Christmas Day 2024, a home in Anaheim burned down. The family lost their home and everything in it, but their dogs made it out barely. Two dogs required expensive intensive care in oxygen cages for a week. Not one other organization helped, so AALOC paid the entire bill for a family who had lost everything.
In April, I woke up to a sickening, stomach-turning video on social media of a repeat animal abuser in Los Angeles holding an English Bulldog in an alleyway where he drugged her with Methamphet-amines, slammed her body onto asphalt, repeatedly kicked and punched her in her head and body, choked her and left her for dead in a pile of discarded tires. A neighbor’s security camera caught the abuse and sent it to The Kris Kelly Foundation which focuses on abuse cases. AALOC was the only group that offered help. Adriana was hospitalized for a month, with eye damage, torn leg ligaments, abdominal hernias, liver damage, and needed multiple surgeries. Abdominal surgery revealed that Adriana had old stitches and severe scarring of tissues from numerous C-sections most likely not done by vets, but by backyard breeders. Adriana has fully recovered and is living her best life filled with the love of a vet tech who helped in her recovery.
Joey’s life was filled with heartbreak. AALOC rescued the adorable three-month-old pup who was on the OC shelter euthanasia list due to multiple seizures. Joey wanted so badly to play, lay in green grass, be held and loved, but neurologists were unable to control his ongoing seizures, even with a temporary induced coma to break the seizure cycle. Drug testing was positive for Meth. The neurologists had never seen such uncontrollable seizures in a puppy. One night Joey slept peacefully, but inside his brain he was having “nonconvulsive seizures” which can’t be seen from the outside: it’s ongoing seizure activity only in the brain.
He no longer opened his eyes, he let out one little cry, and the neurologist knew that there was no coming back from this point. I was his foster mom for a month, and I loved him dearly. The room was also filled with all the veterinary staff who loved him as much as I did, who used to play with him and rock him to sleep when he was in for treatment. We all surrounded Joey with love and tears when he passed.
Isaiah is only 21 years old and deeply loves his beautiful big orange cat Garfield, who developed a urinary blockage. He took him to the vet but without the money needed to save him, he was only able to take him home. He desperately called numerous animal organizations and one local group only offered to euthanize his two-year-old cat with a completely treatable condition. AALOC paid for the surgery to save his cat, along with many other cats who have suffered the same condition.
French Bulldog Nalah was pregnant and in labor when her owner told a neighbor she was taking Nalah to a kill shelter in LA. The neighbor took Nalah and called dozens of organizations to help as Nalah needed an emergency C-section to save her and her puppies. Once again, AALOC was the only group to respond. We rushed Nalah to the ER for the operation, and are so grateful she survived along with her two pups.
Recently, a knock at our front door came from a soft-spoken young lady holding a little dog who was her whole world, until her world fell apart. As a child, her parents were killed in a third world country before she was adopted by missionaries who loved her dearly. But some scars don’t heal, and mental health challenges haunted her. She found comfort and unconditional love with a tiny pup she named Starfish and the two were inseparable, but life on the streets led them in many dangerous directions while living in her car for two years. She embraced Starfish, wiping tears away,and begging us to find him a family that could provide him with a better life. She sat on the porch, holding him close for the last time, inconsolable. We offered her resources, and called several days later to check on her, because AALOC cares for the animals in need and the people who dearly love them.
And the endless need continues:
- Pet AID is already paused, but a homeless lady came to AALOC today, holding Molly, her 12-year-old Chihuahua she’s had since Molly was three-months old. She begged us to help Molly who struggled to breathe. Our vet diagnosed heart failure and Molly received heart meds and diuretics. We will do our best to help her see a cardiologist, if we can.
- The OC county shelter sent a late email yesterday notifying rescues of Sweet Pea, a greyhound mix puppy with parvo. Sweet Pea needed rescue by 4pm that day or else she would be euthanized. I waited until the following morning to see if Sweet Pea had been rescued by another organization, but like most of the other parvo puppies, no one called to save her except AALOC, and I was too late. They told me Sweet Pea had just passed away. The guilt, irrational or not will linger because I waited. I waited because we owe so much at this point. I waited and she died.
- The tears have to be wiped because now there is a one-month-old kitten from a hoarding property covered in mange, with a very low blood count and low body temperature. The ER tries to save Jack Frost, but he is too small and too sick to survive even with the best of care.
- Soon afterwards, another ER calls for help for a stray cat shot with a gun in Santa Ana. Shadow is a tiny seven-pound sweet black female whose leg is shattered and it must be amputated. She is in pain, she needs surgery, then she needs a foster home, and she needs someone to pay the bill. She has no one and she needs AALOC but we are broke and we are full. A vet assistant is so upset she offers to foster Shadow if we'll save her. The vet discounts the surgery by 50% if we will save her. The weight of this moment is monumental because a sweet little life hangs in the balance. AALOC can't turn away those who have no other hope.
I beg of you to please donate what you are able to. Rescue is hard, the bills are atrocious, and the abuse and neglect of animals doesn't end. Every dollar must be raised privately and 100% goes to saving and caring for animals in need. There are no paid Board of Directors, no paid Officers, no paid CEOs or paid professional fundraisers. Just volunteers with big breaking hearts who can't look away, can't turn away an animal in need. The bills must be paid or we won't have a choice. The vets will cut us off. They have to pay their bills. Current amounts owed to vet hospitals are over $200,000.
Please donate today and please consider including AALOC as a beneficiary in your estate planning. There are no pending bequests that are the lifesource to keeping AALOC's doors open.