CA: Animals moved into new Riverside shelter

Animals moved into new Riverside shelter

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, April 24, 2010

By JERRY SOIFER
Special to The Press-Enterprise

About 500 dogs and cats were moved from the 'burbs to a veritable mansion for animals Saturday. Except the animals didn't know they were undergoing such a massive upgrade in lifestyle.

So some dogs barked. Others twitched with anxiety or wagged their tails. Others relieved themselves in their moving crates. The cats were the last to move because they could be the most anxious, said Riverside County Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

About 100 volunteers and 30 paid staff pooled their efforts to move the animals from the old Riverside County/city shelter on Wilderness Avenue to the new building at 6851 Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside in about eight hours.


Jerry Soifer / Special to The Press-Enterprise
Raul Ulloa and Isabell Bojorquez load a dog into a carrier at the old Riverside County shelter for the move to the new shelter Saturday. More than 400 dogs and cats were moved.

"For our employees it's a very spiritual thing," Welsh said. "They're moving from a building that was never designed to be a shelter to a gorgeous $26.1 million facility."

Welsh said he hopes the new shelter leads to more animal adoptions.

The tale of Noah's Ark was not lost on the workers and volunteers. Some said there goes Ark One and Ark Two when the horse trailers bearing the dogs pulled out from the old facility. Volunteers brought horse trailers for the move.

But Noah didn't have to deal with paperwork and identifying the dogs and cats. Each animal had an ID number with matching paperwork attached to the crate for the move. The paperwork related to whether the dog was a male or female, spayed or neutered or if it had been given any medication or quarantined.

The paperwork enabled the workers at the new shelter to identify the animals and put them in their proper place. One dog being unloaded at the new shelter escaped for a few moments before being caught.

"Once they see their new digs we hope they warm up to the process," said Welsh.

The exercise should prepare the staff and volunteers from the Riverside Emergency Animal Rescue System for assisting animals in the case of a natural disaster, Welsh said.

"This is our D-Day," said Animal Services Capt. Tammie Belmonte. "I think we have more volunteers than paid staff. We are so blessed to have all of these volunteers."

Victoria Rodriguez, of Riverside, urged a dog to leave its crate at the new facility.

"He looked scared like he didn't want to come out," said Rodriguez.

At the new shelter, Tuesday Martinez, 15, of Corona, used a magnet to pick up metal from the grounds to prevent injuries to the animals. Volunteers cleansed the crates and sent them back to the old shelter to be used again.

Animal Services Capt. Betsy Ritchie, normally based at Thousand Palms, woke up early at her Menifee home, to help the western end of the county. "Each animal will stay healthier longer," Ritchie said. "It's a lot of exciting things that will happen."

Riverside public health nurse Diane Tait said, "We're doing this for our four-legged friends."

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