Keeping people and their pets together

[David_42]

The bond between someone and their pet is a wonderful thing...
Keeping people and their pets together - CNN.com

Twenty years ago, Lori Weise was working at a furniture factory near Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. She saw hundreds of people living on the streets.

Then she began noticing something else: Many of them had pets.

Weise and a co-worker started befriending the animal owners and asking how they could help. Time and again, Weise heard the same story: The dog was their best friend, a part of their family.

But without the means to care for their animals, many were forced to give them up.

"Such a simple thing as a dog license could keep that pet with that person," said Weise, adding that she often met people who would feed their dog before themselves.

Today, Weise runs Downtown Dog Rescue, a nonprofit that provides resources to help low-income families keep and care for their pets.

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The organization offers free services such as spay/neuter and vaccines as well as basic pet supplies. It also operates a kennel where dogs can receive temporary or long-term care.

Each year, the group helps around 2,000 animals stay with their owners and out of shelters.

Weise's organization tries to reach families before they have to surrender their pets.
"We want to help people manage their lives and their animals more compassionately," Weise said.

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CNN spoke with Weise about her efforts. Below is an edited version of the conversation:

CNN: You've been doing this work for 20 years. What was it like when you first started?

Lori Weise: The area near Skid Row was really different. There were buildings that were just boarded up. It was blocks and blocks of homeless people or people living outside in tents.

I would pass people that were living on the street with their animals. They didn't have a collar. They were feeding their dog, say, rice and whatever food they could get.

We'd just start talking and ask them, "How can we help you?" A lot of times people needed bottled water. They needed dog food. The thing that was unique about us is that there were no forms to fill out. It's just, "OK, we're going to take you for your word." So we would just buy the supplies with our own money.