Greetings Volunteers,
Woofstock is a few days away. Who else is excited for this music festival?! I am, I am :). We have a wonderful bevy of volunteers helping throughout the event, but we could still use a few extra hands at the close of the festivities to help with breakdown and clean-up. If you’re attending and can stick around for a little bit, let me know. Or, if you’re not so into the music scene, but can spare an hour from 5-6pm on Sunday, let me know. Did I mention you get free admission for helping?! Thanks!
Shelter update: We currently have 178 animals in our care at Marin Humane: 89 animals in foster and 89 animals in the shelter/Kitty Corner, including: 24 dogs, 32 cats, 5 kittens, 10 rabbits, 10 guinea pigs, 5 rodents, 2 reptiles, and 1 bird. Hopalong has 92 animals in their care, 17 animals in the Oakland office and 75 cats and dogs in fabulous foster homes or offsite adoption sites!
Adoptions update: Brighten up this cloudy Wednesday with a week’s worth of adoptions! Congratulations to these happy families and the lucky animals who now have forever homes! Enjoy the going-home slideshow and Adoption Report.
Hopalong happenings! Hopalong picked up bird watching as a new hobby in April, when we noticed a hummingbird had built her tiny nest on a tree just outside the window of our volunteer orientation room. For weeks, on breaks from animal care, we eagerly peaked out the window and speculated on when we might see a baby hummingbird. Finally, on Monday we saw new signs of life in the nest and managed to snap this picture of momma feeding a little one! If you’re at the Hopalong office soon, just let us know if you’d like to see them and we’ll point the nest out to you, as it’s quite tricky to spot on your own!
Tails of Marin: During spring, Marin plays host to a variety of baby wildlife — from fawns to ducklings to baby squirrels and opossum babies riding in their mom’s pouch. This means the phone lines at Marin Humane and WildCare stay busy with calls from worried residents. It’s a good time to be reminded of when to help, when to ask experts for help, and when to just let nature take its course, which you’ll find in this week’s Tails of Marin, How To Keep Baby Wildlife Safe And Sound.
Happy endings! The surest sign that springtime is really, truly here: ducklings! These adorable ducklings were trapped in a storm drain in San Rafael and mama was understandably distraught. Animal Services Officer Russo to the rescue! When she couldn’t remove the cover on the storm drain, she fished out the ducklings one-by-one with a net! The babies were then reunited with their mom and released at nearby Miller Creek. All in a day’s work for our amazing officers! Click here to see this sweet duckling rescue!
Yoga mats needed: From time to time, you see requests for donations of a variety of items. Well, today, our Behavior & Training and Animal Care departments are asking for donations of gently used yoga mats. Hmmm, are they teaching the animals to do yoga, you ask? Well, no (not yet!), but we need yoga mats to put on the floor of adoption kennels for dogs struggling to move about the slippery floors. Yoga mats are also used on the platforms in our dog training classes, again to prevent dogs from slipping. So, if you haven’t used your yoga mat in a while, we’d gladly take it off your hands. Any color, any size, new or gently used! You can drop the yoga mat(s) in the donation bins in front of the shelter and they’ll get to the right place. Thanks!
Another happy ending! Some of you may remember a happy ending from 2022 about Thor, the beautiful white dog. Well, Thor’s dad wrote us recently to update us. Here’s what he had to say: “Wanted to reach out and say thank you again for giving me the opportunity to adopt Thor in February of 2022. He has been living a healthy life since then and enjoying his life in sunny San Diego along his companion. Please feel free to reach out at any time! He has changed my life for the best, and I couldn’t be more grateful for adopting him.”
Special webinar invitation: Please join Marin Humane on Tuesday, May 16th at noon to learn about Estate Planning Basics with Marin County attorney Karolyn Poppin. This 1-hour Zoom webinar will provide an essential overview of the fundamentals of estate planning. Whether you’re married, single, have kids, have pets, or have minimal personal assets or property, you should have a plan. Register for this free webinar here; after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Woof, woof for a successful Woofstock!
Candace
