By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Paula Anderson – a volunteer with the Mountains’ Humane Society – shared the news with the Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead at their July 15 meeting.
“The mountain area,” Anderson said, “is the #1 dumping ground for domestic animals.” The majority of those animals are young – just 2-1/2 years old. “They sit there and wait for their owners to come back,” she added.
The Mountains’ Humane Society, which is run by Karin Holzer, has a trapping team that goes out to rescue those animals. She shared photographs of some who had been rescued and rehabilitated. The Society pays to have them spayed or neutered.
Anderson then read a letter they had received from the manager of a kill shelter; neither the shelter nor the writer was identified. In the letter, the writer described what happens to an animal at their shelter.
“Odds are your pet won’t get adopted and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?” they write, going on to say that pet has 72 hours to be adopted or it will be euthanized. The description of that process brought many of the attendees to tears.
“Between nine and 11 million animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it,” the writer says. “I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full and there are more animals coming in every day than there are homes. Don’t breed or buy while shelter pets die!”
Anderson gave the example of a man who had called the Society. He was a kind-hearted man who kept taking in cats until he had 36 and could no longer afford to keep them.
“We photographed all of them and got them all adopted,” Anderson said.
The Mountains’ Humane Society can always use more volunteers, she said. She urged folks to shop at the Mountain Thrift Shoppe, where they volunteer to raise funds.
“Together we hope to change the horrible tag we have of being the #1 dumping ground,” Anderson concluded.
After presenting Anderson with a donation from the Women’s Club, Polly Sauer, the WCLA president, then thanked the outgoing board members and installed the 2026-2027 board.
For more information on the Mountains’ Humane Society, visit mountainshumanesociety.org or send an email to info@mhsrescue.org.
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