BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — If you’re out in the almond orchards you may find a feeding station for abandoned dogs, put there by one of the volunteers who spend four to six hours a day filling them up across Bakersfield.
“It's been rewarding but it's also gutwrenching sometimes when you find an animal that's been injured or abused,” said volunteer Melissa Hutton.
Hutton is one of the members of Rescuing Abandoned Dogs, or RAD, Facebook group. While the group on Facebook is mainly for lost and found dogs there is a small group of volunteers behind it who actually do the trapping, feeding, and rescuing.
It all started when the founder of the group, Gina Rolow, rescued her first dog - a puppy found on the train tracks.
“Little by little by little my heart just melted on that day and it changed everything for me,” said Rolow.
The group feeds about 40 to 80 dogs per week and says the number of dogs has grown after businesses started opening up again after pandemic lockdowns, and people went back to work.
“Until I started doing the dog rescuing I had no idea how bad the problem was,” said Hutton.
So what does the actual rescuing look like? 23ABC's Ava Keshner I went out with Hutton for the beginning of her shift, her car stocked with supplies.
“We have dry food, canned food, we have treats.”
Also in the car were cleaning supplies for the water bowls, extra plastic tubs for food, flea and tick spray, and believe it or not even more treats.
The volunteers go out multiple days a week for hours at a time re-filling food and cleaning the tubs.
According to Rolow, the hardest part about this job isn't the driving, the trapping, the daily replenishing, or the actual work of helping the dogs. The hardest part is knowing there were dogs that they couldn’t help.
“We don't want them to suffer. We can’t save them all but if they are going to die we know they're fed. And we know that their bellies are full and they can sleep better.”
If you would like to make a donation, sponsor a surgery, buy food or even join the team you can visit them Facebook or you can visit their website.
