For more than 20 years, local non-profit Friends for Life has helped keep shelter animals healthy and housed through its foster program, spay/neuter program and Emergency Medical Fund (EMF). And now this organization really needs our help. 

A puppy found on the side of the road, suffering multiple wounds | Photos provided by Friends for Life

“Pets impounded at the shelter often need life-saving treatment that can be very expensive,” Shannon Townsend-Bettis, a Friends for Life board member, wrote in an email to the Outpost. “The county only allots approximately $300 per animal for vet bills in their budget. Pets that go over that would historically be euthanized.” 

That’s where Friends for Life comes in. When Humboldt’s animal control rescues a pet that needs treatment and the bills are too high, the non-profit uses the EMF to cover the remainder to prevent these animals from being euthanized. But now the EMF is in “dire need of funds,” Townsend-Bettis said, adding that the fund is so low that the shelter will soon have to start euthanizing pets that come in with injuries and ailments that need treatment. And, unfortunately, animals in need of extensive medical treatment come in fairly often. 

Humboldt County Animal Care and Control recently posted on its Facebook page about one such animal – a young pup that was found on the side of the road in Alderpoint and had suffered multiple wounds, likely from being dragged behind a vehicle.

“Our Emergency Medical Fund supports our ability to save these animals and get them the treatment they need,” the post goes on to say. “The fund is running low and donations are needed so we can continue to help these animals in need.” 

Denise Rogers, president of Friends for Life, said that the EMF is completely funded through donations and that, because the number of animals coming into the county shelter has drastically increased over the past couple of years, the donations have just not been enough to keep up with the costs. So the amount of money in the EMF is dwindling. 

“A majority of those animals come in with injuries, illnesses – you name it, and they need treatment,” Rogers said in a phone interview Thursday. “Three hundred dollars doesn’t go very far, and it also has to cover the cost to spay and neuter the animals.” 

Exactly why the number of abandoned animals has been increasing recently Rogers could not say for sure, but she imagines that it is a variety of factors, including people suffering financially and becoming overwhelmed by caring for the animal. One of the biggest factors is that many people don’t get their pets spayed or neutered and they continue breeding offspring that end up on the streets. 

If you would like to help this sweet doggo and other injured animals like her, you can donate online at www.dogrescuers.org and specify in the “designation” window that you’d like your donation to go toward the emergency medical fund or EMF. You can also donate via PayPal @friendsforlife707, mailing a check to Friends for Life (PO Box 962, Eureka, CA 95502).

And as for the injured puppy in the photos, Rogers said that she is still at the vet, having her bandages changed regularly. Because her wounds are so painful, she needs to be sedated each time the bandages are changed and the costs are really adding up. Rogers is not sure what the final bill will be, but she said that Friends for Life will do “whatever it takes” to keep this animal alive and eventually find her a good home. 

“She has a long way to go, but she’s hanging in there,” Rogers said.