one among friends or family who could take him in. He’s already happily settled in with one of our long-term foster parents and loves to sleep on TOP of his little mesh cat house, rather than inside.
JJ
J.J. came to us via an owner surrender due to a death in the family. He is a sweet quiet boy who spends his days watching the world go by outside his window and enjoying his salmon treats.
Luther
Luther’s pet daddy was an older gentleman who lived alone. He loved all animals and spent much of his time after retirement going on long walks and feeding at the TNR colonies near our neighborhood.
He passed away very suddenly a few years ago. About a month after Luther’s daddy died, I found Luther in my backyard one morning, drooling uncontrollably with a swollen-looking face. Turned out he had an infection in his tongue
Luther strongly resisted (and I do mean “strongly”) being put into a transport cage for a visit to the vet, so after an in-home visit from a mobile vet, he was given antibiotics to clear up his infection. Now he’s the happy healthy boy seen here getting his chest scratched.
Luther prefers the outdoors, and has just begun getting used to spending time indoors. He particularly enjoys leaving hair on all soft surfaces and decimating Christmas trees.
When BAARCS can finally open a facility more cats like Luther will have a permanent home and all the love and scratches they like 🙂
This is Dub
Dub showed up one morning in 2014 with awful, infected-looking eyes, a completely bald tail, and bleeding wounds on his back. Actually, he didn’t just show up – he was tossed over the fence.
He had mange and missing fur, and what looked like little round cigar-size burns on his skin. His ear was clipped so he’d been through the TNR program, but it looked like he’d been severely abused before becoming homeless.
After starting him on antibiotics, treating the mange, and cleaning him up as best as we could it was obvious he was terrified of being touched and had been severely abused.
Once he was coaxed into a carrier and taken to the vet we found out the bald tail was due to someone apparently trying to cut off his tail.
It also turned out that he did have cigar or cigarette burns on his back – the vet treated them and they have improved immensely over the years.
His eyes have also improved:
He feels so much better these days, and is much more trusting with humans. Once he feels comfortable with someone he immediately rolls over and demands belly rubs – the ultimate in trusting behavior.
Over the years Dub has finally gotten used to living indoors. He goes outside to check out the sights and smells but always come back into the house. He also has his very own blanket and pillow now and refuses to lay down anywhere else.
Smoke
This is Smoke. He is a hybrid kitty (Savannah) and very high energy.
Smoke is the newest addition to our foster family and was abandoned when his family lost their home and left him behind. We got a call from a neighbor asking us to take him into our foster program.
He’s had a bit of an adjustment living with other animals but once he got used to the idea he’s gotten much more mellow.
These little guys can really jump!
These girls are Annie and Kimmie
They are a bonded pair who were originally rescued by an older friend, and their situation was the impetus to create Bay Area Animal Rescue Center and Sanctuary
A few years after she rescued the girls my friend was diagnosed with an incurable condition and passed away. She said before she died that she had made arrangements for her sister to take care of the dogs when she passed.
The sister called the day after my friend passed away, saying that she was at the house and wanted me to come get the dogs and find them a home. When told that her sister had said she’d be taking care of the dogs she said she’d never agreed to that, didn’t want them, and if someone didn’t come get them she’d take them to the shelter and have them put to sleep.
Circumstances at the time didn’t allow me to have any more animals, so for weeks I contacted private shelters, looking for someone who could take a bonded pair of dogs of an indeterminate age (because they were originally rescued we didn’t really know their ages). Everyone was full up and most of them only wanted “adoptable” dogs – cute little puppies or young dogs that they could adopt out immediately.
I finally got a lead from a friend about an animal service that allowed people to post ads for senior pets and situations where the owner was no longer available. Luckily, after posting an ad, a very nice couple responded. They specifically wanted to offer a home to a bonded pair of older pets, and now those little girls have been with the there for several years, living a happy life!
The reason we want to open a BAARCS facility? Because there are so many pets left behind when someone becomes ill or passes away unexpectedly, and we have a limited amount of foster homes available. It would be great to be able to open our doors to many more older pets who need a loving home.