The Humane Society of Ventura County is a compassionate care shelter and non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and adoption of animals in need throughout Ventura County.
We're less than one week away from our kitten shower extravaganza! Join us at the shelter (402 Bryant St. in Ojai, CA) on Saturday, March 18th, from 12 - 2 pm for an afternoon of feline fun, prizes, tours of the shelter, and more! It will be the purrfect opportunity to learn how to care for young kittens and meet our new Foster Coordinator, Cheney!
HSVC is thrilled to launch our newly revamped Feline Foster Care Program just in time for kitten season! Foster Care is an invaluable service to our furiends that will expand our capacity to serve, care for and save special needs animals who arrive at our shelter. We are seeking compassionate attentive community members to provide essential support to our precious feline community. Thanks for your interest, we look forward to collaborating with you!
We want to extend a big thank you to our friends at Best Friends Animal Society for visiting our shelter last week! Ariana, Jonathan, Kaylee, and Miriam made the long trek to Ojai to share their knowledge regarding best practices in the animal shelter industry. The team met directly with our staff, and together they came up with ways to maximize the HSVC's impact on the lives of people and animals in need throughout our community.
Bok Choy is thriving in foster care with his foster parents Mike and Georgia! This handsome 7-month-old is one of six Belgian Malinois puppies surrendered to the HSVC in early January. Shortly after his arrival, Bok Choy began showing signs of barrier aggression and resource guarding. Barrier aggression is a territorial behavior in which a dog exhibits stress or aggression when placed behind a barricade such as a fence or a gate. Resource guarding is another territorial behavior in which a dog exhibits aggressive behavior over food or toys. Both are very common with shelter animals, and both are trainable!
In partnership with the California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), HSVC is pleased to welcome Alex Bair to the Humane Education team. HSVC joined the university’s Center for Community Engagement’s service-learning program and is so thrilled to have her join the shelter team. She will work alongside Humane Educator Angie and the rest of the staff to complete her Capstone Service-Learning Projects. LEarn more about her below! Born and raised in Ripon, California, Alex moved to Camarillo in 2016 to study Environmental Communication at CSU Channel Islands. As a lover of animals and the outdoors, she grew up surrounding herself with animals and spending her time outdoors, either in her neighborhood, at the beach, or in the mountains. As part of her final project, she chose service-learning to use her skills and knowledge to help the community she has grown to love. She chose to work with HSVC as she wholeheartedly believes in and supports the mission of the organization. Utilizing compassion, hard work, and acquired knowledge, she is enthusiastic about working with HSVC to serve the community.
Today we celebrate National Horse Protection Day! Each year, March 1st is recognized as a day to highlight the plight of horses in the US and to help raise awareness for adoptable horses in shelters. The HSVC has a long history of protecting, rehabilitating, and finding forever homes for the horses that come into our care. We also serve as an evacuation center for equines that have been displaced from their homes due to natural disasters. This National Horse Protection Day, we want to share the stories of Tucker and Tundra, two horses currently residing at the shelter as a result of an abuse and neglect case.
It was a busy and eventful weekend for the HSVC! We hosted another HSVC Cares free vaccine clinic at The Wharf in Ventura, attended Ventura Marathon's packet pickup, and participated in the race excitement by manning a water station in Ojai. We had a blast at all three events, and we hope those who joined us did too!
We are so proud of our Humane Educator, Angie Chupek Sagliani, for being featured with the Association of Professional Humane Educators! Each month, APHE spotlights a Humane Educator that demonstrates leadership in the field and consistently creates new, innovative programs and learning opportunities for students. Angie received a member spotlight for her vast work developing new education programs for the HSVC, specifically her new classroom program Imagining Compassionate Animal Neighborhoods (ICAN). "This program (ICAN) is a mix of storytelling, movement, communication, and neighborhood awareness. This work was inspired by the work of Fred Rogers, Viola Spolin, and Jane Goodall. But I also want to give a huge shout-out to Charleston Animal Society and their creation of the BARK program. This inspired me to create a curriculum for the classroom that has multiple classroom visits," said Angie. For her full spotlight, check out the APHE website. Way to go, Angie!