Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2016)
3C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2016 Lost and found mutt highlights need for walkers, adopters ization is equally important. That goes for cats, too. One kind soul, said Tokarz, has volunteered to help with some half-feral kittens, just touch- ing and interacting with them. “That’s a huge help to us,” Tokarz said. Tokarz admits that social media is not really her bag, but when it comes to missing pets, as a tool, she said, the online message board cannot be beat. Within hours, hundreds had shared the link about Pep- per. “It went viral,” said one volunteer. It also helps, Tokarz said, to live in a town that cares about its pets. “It’s kind of amazing how this community is,” Tokarz said. “There were so many shares, and so many people out looking for her.” Pepper was likely pinched from shelter By DAVID PLECHL EO Media Group L ONG BEACH, Wash. — Volunteer dog walk- ers are indispensable to almost any animal shelter. But when a young couple trotted off with an adorable 5-year-old red heeler recently, they didn’t come trotting back. Staff and volunteers at the South Paciic County Humane Society in Long Beach were in disbelief. Saddened, they feared Pepper had been pinched. Staff quickly turned to social media and printed liers, replete with photos showing Pepper’s big wet nose poking at the camera. “We just want her returned safely, we are not interested in how or why she was lost or not returned,” the poster read. Shelter manager Sara Tokarz said three young women had seen the “Lost Dog” post on Facebook and took to the streets to search for Pepper last week, as did many others. The trio eventually spotted the pooch and confronted the couple who were cooperative and handed over the dog. Pep- per was then delivered back to the shelter, much to the relief of worried staff and volunteers. Rare event Tokarz has been with the shelter for about two years and said something similar had never happened before on her watch. Board members also said they couldn’t recall any dog thefts. The incident highlights some of the challenges animal shelters face as they work hard to ind suitable homes while they also aim to extend a cer- tain level of trust to volunteers that play a critical role in the overall effort of animal wel- fare and care. The walks provide much needed exercise to the ken- neled dogs, and the extra atten- tion provides the socialization they’ll need for adoptions to stick. The dog walkers who dis- appeared with Pepper pur- portedly said they had lost track of time on their walk, but intended to return the frisky heeler the next day. “I’d like to think it was an Positive public David Plechl/EO Media Group Shelter manager Sara Tokarz gives Pepper some attention after the 5-year-old red heeler went missing with its volun- teer dog-walkers. “I’d like to think it was an honest mistake,” said Tokarz. honest mistake,” said Tokarz. “Maybe they did really just lose track of time.” She added that, “It doesn’t really matter at this point. It just matters that the dog is back.” Tokarz said the shelter sees a mix of long-term volunteer dog walkers and drop-ins. She said she doesn’t want to dis- courage drop-ins, but stated the board is reviewing its pol- icies and considering revis- ing them to prevent any more cases of disappearing dogs. Right now, Tokarz reports the shelter keeps about half a dozen regular dog walkers busy. More regular volunteers would help. “We can never have enough,” said Tokarz. She encourages people that do want to come in and walk dogs to take care of the paperwork and orientation in advance. “We in no way want to dis- courage people from walking the dogs, but there does have to be a process,” Tokarz said. Walking the walk On the day of Pepper’s return, Humaira Falkenberg, of Ilwaco, was at the shelter to walk Fiona, a massive Sibe- rian Husky and malamute mix. It’s something she does many times a week, almost always on her lunch hour. Sometimes, the two go run- David Plechl/EO Media Group Finding enough volunteers to help walk and socialize dogs is a constant battle for shelters like the South Pacific County Humane Society. ning. Falkenberg appreciates a partner that can keep up. Other times, Fiona even stays the night. “That allows her to be socialized in a home,” Falkenberg said. Falkenberg paused on a walk to answer some ques- tions as Fiona tugged this way and that. One stern command and the big dog was sitting (almost) placidly. “She’s a really sweet dog,” Falkenberg explained, “but she needs training.” Falkenberg knows. She once owned a Siberian Husky, just like Fiona. The breed, she said, have an independent streak, but they also need a lot of exercise to be calm. That means Fiona has to be worked every day, “so they can’t be an ornament dog.” Picturesque Pepper Tokarz was reluctant to speculate why Pepper may have been targeted. She said the medium-sized dog is prob- ably not a purebred, but, “she’s a very unique looking dog.” Pepper is great with peo- ple and children, Tokarz said, but doesn’t get on well with other dogs. That was a concern when Pepper’s whereabouts were unknown. Safely back at the shel- ter, the 5-year-old red heeler looked in good spirits, wag- gling her tail as volunteers pet- ted her thick spotted coat. Pep- per stiffened to attention when some curious crows landed in a ield nearby. Tokarz said Pepper has proven to be well-behaved, even when left alone in a home. She can be taken on runs and loves affection. But it would be best, Tokarz said, if she were an “only dog,” and probably shouldn’t be around chickens or other pet birds. “She’d really make a won- derful pet,” said Tokarz. “They’re herding dogs. They’re smart dogs.” Currently the shelter houses 19 pups and has 21 kennels. “We’re pretty full,” said Tokarz. Pepper was originally under the care of the Har- bor Animal Volunteer Asso- ciation, a largely foster-based program out of Raymond that does not have a shelter proper. Tokarz said one of her volun- teers that was involved with both programs had suggested Pepper might have a greater potential for adoption if she could be seen by more people. That brought Pepper to the peninsula. The shelter depends on vol- unteer and membership sup- port. Reasonable adoption fees cover some operating costs, including care and vaccina- tions for the animals. But Tokarz said the shel- ter’s needs extend well beyond dog-walking. Social- Sandy Clancy, South Paciic County Humane Soci- ety board president, said inter- actions with the public are indispensable, and almost always positive. Kittens need cuddling. Dogs need walking. And peo- ple need pets. Clancy said the shel- ter abides by a system where interested dog walkers ill out an application, read a hand- book, sign their name to an agreement, and in some cases, receive additional informa- tion or training from a more experienced staff member or volunteer. That’s normally how it would work, said Clancy, but admitted personnel can be stretched, and trust had per- haps eclipsed the more ideal protocol in Pepper’s case. “We didn’t do the things that needed to be done,” Clancy said, adding that more information should have been collected before Pepper was allowed to parade away. Lesson learned, Clancy said. From now on, “they will need to go through all of our procedures.” Which, she added, “is better for them, better for us, better for the animal.” Police had been contacted when the dog went missing, and notiied when the dog was returned. But Clancy said it’s possi- ble the doggie disappearance was an innocent mistake. “Most everyone is really good,” Clancy explained. “We’re just extremely thankful.” Tacos: They’re the means to start a dialogue about acceptance, injustice Continued from Page 1C Epoch of unlearning “Who eats at Taco Bell?,” while not a literal ques- tion asked by the Aguilars, nonetheless drives the cou- ple’s search for how people define what it means to be American. Gustavo comes from Brownsville, Texas, a city of more than 170,000 on the U.S.-Mexico border where U.S. Census reports 93 per- cent of the residents are of Hispanic descent. The Aguilars said that among hundreds of taquerias in Brownsville, they noticed a single Taco Bell fast food restaurant that nonetheless has thrived. Their interest was fur- ther piqued when Gus- tavo Arellano, the editor of OC Weekly in California, declared salsa’s overtaking of ketchup in overall sales in 2013 as “the manifest des- tiny of good taste.” “We do a lot of free asso- ciating, so we started talking about how it would be inter- esting making tacos for peo- ple along a trail … that rep- resents manifest destiny,” Gaelyn Aguilar said. “Lewis and Clark’s jour- ney was seen as an epoch of discovery,” she said. “Our twist is that our trip is an epoch of unlearning” political stances and ideas about what it means to be American. The couple have cooked their way across the west- ern U.S., starting in Camp DuBois, Illinois, and stop- ping in St. Louis and Kan- sas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Vermillion, South Dakota; Washburn, North Dakota; Helena and Mis- soula, Montana; Boise, Idaho; Naselle, Washington; and Astoria. “We’ve been in a lot of places where they tell me Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Gaelyn Aguilar talks with residents at the River People Farmers Market. they never eat vegetables,” Gustavo Aguilar said. Eating a pumpkin-seed pesto taco can be a rather alien experience for some- one used to beef or chicken in their tortillas. But Gus- tavo said people get to know he and Gaelyn, try a taco and can’t believe it doesn’t have meat. For the Aguilars, tacos are also the means to start a dialogue about acceptance and injustice in America. Asking how Americans can live more inclusively, the Aguilars said they have heard a lot about the need for more education on multicul- tural issues. “Another issue raised was the need for more edu- cation at home,” Gaelyn said. Learning prejudice is easier than teaching how to remove it, she said. “It often doesn’t happen until some- one goes to college, and the world opens up for them.” Gathering the field notes, photos and other materials from each visit, Gaelyn said she plans to write about the trip in popular media and curate her material in a mul- timedia studio in Montreal, Canada. Now available in the The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer For more information call 503-325-3211 crbizjou rn a l.com