By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead (WCLA) meets monthly at various places throughout the mountain communities to explore various restaurants and other locations. They also hear from a guest speaker to learn more about the other nonprofits in the area, what they do and how they support their programs.
For January, President Polly Sauer invited the Mountains Humane Society to speak to them at Crestline’s World-Famous Stockade Bar and Grill during their lunch meeting. Humane Society volunteer Paula Anderson explained how everyone who is involved with the Mountains Humane Society (MHS) is a volunteer. They have many areas in which people can assist them in their mission to protect and save mountain pets and animals.
The humane society began in the mountain area in 1975, so they have 49 years of service behind them and are going strong, serving the hilltop area from Cedarpines Park to Big Bear. They are a 501c3 pet rescue nonprofit organization, spending 99 cents of every dollar raised on the animals. Their members are very passionate about finding homes for animals when owners need to leave or animals get dropped off in the forest by their previous uncaring owners.
“MHS is run by a group of volunteers who have come together to better the lives of domestic animals on our mountain communities. Ninety percent of our volunteers are caring women and the other 10 percent are their husbands,” said Anderson. They receive no state, federal or county funding and they are not the animal shelter.
One of their most active outreaches is the reuniting of pets with their owners. The mountain communities are the number one location in the county where unwanted animals are abandoned. It is known that people will drive up the mountain and drop off animals to dispose of them. When a family has financial problems, often the pet is the first to be cut from the budget.
On their website, www.MountainsHumaneSociety.org, they have a tab for “resources” to report found animals or to report a lost pet. They give step-by-step direction on searching for a runaway pet and how to coordinate a successful search for it and where to go to see if it is micro-chipped. You can email them about a lost pet at lostandfound@mhsrescue.org or call (909) 337-6422.
It is very dangerous for pets when they are dumped as they don’t know how to manage to survive and live in an unfamiliar forest environment with predatory wild animals in the area and with the severe weather fluxuations, especially during the winter. Dropping off a dog in the forest, pet vets say, is like dropping off a 2-year old child in the forest and expecting them to survive. Dumping animals is cruel, as they freeze or become prey for the wildlife. or they starve from a lack of hunting skills.
If a pet is intentionally abandoned, it is more difficult to rehome them as they lose trust in humans and, if on their own for a while, they lose some of their social skills and sometimes become aggressive to stay alive. Those that just get lost are easier to find their homes and to reunite them with their owners. They tend to stay home after experiencing the wild life.
Each volunteer has their specialty. Some just transport animals from the vet to foster homes, while others foster animals until their owners are found, plus they rehome pets and others watch theirs and other Facebook pages and their webpage and others check the admissions to the shelters of animals found in the mountains. When pet owners can no longer care for their pets, the MHS rehome hundreds of pets each year.
They are very picky on who they allow to adopt their rescues and who is permitted to foster their animals. Those who foster the animals are given everything they may need, including food, any vet services needed and treats and toys for the pets.
“We spare no expense in the care of the animals, from shots to surgery,” said Jamie, another volunteer. “When we find a pet, we have a microchip reader that can see if the animal is microchipped, which will identify the owner. When a scared animal needs to be captured, we have a professional trapper.”
They are funded entirely by donations and none come from the National Humane Society, as they are a separate group. They receive funding by their percentage of volunteer hours at the Mountain Thrift shop run by the 10 nonprofit groups in Blue Jay. They also received a $1,000 donation from WCLA President Polly Sauer. The Women’s Club also receives much of their funding from the Blue Jay Thrift Shop.
The only requests the Mountains Humane Society have for the community are more volunteers and foster homes and donations of both funds and sellable items for their auction site.
The WCLA will be celebrating their centennial anniversary of the founding of the club in a couple of years. The Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead was founded in 1926 by community matriarch Mary Putnam Henck. Over those decades, they have made a major difference in the daily lives of living on the mountain. The WCLA was the organization that coordinated the Blue Jay holiday parade in 2023.
To find out more about becoming a member of the WCLA, see their Facebook page “Lake Arrowhead Women’s Club” or send them an email at info@wclakearrowhead.com. Their next fundraiser is the PolaRotary Bear Plunge on Feb 3 at 10 a.m. at the beach at the Lake Arrowhead Resort.
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