Nội dung bài viết
For Faith Easdale, it’s the running that breaks her heart the most. After dogs are abandoned in the middle of nowhere, they will chase after the owners who dumped them.
“Even if they’ve been abused, they run after the vehicle,” says Easdale , director of the foster-based Dream Fetchers Project Rescue.
“They run their little legs off.” She knows this because, sometimes, perpetrators are caught on grainy security camera videos , forcing dogs out of their cars in empty parking lots, in the desert adjacent to remote housing tracts, or by lonely highways.
In one instance, a man in a hooded sweatshirt picked up a pit bull terrier and hurled the dog over a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. These abandonments happen on scorching hot days, with coyotes circling, with no food or water for miles.
After 10 years rescuing abandoned dogs, it’s hard not to lose faith in humanity, Easdale says. “I wish I didn’t even know about all this stuff, so I could have a normal life,” she says.
“You can’t unsee that stuff.” The number of unwanted dogs, especially in the inland regions of Southern California, has become a major crisis for animal rescue groups.
“Honestly, we’ve been past the breaking p oint for about a year and a bit,” says Mike Ryan , an independent rescuer based in Apple Valley who takes in abandoned dogs. In that timeframe, donations have plummeted more than 75%, Ryan says.
A call for donations used to earn him a porch full of dog food; now, he’s lucky if he gets a few boxes. Adoptions are down as well, he says.
“I have personally not been able to find a home for a dog for over two years,” Ryan says.
“Before, I could find them like crazy.” In May 2025, Riverside County Animal Services announced its shelters were 220% over their limit , and in September, San Bernardino County Animal Care announced its shelters were “at full capacity” and offered free adoptions.
“We have more animals in our shelters than I’ve ever seen,” agreed Lesley Huennekens, a field commander with the Riverside Department of Animal Services.
“It is definitely worse than it used to be.” The problem is the result of both intentional breeding and a lack of spaying and neutering, Huennekens said.
In the county’s four shelters, all of which are at or over capacity, Riverside Department of Animal Services employees see both accidental litters and purebred dogs, including Belgian Malinois, huskies , French bulldogs — breeds popularized in movies or that are “trending online,” Huennekens said.
There’s “no one reason” for this uptick, she said.
Instead, she points to a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, a culture that views animals as “disposable,” and a lack of access to spay and neuter services, especially during COVID, when some veterinarians were forced to temporarily halt those services.
Spay and neuter services are harder to access in more remote areas, said Melissa Durston, director of community outreach for the Spayce Project , a nonprofit that hosts spay and neuter clinics and offers other veterinary services in underserved areas.
Many pet owners are coming from the high desert, which Durston says includes communities along the route to Las Vegas, such as Adelanto, Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia, Lucerne Valley, Barstow, Daggett and Newberry Springs.
“People are coming to our clinics, walking three miles with their dog, using a shoelace as a collar or a leash, or plastic bags tied in knots as a leash,” Durston says.
“They’re trying to do the right thing.” In the high desert, Durston said she sees people living off the grid, and many don’t have the money or tra nsportation to get their dogs fixed.
“If you are struggling to put gas in your car, or feed your children, or whatever, and someone hits you with a $600 spay or neuter bill, it’s not going to happen,” she said. The Spayce Project hosts clinics in shelters, grooming facilities, community centers and even thrift stores.
At a clinic in the Lucerne Valley in early September, the Spayce team fixed 52 dogs in one day. The nonprofit, primarily funded through grants and private donations, doesn’t charge pet owners for their services.
“We never want to take someone’s last $5,” Durston said. But many pet owners will donate — anywhere from $100 to a handful of change.
Gợi ý thực hành:
1. Theo dõi thông báo từ cơ quan địa phương tại California.
2. Kiểm tra nguồn chính thức trước khi chia sẻ lại thông tin.