Batmobile, adoptable pets join forces this weekend in Sacramento

What do wine, the Batmobile, DIY lessons and pets all have in common? They are all part of the action at the California State Fine Living Expo, running from tomorrow through Sunday at the Sacramento Convention Center.

Attendees can learn how to make the perfect garden and outdoor kitchen, how to redo their bathroom or even take a class in painting with faux-finishes. If do-it-yourself projects are not in your summer plans, the Fine Living Expo is the best place to find the experts who can do it for you. Check out antique travel trailers and two fully operational replica Batmobiles, then enjoy fine wine, art, vendors and sensational live music.

And since no home or life is complete without a loving companion animal or two, three local shelters will be bringing adoptable cats and dogs to the Expo. Visit the Outdoor Living area to meet pets from the City of Sacramento’s Front Street Shelter, the nonprofit group Animal Outreach of the Motherlode and the City of Folsom Animal Shelter.

“I’m a dog person” says Fine Living producer Sherry Larsen, who was happy to welcome adoptable pets to the Expo. Larsen has spent 30 years rescuing and showing Brittany Spaniels, and is the current secretary of the Central California Brittany Club.

In addition to meeting adoptable animals, the Expo is a great opportunity to learn more about pet health and the services offered by local animal shelters and programs.  Given the large number of homeless and stray animals in the Sacramento region, pet reproduction is a hot topic for shelters.

Kim Smyth, Canine Foster and Rescue Coordinator for the Front Street Shelter, says that “Bob Barker had it right; we can help save the world by spaying and neutering pets!”.

The Fine Living Expo has plenty to offer the whole family, and don’t be surprised if you end up adopting and taking home the furry love of your life.

• California State Fine Living Expo
• Sacramento Convention Center
• 1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
• Fri 4/27 – noon to 7 p.m./Sat 4/28 – 10 a.m. to 7 p.m./Sun 4/29 – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Admission – adults $7/ages 17 and under free/Friday only seniors 62+ only $3.
• Click here for $2 off coupon

Local animal rescue qualifies to compete for $100k

A Sacramento area animal rescue has qualified to participate in a national shelter competition, officials with the nonprofit announced Tuesday. Animal Outreach of the Motherlode is one of only two Northern California groups that qualified for the ASPCA and Rachael Ray $100k Challenge.

The nonprofit is small and relatively unknown as compared to the Marin Humane Society, the closest competitor by distance to Animal Outreach. Public voting over a 12-day period helped winnow a larger national list down to only 50 groups that are eligible to be in the performance-based competition.

Due to the number of votes received from April 5 to April 16, Animal Outreach placed 4th in the Western states and 15th overall in the country. More than 14,000 votes came in for AO; Marin Humane Society placed 22nd overall with 11,771.

Animal shelters often must operate with too little money, too little time and with too many animals in need. This annual competition offers shelters guidance and innovative ideas about marketing, fundraising and adoption programs. Groups that show significant growth during a 3-month period are eligible for financial awards from $1,000 to $100,000.

So how is such growth measured? Kathy Anderson, AO’s Community Outreach and Operations Manager, says that there are several ways. First, each group must adopt out at least 300 more pets from August to October 2012 than they did during the same period the prior year.

During those three months in 2011, Animal Outreach found great new homes for 569 animals. While finding good adopters for 869 pets during the same period this year will require plenty of work and outside-the-box thinking, Anderson resolutely states “We can do that.” She and the staff and volunteers of AO say they are humbled by the strong, positive response and support the shelter has received from the public.

The group that finds home for the largest number of pets during the period will win the $100k prize, but additional amounts will be awarded for things such as growth in community involvement.

Animal Outreach’s shelter is located in an out-of-the-way business park in Diamond Springs, a bit south of Placerville. In addition to that location, AO brings adoptable pets every weekend to PetSmart stores in Citrus Heights, Folsom and Rancho Cordova. In Diamond Springs they offer no/low-cost spay, neuter and vaccination services to pets from all over. In 2011 this small group provided the latter services to more than 10,000 animals; Anderson has big plans for expanding those services in the future.

Big dreams and an exciting future are clearly not out of reach for Animal Outreach, as their very small budget and limited resources haven’t slowed them down yet. In fact AO adopted out around 900 more pets last year than did the Humane Society of Central Washington, the group that earned the top spot nationally in the ASPCA and Rachael Ray $100k Challenge

• Animal Outreach of the Motherlode
• Low Cost Spay/Neuter Vaccination Clinic & Adoption Center
• 6101 Enterprise Dr.
• Diamond Springs, CA 95619
• (530) 642-2287

Senate okays 1 year delay for spay/neuter license plate

The California Senate unanimously passed AB610 yesterday, a bill extending the chance that an animal-related specialty license plate will be made available. Sales of the Pet Lover’s license plate would help provide funding for spay and neuter programs in California.

To become a reality 7,500 plates must be pre-sold; to date around 4,000 of the $50 to $98 plates have been reserved and paid for. Santa Ana Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s AB610 bill would provide a 1-year extension for the plate’s presales. The bill will be heading to Governor Jerry Brown after some minor editing is done.

The bill is sponsored by the California Veterinary Medical Board; a CVMB spokesman said today that funds from the proposed plate’s sales would be available for municipal agencies that apply. The local agencies would then determine how best to distribute the funds within their community.

Any 501(c)3 nonprofit that administers spay and neuter services may be eligible to receive funds as well, generally when there are not municipal services for such available in the area.

Funding of spay and neuter programs is critical, supporters say, to address a massive pet overpopulation problem. More than 1 million pets are reported to enter California animal shelters each year and around half are ultimately euthanized, due in part to the lack of adopters.

Pet overpopulation is particularly a hot-button issue this time of year, when “kitten season” has just begun filling shelters with the end results of unspayed animals. According to Nikki Barnett of the City of Sacramento’s Front Street Shelter, 13 litters of kittens have ended up at the facility just within the last two weeks.

Cats as young as 4 months old can get pregnant and they can have up to 5 litters per year. In other words, all of one mother cat’s female kittens could be weaned and pregnant themselves by the time the mother delivers her second litter.

For more information about pre-buying a California Pet’s Lover’s License Plate click here. Donations to the 501(c)3 nonprofit fund can also be made on the site; people donating $25 or more can receive a Pet Lover’s Pack which includes 6 items made with the license plate’s artwork.

Use your mouse from April 5-16 to help local animal rescue win $100k

When I win the lottery I’m going to buy a big place and rescue a ton of animals.” If that sentiment has ever crossed your lips or mind, you are going to love this news. From today through April 16, you can help win $100,000 for animal rescue with just a click of the mouse a day.

Fifty animal rescue groups and shelters were accepted for the 2012 ASPCA and Rachael Ray $100,000 Challenge; only ten spots were available for each designated region of the United States. One sole Sacramento-area organization made the cut; the 501c3 nonprofit Animal Outreach of the Motherlode.

Animal Outreach provides low-cost spay/neuter, vaccination and adoption services for cats and dogs. They are based in Diamond Springs, but work with animals from all over Sacramento and Northern California.

The ASPCA and Rachael Ray Challenge is performance-based, although votes from public are part of the initial round of the competition. Groups that get enough votes to make it through the qualifying round will participate in the actual contest from August 1 through October 31, 2012.  Different monetary awards will be won based on criteria including how many animal lives are saved as compared to the same August-October period last year.

In 2011 Animal Outreach provided low-cost spay/neuter or vaccine services to more than 10,000 cats and dogs, as well as finding wonderful new homes for more than 2,500 needy pets.

Kathy Anderson, AO’s Community Outreach and Operations Manager, said that from January 1, 2012 until today they “have already provided low-cost spay/neuter or vaccination services to more than 2,000 animals”.

And today and the following 11 days are when AO needs the public’s help to qualify for in the first round. Every day between now and April 16, people can click here to vote for Animal Outreach.

Votes can come from any confirmed email address and do not have to come from residents of the region; anyone in the world can participate.

• Check out the short, funny video about the vote by clicking on the link to the left.

“Winning this grant will help us spay and neuter more animals at no or low-cost to everyone; we do not have income restrictions”, said Anderson.

The nonprofit is having several off-site adoptions and other events that will also encourage people to vote; a full list of events can be found on the Animal Outreach website by clicking here.

Animal Outreach is part of the $100k Challenge’s Western Division, which includes Alaska, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Wyoming.

• 2012 ASPCA and Rachael Ray $100,000 Challenge
• Vote for Animal Outreach of the Motherlode by clicking here.
• Each email address can vote once a day from Thur April 5 – Mon April 16, 2012
• Visit AO’s website and Facebook page
• Please share this information with others around the country and the world in person and on email, Facebook, Twitter and other social media and communication sites

• Animal Outreach Low Cost Spay/Neuter Vaccination Clinic & Adoption Center
• 6101 Enterprise Dr.
• Diamond Springs, CA 95619
• (530) 642-2287