- If you live in East Bakersfield, you may have your door knocked on by a new animal rescue coalition.
- In this video, 23ABC's Ava Kershner goes to the neighborhood targeted and finds out what to expect.
“South of Flower, Mount Vernon, to Beale, and even further to Altavista and to Bernard,” describes Dawn Romero, Chairman of Kern S.A.F.E.
The 93305 zip code in Bakersfield is the first area in the city that a brand new animal rescue coalition is targeting for their outreach.
And if you live there, here is what they might say to you.
“First of all, do you have any animals?” said Romero.
Followed by:
“Hey, we have resources for you available for you to take better care of your animal. We can provide spay and neuter. We can provide vaccinations to keep them healthy,” said Nick Cullen, Director of Kern County Animal Services.
Kern S.A.F.E. is a coalition made of many local rescue groups, as well as the city and county shelters.
By combining resources from non profits all over Kern county, the grassroots door knocking and canvassing will grow beyond Bakersfield.
Dawn Romero, chairman of Kern S.A.F.E. identifies three reasons why this neighborhood is the first one targeted.
The first reason:
“They’re in the lowest income neighborhood so they don’t have any income to be able to afford even $20-$30 as a co-pay,” said Romero.
The second:
“They just don’t know what resources are available,” said Romero.
And the third:
“They also don’t have transportation to get to the appointments. So when there’s only one car in the household, and we have to get an animal to appointments between 7:30 and 8 o’clock in the morning, they’re not able to do it,” said Romero.
That's why this coalition is even offering to drive your animal to and from their free appointment, while also holding vaccine clinics just for this neighborhood, only spreading the date by word of mouth as to not attract publicity.
Romero says that the main goal of this pilot program is to educate, and not judge.
“We’re really not here to criticize them, or make them feel bad. They are doing the best they can with the resources they have,” said Romero.
To learn more about Kern S.A.F.E., click here.
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