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The only things we lacked were confetti and those giant checks that take three people to hold up. But the TBC Gives team traveled around town today in a van with our very own paparazzi to hand deliver the more than $14,000 donated by the community for our Tails of Bakersfield fundraiser.

First stop: The Bakersfield SPCA. Total: $4,036.

According to Director Sandy Dralle, the donations will go to offset the costs of preparing animals for adoption, which includes spay/neuter, vaccination, pet food, a month of insurance and a veterinary check-up. While adoption fees for dogs are $76.50 and cats $54.50, the actual cost to prepare each animal is at least $265, not including if the animal needs treatment for an illness or injury. "It's the community donations that make up the difference," Sandy said.

Also, due to the increased awareness through Tails of Bakersfield, Sandy said the SPCA has seen 225 more adoptions during the 6-week period of the fundraiser this summer than during the same period last summer. "Many people came in because so many of the dogs in the photos had come from the SPCA," Sandy said.

Second stop: ALPHA Canine. Total: $7,271.25.

Director Marilyn Stewart was shocked to hear the community had donated so much. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are amazing," she said. The rescue organization plans to use the money for more proactive programs, such as giving more spay/neuter vouchers to low-income pet owners. The shelter is currently at capacity, with 97 dogs.

"What we're up against is we get 30 to 40 calls per day from people who want to drop off their dogs. If we doubled our facility, we'd fill it in a week. Then where would we be? But if we help people spay and neuter their pets, then we cut the puppy rate. This (facility) is reactive. We want to be proactive," Stewart said.

Third stop: Kern County Animal Shelter. Total: $1,211.25.

Division Chief Denise Haynes and Director Guy Shaw gladly accepted the community donations, saying the money will go for blankets, toys, shoe boxes for the kittens, and other materials. The agency's nonprofit, Friends of the Kern County Animal Shelter, also buys bigger items such as a new front-loading washer and dryer for the shelter and a travel crate to return a pit bull to an owner in Texas who had fallen ill while driving through Bakersfield with her dog.

The money will also go to offset costs for gas and supplies for transporting animals to rescue groups in other cities such as Seattle and Las Vegas, which have higher demand for adoptions than animals available.

Last stop: The Cat People. Total: $1,626.25.

We met with Barb Hayes at the Pawsitively Cats thrift shop on 18th Street — one of the nonprofit's means of fundraising. "This is just great. It's wonderful," she said.

The money will go toward veterinary bills for preparing cats for adoption, plus giving low-income people vouchers for cat food, litter, and spaying/neutering their pets. Hayes said their group does everything it can to help people keep their cats rather than have to give them up or abandon them in parks or elsewhere. "This year has been particularly bad. We're seeing full litters abandoned, moms and their kittens."

The Cat People does not have a shelter facility. They operate using a network of "foster families" and currently have about 200 kittens and cats under their care. Because of this, they do not accept cats from the public, but rather focus on emergency rescues where the cats' lives are in danger, Hayes said. The nonprofit has just, however, made a five-year goal to open a cat sanctuary and retirement home with an adoption center. "We've just run out of foster homes," she said.

It was the perfect formula: A worthy project for Bakersfield's givers to demonstrate their generosity while showing off the family pet in the pages of the newspaper. Tails of Bakersfield, The Californian's effort to save the lives of unwanted pets, has exceeded its goal of $10,000 for local shelters. In fact, thanks to one anonymous donor's gift of $3,000, the project's haul as of Friday was $13,495.

Though we're no longer accepting pet photos, over the next couple of weeks we will continue to run pictures received as of Friday. And if you missed out this year, Tails will return in 2009.

Here's a breakdown, as of today, of the amount raised per shelter. (Donors chose which shelter their donations would go to.)

The Cat People: $1,591.25
Kern County Animal Shelter: $1,221.25
Bakersfield SPCA: $3,966.25
Alpha Canine $4,261.25 (plus $3,000 matching donation = $7,261.25)

As of today, our Tails of Bakersfield project has raised $8,915 for local animal shelters and rescue groups. We are aiming for $10,000 and we know we'll get there!

Here's a break down:

The Cat People $1,358.75
Kern County Animal Control $1,048.75
ALPHA Canine $3,363.75 (received a single donation in the mail for $1,000.00 today)
Bakersfield SPCA $3,143.75

Click here for how to donate, and get your pets' photos printed in The Bakersfield Californian.

Keep your donations coming!!!!!

Tails of Bakersfield, The Bakersfield Californian's fundraising drive to help local animal shelters, is half-way through the summer program and already is going strong.

So far, readers have donated $4,445 for the Kern County Animal Shelter, ALPHA Canine, The Cat People and Bakersfield SPCA. And just today, we've learned that an anonymous donor will match up to $3,000 in donations for ALPHA Canine.

Click here to find out how to donate and get a photo of your pet printed in The Bakersfield Californian.

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This week's Pets of the Week are sooooo hard for me to pass up! But I already have a dog and a cat. So I'm making endorsements on the potentials of the following animals:

Sibling kittens — This is the BEST way to adopt a new cat. I once found a brother-sister set of kittens on my driveway and took them in. What entertainment! They played together every waking moment, chasing each other around the house, tumbling off the couch, having the time of their lives. Who needed TV when I had them? Then, when they slept, they curled up with each other in the sweetest ways. I can't tell you how many photos I took of my kittens sleeping. They were inseparable!

The Cat People and the Kern County Animal Shelter are both featuring sibling kittens this week. Check them out!

Lab mixes — My chocolate Lab-pit mix is the most loving, docile, obedient, smart dog I've ever had. I've known other Lab mixes that were equally intelligent, eager to please, loyal and sweet. This week, Bakersfield SPCA and the Kern County Animal Shelter are featuring yellow Lab mix puppies. I highly recommend meeting these puppies and seeing if they are a match for you.

— Jennifer Baldwin

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The Cat People, a rescue and adoption agency in Bakersfield, is the latest such group to join The Bakersfield Californian's "Pets of the Week" feature. Poster markthecat has been submitting several oh-so-cute photos and personality write-ups about such kitties as Delilah, a 4-year-old, spayed, female black and white cat. She looks so friendly and beautiful!

Here's how to adopt a cat from The Cat People:

Cats are adopted by application and an interview for a $50.00 fee from The Cat People at the Rosedale Petco most Saturdays from 10am until 4pm. If this particular cat has been lucky enough to have already been adopted there are many more cats just waiting to go home. For more information, please call 327-4706 or go to www.thecatpeople.org.

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New Pets of the Week have been posted at Bakersfield.com/yourwords. There is Star the chihuahua mix, Sasha the black and white kitten, Lily the tabby cat, and so many more.

And during summer, the Bakersfield SPCA is offering half-off all cats and kittens on Thursdays! What a deal!

View the link above for details on how to adopt all of these wonderful, waiting dogs and cats.

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In March and April of this year, over 2,700 cats and dogs were euthanized in Kern County. There are many pet shelters in Bakersfield that are no kill, and in our TBC Gives video produced by Louis Medina, we spotlight one of them- the Bakersfield SPCA.

Click here to watch the video.

--Mary Russo

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One way to help reduce the stray animal population in Kern County is to adopt a shelter pet rather than buy a purebreed. Local shelters and rescue groups allow you to visit the pet and also give you personality traits to help you decide if you and the pet are a good match.

Every Monday in The Bakersfield Californian we highlight the Pets of the Week available locally. But there are countless others waiting to be adopted as well!

To view the Pets of the Week online, view this link on our Your Words section.

Also, here is info on the local shelters and rescue groups:

ALPHA Canine, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For directions: alphacanine.org. Call 391-8212 for an appointment.

Kern County Animal Shelter, 201 S. Mount Vernon Ave., 868-7144, www.co.kern.ca.us/acd. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday through Saturday; 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Bakersfield SPCA, 3000 Gibson St., 323-8353, www.bakersfieldspca.org. Open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; noon to 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Cat People: contact Barb Hayes, 599-2719.
 

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Our Eye Street team announced online the best part of our new Tails of Bakersfield project!

You can show off your pet in the pages of The Californian and on Bakersfield.com! You can bet you will be seeing some pictures from me!

-- Mary Russo